Cane  Sugar  in  Official  Syr  tips, 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1   December,  1898. 
at  intervals,  also  showed  progressive  inversion,  passes  through  the 
same  color  changes,  and  after  eight  months  contains  56-8  per  cent, 
of  inverted  sugar. 
A  brown,  commercial  sample  of  the  syrup,  about  one  year  old, 
showed  a  percentage  of  49. 
SYRUP  OF  THE  PHOSPHATES  OF  IRON,  QUININE  AND  STRYCHNINE. 
The  difficulty  of  preserving  Eaton's  syrup  is  well  known,  various 
reasons  having  been  advanced  for  the  discoloration  and  precipita- 
tion taking  place. 
The  chief  criticisms  have  come  from  British  sources  and  several 
recommendations  for  improvement,  such  as  decrease  in  the  amount 
of  sugar  and  free  acid,  have  been  made. 
In  a  subsequent  paper,  the  writer  will  render  his  experience  with 
this  preparation. 
At  present  he  would  state,  that  he  believes  the  discoloration  to  be 
chiefly  due  to  the  inversion  of  the  cane  sugar  with  formation  of 
brown  side  products,  induced  by  the  phosphoric  acid. 
The  inversion  of  the  cane  sugar  was  also  found  to  be  progressive 
in  the  following  instances  : 
The  syrup  was  prepared  according  to  official  directions,  employ- 
ing simple  syrup  showing  0-33  per  cent,  of  inverted  sugar. 
Seven  hours  after  completion  this  was  found  to  have  increased  to 
1-95  per  cent,  and  the  increase  was  continued  during  three  months, 
at  the  expiration  of  which  the  percentage  found  was  50. 
This  syrup  was  kept  during  the  summer  in  filled,  amber  bottles, 
away  from  light,  but  subjected  to  heat,  and  an  examination  in  early 
fall  found  it  to  be  dark  brown  and  containing  approximately  the 
same  inverted  sugar  percentage. 
Simultaneously  with  the  foregoing  Eaton's  syrup  was  prepared  by 
a  modification  of  the  official  methods,  in  which  sugar  was  directly 
employed  and  dissolved  by  agitation  in  the  acid  alkaloidal  solution. 
Four  days  after  preparation  the  percentage  found  was  19  2,  while 
when  twenty  days  old  the  syrup  contained  43  per  cent.  On  four 
months'  standing  the  syrup  contained  56-8  per  cent.,  and  three 
months  later,  the  now  brown  syrup  showed  a  slight  reduction  from 
the  last  figure. 
Other  syrups  examined  were  found  to  contain  54-9  and  56  4  per 
