44 
A.  O.  A.  C.  Work  on  Drugs. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     January,  1906. 
fall  in  the  royal  favor,  until  at  last  the  treasury  was  emptied  and  the 
Emperor  deposed — all  of  this  despite  the  fact  that  the  workers  in 
Rudolph's  laboratories  were  kept  busy  carrying  on  experiments  in 
transmutation.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  with  so 
much  experimentation  nothing  genuine  was  accomplished.  This 
was  the  age  of  alchemy  in  Europe,  and  the  author,  mindful  of  its 
contribution  to  our  knowledge  of  chemistry,  mentions  a  number  of 
the  discoveries  of  the  alchemists. 
The  chapters  on  "  Rudolph's  Physicians"  and  the  "  Rudolphine 
Academy  of  Medicine  "  ought  to  be  of  interest  to  pharmacists  as 
well  as  physicians,  a  sixteenth  century  apothecary  shop  being  de- 
scribed in  one  of  them. 
The  book  is  attractive  both  in  style  and  appearance,  and  furnishes 
an  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  pseudo-sciences  of 
alchemy  and  astrology.  F.  Y. 
OUTLINE  OF  A.  O.  A.  C.  WORK  ON  DRUGS,  1905. 
At  the  Twentieth  Annual  Convention  of  the  Association  of  Official 
Agricultural  Chemists,  1903,  a  referee  on  medicinal  plants  and 
drugs  was  appointed.  The  object  of  this  appointment  was  a  collab- 
orative, systematic  study  of  the  analytical  methods  used  in  deter- 
mining the  quality  of  crude  plant  drugs  and  products  derived  from 
them,  with  a  view  to  improving  and  ultimately  unifying  the  methods 
of  analysis  for  such  substances.  The  earnest  co-operation  of  every 
chemist  interested  in  this  line  of  work  is  most  cordially  invited. 
The  referee  will  take  pleasure  in  sending  samples  for  analysis  to  all 
who  inform  him  on  or  before  August  19th  of  their  willingness  to 
co-operate  in  the  work.  The  lateness  of  this  pamphlet  is  due  to 
the  delayed  appearance  of  the  new  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  work  this  year  will  again  be  confined  to  powdered  opium, 
and  the  methods  to  be  studied  at  this  time  are  those  considered  to 
be  among  the  best.  Suggestions  for  new  methods  or  improvements 
on  old  processes  will  be  gladly  received  and  given  an  impartial  trial 
next  year  or  at  an  earlier  date  if  possible.  The  results  should  be 
in  the  referee's  hands  not  later  than  October  1,  1905. 
All  calculations  and  solutions  are  to  be  based  on  the  data  con- 
tained in  the  eighth  revision  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia. 
