Am.  Jour.  Priarm. 
June,  1906. 
Syrup  of  Wild  Cherry. 
267 
The  ease  of  its  application,  as  well  as  its  rapidity,  is  much  to  be 
desired  and  when  compared  with  the  official  method,  is  much  to  be 
preferred.  But  one  evaporation  and  filtration  is  necessary  and  the 
whole  work  is  actually  performed  in  less  than  two  hours.  But  one 
step  in  the  whole  method  is  to  be  deprecated,  and  that  is  from  the 
strictly  scientific  point  of  view — the  use  of  aliquot  parts. 
Unfortunately,  the  nature  of  the  substance  with  which  we  are 
dealing  offers  no  method  wherein  the  use  of  the  aliquot  part  and  an 
alkali  could  be  avoided.  Endeavoring,  however,  to  overcome  this 
objection,  the  use  of  KOH  was  substituted  for  the  calcium  hydroxide 
and  while  the  results  were  within  the  radius  of  accuracy,  the  resultant 
morphine  was  highly  colored,  which  prevented  its  titration  in  the 
usual  way,  and  the  process,  at  best,  was  altogether  too  tedious  and 
possessed  no  advantage  over  others. 
Determinations  were  made  with  powdered  opium,  using  the  U.  S. 
Pharmacopoeia,  Stevens  and  the  modified  method  of  the  author,  and 
while  the  results  were  in  favor  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  method, 
if  the  correction  factor  was  used  it  turned  the  balance  in  favor  of  the 
last  method,  and  as  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  method  does  not  take 
into  consideration  the  possible  loss  by  solution,  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  this  method  would  give  equal  results. 
Before  concluding,  I  would  call  attention  to  one  point,  which  is 
of  prime  importance  from  the  legal  point  of  view :  Assuming  that 
these  methods  give  concordant  results,  can  we  legally  apply  them 
in  preference  to  the  official  ?  The  Pharmacopoeia,  in  its  definition 
of  the  various  kinds  of  opium,  or  its  preparations,  uses  this  expres- 
sion :  "  When  assayed  by  the  process  given  under  Opium."  Would 
it  be  a  mere  case  of  technicality,  or  would  the  law  view  it  in  a  broader 
light,  if  some  other  were  used  ? 
SYRUP  OF  WILD  CHERRY,  U.  S.  P.  1900. 
By  Joseph  W.  England. 
Under  the  title  of  Prunus  Virginiana,  Wild  Cherry  Bark  was  first 
made  official  in  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  of  1840,  as  was  also  the 
infusion  of  the  bark.  Syrup  of  Wild  Cherry  was  not  recognized 
until  the  following  revision  (1850),  and  the  formula  adopted  was 
based  upon  that  of  W.  Procter,  Jr.,  and  J.  C.  Turnpenny,  read  at  the 
