Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Dec.  1,  1873.  J 
Pharmaceutical  Notes. 
539 
Dr.  Th.  Peckolt  has  separated  from  one  kilogram  of  the  wood  21*8 
grams  pure  chrysophanic  acid,  37*5  bitter  extractive  and  109*375  of 
resin,  somewhat  resembling  resin  of  guaiacum  in  appearance,  but  be- 
coming golden  yellow  with  nitric  acid,  and  being  finally  oxidized  to 
picric  acid. — Ibid..  Nov.  1. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES* 
By  J.  B.  Barnes. 
Guaiacum  resin,  as  it  is  imported,  is  exceedingly  impure,  which  will 
be  seen  by  the  following  experiments :  Sixteen  ounces  of  guaiacum 
resin  supplied  by  the  wholesale  druggist,  a  sample  of  which  I  place 
before  you,  was  exhausted  by  boiling  in  rectified  spirit ;  the  quantity 
of  purified  resin  obtained  was  13  ounces  and  288  grains;  the  insolu- 
ble woody  particles  weighed  2  ounces  and  139  grains,  or  14*4  per 
cent,  of  impurity. 
Another  experiment  was  made  by  operating  in  a  similar  manner 
upon  8  ounces  of  powdered  guaiacum  resin  obtained  of  a  wholesale 
house,  which  yielded  about  7  ounces  of  pure  resin,  and  412  grains  or 
11*7  per  cent,  of  impurity,  consisting  of  a  brown  bulky  powder. 
These  results  show  that  pure  guaiacum  resin  should  be  used  for  all 
pharmaceutical  purposes,  in  preference  to  the  guaiacum  resin  as  im- 
ported and,  I  believe,  universally  used. 
Simple  extract  of  colocynth,  prepared  by  two  macerations  of  the- 
pulp  in  cold  distilled  water,  pressing,  boiling  the  liquor,  separating 
the  coagulated  matter,  evaporating  to  dryness,  and  exhausting  with 
rectified  spirit,  yielded  the  same  amount  of  extract  as  was  obtained 
from  the  same  qaantity  and  sample  of  colocynth  pulp  which  had  been 
exhausted  with  proof  spirit  and  evaporated  to  dryness  until  the  weight 
was  constant.  By  this  means  the  use  of  a  large  quantity  of  spirit 
and  subsequent  distillation  was  avoided. 
The  infusion  of  roses  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  as  is  well  known  to  all 
pharmaceutists,  loses  its  transparency  when  cold.  I  find  that  when 
one  part  of  glycerin  is  added  to  eight  or  nine  parts  of  infusion  of 
roses  it  at  once  becomes  bright  and  continues  so  as  long  as  it  keeps 
good.  Also  that  when  three  fluid-drachms  of  glycerin  are  added  to 
a  mixture  composed  of  one  grain  sulphate  of  quinia,  one  minim  of 
*  Read  at  the  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, November  5,  1873, 
