246        Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  {^m'^'Jmxm' 
ciple,  both  of  which  are  more  soluble  in  alcohol  than  in  water,  and 
hence  are  extracted  in  larger  proportion  when  alcohol  is  used. 
With  regard  to  the  use  of  ammonia  the  author  carried  out  experi- 
ments which  seemed  to  indicate  that  it  is  not  only  unnecessary  in 
the  preparation  of  the  fluid  extract  of  licorice,  but  that  it  is  dis- 
tinctly objectionable.  It  alters  the  taste  of  the  extract,  but  it  does 
not  appear  to  increase  the  sweetness. 
Some  improvements  as  to  details  for  the  B.P.  process  are  sug- 
gested, the  principal  recommendation  being  that  of  percolation, 
instead  of  maceration  and  expression  of  the  drug  as  now  directed. 
The  principal  difficulty  encountered  in  percolating  the  drug  with 
water  alone  is  that  the  percolate  is  liable  to  become  acid  before 
extraction  is  complete.  The  writer  overcomes  this  objection,  how- 
ever, by  adding  just  a  sufficient  quantity  of  ammonia  water  to  the 
aqueous  percolate  to  preserve  its  alkalinity  while  percolation  is  pro- 
ceeding, which  results  in  a  loss  of  glycyrrhizin.  In  other  words,  he 
does  not  use  ammonia  in  extracting  the  sweetness  of  the  drug,  but 
in  preserving  the  sweetness  of  the  extract. 
Finally,  in  summarizing  his  views  of  the  subject,  he  says  that 
water  is  the  best  menstruum  for  extracting  the  sweetness  of  licorice; 
if  percolation  of  a  rougher  powder  were  substituted  for  double 
maceration  and  expression  of  the  root  in  No.  20  powder,  as  directed 
by  the  B.P.  formula,  the  process  would  be  a  more  skillful  one; 
ammonia  might  judiciously  be  employed  as  indicated  to  prevent  loss 
of  sweetness;  and  that  a  slight  increase  in  the  amount  of  alcohol 
would  insure  preservation  and  produce  a  cleaner  extract. 
A    CHEMICAL    EXAMINATION    OF    THE    CONSTITUENTS  '  OF    INDIAN  AND 
AMERICAN  PODOPHYLLUM. 
W.  R.  Dunstan  and  T.  A.  Henry  {Proceedings  of  the  Chemical 
Society,  London,  March,  1898),  find  that  the  constituents  of 
Indian  podophyllum  (Podophyllum  emodi)  and  of  American  podo- 
phyllum [Podophyllum  peltatum)  are  identical.  The  chief  con- 
stituent is  the  podophyllotoxin  of  Podwyssozki  and  Kursten  which 
the  authors  have  fully  examined.  It  is  a  neutral  crystalline  sub- 
stance (melting  point  11 70)  to  which  the  authors  assign  the  formula 
C15H1406.  It  is  strongly  laevorotatory,  and  acts  as  a  powerful  purga- 
tive and  intestinal  irritant.  When  heated  with  alkalies,  it  is  con- 
verted by  hydration  into  the  salt  of  an  unstable,  gelatinous  acid, 
