A£AS!iS^'}  Criticisms  of  the  U.S. P.  409 
DISCREPANCY  IN  DOSE  OF  PREPARATIONS  OF  ACONITE. 
The  standard  adopted  for  aconite  root  appears  surprisingly  high, 
and  when  the  dose  of  aconitine  and  the  dose  of  the  fluid  extract  of 
aconite  are  compared,  the  surprise  is  not  lessened.  The  "  average  " 
dose  of  the  alkaloid  is  T^  grain,  and  that  of  the  fluid  extract  is 
I  minim,  equal  to  grain,  which  apparently  is  too  high;  in 
fact,  according  to  notions  of  dosage  in  this  country  for  aconite,  is 
excessive.  The  tincture  is  still  further  out,  the  "average  dose,"  10 
minims,  being  equal  to  of  a  grain  of  aconitine.  (Thos.  Maben, 
"  Standardization  in  the  New  U.S.P.,"  Pharm.  Jour.,  1905.  page  140.) 
ASSAYED  ESSENTIAL  OILS. 
After  September  1st,  it  will  be  advisable  for  druggists  when  sell- 
ing essential  oils  to  ask  whether  the  oil  is  required  for  medicinal 
purposes,  in  view  of  the  fact  that,  whenever  possible,  essential  oils 
are  required  to  reach  a  certain  standard,  and  a  process  of  assay  is 
appended.  Time  alone  will  show  whether  the  committee  has  acted 
wisely  in  fixing  such  rigid  requirements  for  this  class  of  products. 
Certain  it  is  that  sooner  or  later  some  hypercritical  health  official 
or  dairy  commissioner  will  conduct  a  campaign  similar  to  that 
waged  in  this  city  a  short  time  ago  on  the  acetophenetedin  subject. 
In  any  event  it  would  seem  a  little  premature  for  methods  of  assay  to 
be  placed  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  which  can  only  be  carried  out  by 
skilled  analysts,  and  which  are  of  so  recent  date  that  few  pharma- 
cists in  retail  business  have  ever  heard  of  them,  least  of  all  tried 
them  practically.    [Drug  Topics,  1905,  page  215.) 
MONOGRAPHS  ON  ESSENTIAL  OILS  COMMENDED. 
Viewed  all  round,  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  monographs 
are  in  themselves  models  of  what  such  monographs  intended  for 
guidance  in  medicine  should  be,  and,  in  our  opinion,  they  go  very 
decidedly  further,  and  are  likely  to  be  of  great  value  to  all  manufac- 
turing pharmacists,  and  also  to  those  who  may  handle  essential  oils, 
and  record  the  principal  features  in  a  concise  form  for  judging 
purity  and  value.  (J.  C.  Umney  and  C.  T.  Bennett,  "  The  Essential 
Oils  of  the  U.S.P .,"  Pharm.  Jour.,  1905,  page  144.) 
