Am"ju0iyris>9sarm"}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  351 
the  light  chloroform-ether  mixture  used  in  Keller's  method  and  5 
c.c.  of  ammonia  water  (10  per  cent.),  cork  well  and  shake  at  fre- 
quent intervals  for  one  hour.  The  mixture  is  now  transferred 
to  a  small  percolator,  improvised  by  drawing  out  a  test  tube 
of  about  50  c.c.  capacity  (a  rather  narrow  one,  diameter  about  20 
millimeters  being  preferred)  provided  with  a  plug  of  cotton  at  the 
outlet,  and  the  percolate  received  in  a  separator.  When  all  has 
passed,  another  25  c.c.  of  light  chloroform-ether  are  passed  into  the 
flask,  and  with  it  the  remainder  of  the  drug  transferred  to  the  perco- 
lator, and,  when  this  has  passed  through,  another  25  c.c.  are  used  in 
the  same  manner.  The  ethereal  solution  in  the  separator  contain- 
ing the  alkaloids  from  10  grammes  of  drug  is  now  treated  as  out- 
lined in  Keller's  method,  and  the  assay  completed  in  exactly  the 
same  way. 
ACETIC  ACID  AS  A  MENSTRUUM. 
According  to  E.  H.  Squibb  (Ephemeris,  1898,  p.  1938),  acetic  acid 
has  been  more  extensively  used  in  the  past  year  in  the  way  of  apply- 
ing it  to  the  exhaustion  of  crude  drugs  containing  active  principles. 
The  drugs  have  been  so  completely  exhausted  as  to  put  beyond  all 
doubt  the  value  of  this  acid  as  a  solvent.  It  is  found  that  this  acid 
is  so  effective  that  a  thoroughly  representative  extract  can  be  obtained 
which  contains  such  a  slight  excess  of  acetic  acid  that  it  may  be  prac- 
tically disregarded.  Even  this  excess  could  be  gotten  rid  of  by  heat 
if  its  presence  were  considered  detrimental,  but  when  the  dose  of 
the  extract  in  question  is  considered,  the  amount  of  acid  present  is 
inappreciable.  Moreover,  such  an  acetous  extract  is  found  to  be 
permanent,  showing  no  signs  of  deterioration  after  a  lapse  of  six  or 
eight  months.  In  the  case  of  drugs  containing  oleoresins  even,  the 
exhaustion  by  this  acid  has  also  proved  to  be  quite  complete,  which 
proves  that  its  solvent  properties  may  be  regarded  as  fully  efficient 
for  all  classes  of  crude  drugs — thus  substituting  it  quite  completely 
for  alcohol  as  a  solvent  in  the  preparation  of  both  fluid  and  solid 
extracts.  The  ready  miscibility  of  these  acetous  extracts  with  water 
without  precipitation,  together  with  the  strength  and  uniformity 
that  can  be  obtained  by  the  use  of  this  solvent,  offsets  the  objection 
that  may  be  raised  against  the  small  excess  of  acetic  acid  in  the 
finished  extract,  while  the  greatly  decreased  cost  warrants  the  use 
