Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
December,  1898.  j 
Cane  Sugar  in  Official  Syrups. 
593 
After  standing  forty-five  days,  it  was  found  to  be  22-7  per  cent., 
and  after  three  months,  between  40  and  41  per  cent. 
The  four-months  old  syrup  showed  the  percentage  to  be  increased 
to  49  2  per  cent.,  and  ten  to  eleven  months  after  preparation  the 
figure  was  6y  1  per  cent. 
This  would  indicate  that  almost  all  of  the  sugar  was  inverted. 
Outside  of  a  slightly  terebinthinate  odor,  the  syrup  at  this  time 
shows  no  change, 
SYRUP  OF  SQUILL. 
A  number  of  specimens  of  this  syrup  were  examined,  one  being 
kept  under  observation  for  a  period  of  seven  months. 
Heat  is  employed  in  the  preparation  of  the  syrup,  and  a  more 
rapid  inversion  may  therefore  be  expected. 
The  above-mentioned  sample,  one  week  after  preparation,  con- 
tained 6  per  cent,  of  inverted  sugar. 
At  various  intervals  examination  showed  constant  increases,  and 
after  seven  months  26*1  per  cent,  was  found. 
Other  specimens  showed,  respectively,  12-5,  ti  and  1 1-2  per  cent., 
but  none  are  as  old  as  the  above  syrup. 
SYRUP  OF  IPECACUANHA. 
Syrup  of  ipecacuanha,  containing  but  a  small  amount  of  free  acid, 
shows  the  smallest  inverted  sugar  percentage  of  all  syrups  examined. 
Being  prepared  by  cold  solution,  it  does  not  show  a  favorable 
condition  for  inversion. 
A  specimen,  under  observation  for  three  months,  shows  a  per- 
centage of  2-1,  while  the  highest  found  in  any  sample  was  37  per 
cent.    Another  syrup,  of  unknown  age,  showed  1-66  per  cent. 
SYRUP  OF  ACACIA. 
This  syrup  gives  evidence  of  the  presence  of  inverted  sugar  on 
standing,  or  at  least  of  a  compound  reducing  Fehling's  solution. 
The  question  may  be  raised,  if  this  reducing  action  is  not  an 
inherent  property  of  acacia  and  its  solution. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  states  that  the  latter  has  no  reducing  action 
upon  Fehling's  solution. 
This  has  not  been  the  writer's  experience  with  mucilage  from 
either  solid,  granular  or  powdered  commercial  gums.    Other  glu- 
