14 
Laboratory  Notes. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1886. 
No.  4  a  trace  of  nitrate,  No.  3  a  trace  of  tartrate,  and  No.  7  a  trace  of 
acetic  acid. 
Sample. 
Color. 
1.  Monserrat, 
2.  Von  Lear... 
3.  Cowdrey... 
4.  Jamaica.... 
5.  Martinique 
6.  Rose  j 
7.  Octo  
(  Bright 
\  straw. 
(  Light  am 
( ber. 
f  Dark  am 
Vber. 
(Reddish- 
<  brown, 
(cloudy, 
f  Light 
(straw, 
j  Cloudy 
(  straw. 
(  Light 
(straw. 
Odor. 
Taste. 
Spec, 
grav. 
Pleasant. 
J  Slight, 
(pleasant. 
Pleasant. 
/  Pleasant- 
| ly  acid. 
/Intensely 
1  acid. 
(Bitter 
( and  acid. 
1-044 
1-020 
1041 
Musty. 
{Slightly 
(musty. 
(Bitter 
1  and  acid, 
j  Acid  and 
( bitter. 
1.034 
1042 
Unpleasant 
Bitter. 
1-023 
f  Slightly 
j  (musty. 
(  Sweetish 
<  acid  then 
(  bitter. 
1026 
Citric 
Chloride. 
Sulphate. 
acid, 
pr  ct. 
Trace. 

( Slight 
8  54 
Trace. 
( prec. 
812 
f  Slight 
1  prec. 
|  Med'm 
( prec. 
7-60 
( Med'm 
( Med'm 
( prec. 
(prec. 
7  42 
(Slight 
( Med'm 
(prec. 
( prec. 
676 
(Slight 
j  Dense 
6-02 
( prec. 
(prec. 
( Med'm 
( prec. 
280 
Ash 
pr.  ct. 
■540 
•515 
•523 
•415 
•492 
•480 
•405 
Assaying  of  Ignatia. — Silas  M.  Harrington,  Ph.G.,  assayed  three 
samples  of  ignatia,  two  of  which  were  purchased  in  the  powdered  state, 
while  the  last  one  was  powdered  by  the  author.  For  the  first  sample 
DragendorfPs  process  was  used :  15  gm.  were  boiled  three  times  in 
succession  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid;  the  united  decoctions,  nearly 
neutralized  with  magnesia,  were  evaporated  to  a  syrupy  consistence, 
the  residue  mixed  with  2*4  times  its  volume  of  alcohol,  the  filtrate 
evaporated  to  30  c.c,  shaken  with  chloroform,  and  after  this  had  been 
removed,  rendered  alkaline  with  ammonia,  and  repeatedly  agitated 
with  chloroform  to  extract  the  alkaloids;  these  were  dried,  weighed, 
dissolved  in  hydrochloric  acid,  the  solution  evaporated,  the  salts 
weighed  and  then  dissolved  in  water  and  titrated  with  potassio-mer- 
curic  iodide,  when  the  weight  of  strychnine  and  brucine  is  calculated 
from  the  weight  of  the  mixed  alkaloids  or  of  the  salts. 
The  last  two  specimens  were  assayed  by  the  process  for  preparing 
strychnine  as  given  by  the  U.  S.  P.  1870,  the  brucine  being  separated 
from  the  mixed  alkaloids  by  washing  with  diluted  alcohol. 
The  following  results  were  obtained: 
No.  1  yielded  1*039  per  cent,  strychnine  and  0*355  per  cent,  brucine. 
No.  2      "      1125      "  "  "  0-41 
No.  3      "     V425      "  "  "   0-475  u. 
Iodated  Phenol  is  prepared  by  dissolving  4  grains  of  iodine  in  1^  oz.  of 
glycerin  and  adding  4  grains  of  phenol.  It  has  been  advantageously  used  by 
Dr.  Rosenfeld  (Centralbl.  Ges.  Therap.)  for  dysentery  in  children,  in  the  form 
of  enema,  prepared  from  one  or  two  teaspoonfuls  of  the  mixture  and  a  glassful 
of  water,  to  be  given  three  times  a  day. 
