580 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\  December,  1906.  . 
sodium  citrate,  a  white  crystalline  powder  that  is  readily  soluble  in 
water  and  has  a  pleasant  and  agreeable  taste.  It  is  to  be  used 
in  cases  of  gout  and  inflammatory  conditions  of  the  kidneys  and 
urinary  tract.  Dose,  I  gramme  two  to  five  times  a  day.  (Phar. 
Centralh.,  1906,  page  777.) 
Preservation  of  Hydrogen  Peroxide  by  sodium  or  calcium  chloride. 
Medicinal  solutions  of  hydrogen  peroxide  are  said  to  be  preserved 
much  longer  by  the  addition  of  1  per  cent,  of  sodium  or  of  calcium 
chloride  than  when  the  usual  preservatives,  inorganic  acids,  are  em- 
ployed.   (Phar.  Jour.,  Sept.  1,  1906,  page  263.) 
Purgative  Principles  of  Chinese  Rhubarb. — According  to  E.  Gilson 
[Arch,  de  Phar.  et  de  Therapy,  the  purgative  principles  of  Chinese 
rhubarb  are  glucosides  which  do  not  occur  in  the  root  as  a  mixture, 
but  in  the  form  of  a  kind  of  compound,  which  he  names  rheopurgarin. 
This  compound  glucoside  consists  of  chrysophanein,  rheocrysin, 
emodin  glucoside  and  rhein  glucoside.  Rheopurgarin  is  soluble  in 
strong  solutions  of  organic  acids,  which  accounts  for  the  prevailing 
opinion  that  the  purgative  principle  is  soluble  in  water.  Chryso- 
phanein has  been  isolated  in  a  state  of  purity,  and  from  it  a  new 
form  of  chrysophanic  acid  has  been  obtained.  Rheocrysin  is  a  new 
glucoside  which  is  hydrolysed  into  dextrose  and  rheocrysidin. 
{Phar.  Jour.,  Sept.,  page  263.) 
Purgier  Konfect. — This  is  another  one  of  numerous  trade  names 
that  have  been  applied  to  preparations  of  phenolpthalein,  to  be 
used  as  a  laxative.  Among  the  now  numerous  names  that  have  been 
applied  to  phenolpthalein  or  dihydroxypthalophenon  and  to  prepa- 
rations containing  it,  are  parapthalein,  purgen,  purgo,  purglets,  pur- 
gelia,  purgolade,  purgylum,  probilin  and  laxirconfect.  All  of  this, 
too,  before  the  substance  has  appealed  to  the  inventive  faculties  of 
the  numerous  manufacturers  of  proprietary  specialties  in  our  own 
country. 
Quinine  Acetyl  Salicylate. — This  is  said  to  be  a  basic  combination 
of  these  two  substances  and  was  obtained  by  L.  Santi  by  dissolving, 
each,  378  grammes  of  quinine  and  1,809  grammes  of  acetyl  salicylic 
acid,  in  ether,  and  mixing  the  two  solutions.  The  resulting  white 
crystalline  powder  has  an  intensely  bitter  taste,  melts  at  1 57°  and 
is  soluble  in  1,000  parts  of  water  and  in  about  30  parts  of  alcohol. 
Attempts  to  produce  the  neutral  acetyl  salicylate  of  quinine  were 
not  successful. 
