Am  jan^iSe.^111'}         Preparations  of  Ipecacuanha.  25 
coloration  on  addition  of  alcoholic  potash.  A  solution  of  pseuda- 
conitine  in  strong  sulphuric  acid  yields  a  violet  coloration  with 
sulphovanadic  acid.  With  all  these  reagents,  aconitine  gives  negative 
results. 
About  3  mgrms.  of  aconitine  would  be  sufficient  to  kill  a  man, 
whilst  as  a  medicinal  dose  not  more  than  0*1  mgrm.  should  be  taken 
at  once.  The  author  recommends  the  pharmacodynamic  method  as 
the  best  one  for  estimating  the  strength  of  an  aconitine  preparation. 
In  conclusion,  the  author  states  that  the  alkaloids  acolyctine  and 
lycoctonine,  obtained  by  Hubschmann  from  A.  Lycoctonum,  are  not 
identical  with  aconitine  and  pseudaconitine. — Jour.  Chem.  Soo.  1885, 
p.  911,  Arch.  Pharm.,  1885,  p.  161-177. 
THE  COMPARATIVE  STRENGTHS  OF  CERTAIN  PRE- 
PARATIONS OF  IPECACUANHA. 
By  W.  A.  H.  Nayloe. 
(Read  before  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.) 
The  remarks  that  the  wine  of  ipecacuanha  of  the  British  Pharmaco- 
poeia is  unsatisfactory  when  viewed  from  a  pharmaceutical  standpoint, 
will  be  unanimously  endorsed  by  those  who  have  had  experience  of 
the  making  and  storing  of  this  preparation.  The  observation  that  it 
deposits  emetine  on  keeping  has  been  recorded  from  time  to  time  by 
practical  pharmacists.  That  the  quantity  of  alkaloid  apt  to  be  precip- 
itated is  considerable  has  been  demonstrated,  notably  by  Brownen.  It 
is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that  its  use  by  medical  practitioners  should 
have  yielded  disappointing  results,  and  they  should  have  had  recourse 
to  other  preparations  of  the  drug  which,  on  the  representations  of  spe- 
cialists, held  out  the  promise  of  being  more  uniform  in  their  action 
and  certain  in  their  effects.  It  was  the  knowledge  of  these  facts  that 
suggested  to  me  the  desirability  of  instituting  an  inquiry  into  the  alka- 
loidal  value  of  the  preparations  in  common  use.  For  this  purpose 
selection  was  made  of  the  vinum  ipecacuanha?  B.P.,  extractum  ipecacu- 
anha? fluidum  U.S.P.,  and  acetum  ipecacuanha?. 
The  mode  of  procedure  consisted  in  taking  a  commercially  good 
sample  of  the  root,  half  of  which  was  bruised  as  directed  by  the  au- 
thoritative formula,  the  remainder  being  reduced  to  a  fine  powder  and 
passed  through  a  sieve  having  sixty  meshes  to  the  linear  inch.  From 
the  fine  powder  there  were  made  a  wine,  fluid  extract,  and  vinegar,  the 
