3I2 
Note  on  Plasma. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1879. 
In  order  to  obtain  saligenin  Piria  directs  salicin  to  be  fermented  with 
synaptase.  By  this  method  I  have  obtained  it  in  beautiful  white  tabu- 
lar crystals.  These  at  first  appeared  in  the  fermented  mixture,  from 
which  they  were  separated  by  agitation  with  ether  and  crystallization 
from  the  ethereal  solution.  Prepared  in  this  way  saligenin  gives  the 
color  with  ferric  chloride  most  distinctly  even  in  dilute  solution.  The 
preparation  of  the  synaptase  and  subsequent  fermentation  requires  too 
much  time  to  render  this  method  often  useful  in  analysis. 
It  appears  then  that  the  saligenin  test  for  salicin  as  given  in  chemical 
text-books  is  untrustworthy,  and  that  the  fermentation  method,  though 
it  yields  saligenin,  is  impracticable,  except  when  there  is  much  time  at 
ihe  disposal  of  the  analyst. — Phar.  'Jour,  and  Trans.,  April  19,  1879. 
NOTE  ON  PLASMA.1 
By  W.  Willmott. 
Rather  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  Mr.  G.  F.  Schacht,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Dr.  William  Budd,  of  Bristol,  prepared  for  trial  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  oils  and  fats  in  ointments  a  combination  of  glycerin  and 
starch,  to  which,  after  due  consideration,  he  gave  the  name  of  "  Plasma." 
In  an  admirable  paper,  published  in  the  "Pharmaceutical  Journal"  for 
February,  1858,  Mr.  Schacht  points  out  the  advantages  of  this  com- 
bination, and  claims  for  it  a  superiority  in  many  respects  over  the  ordi- 
narv  unguent  bases.  41 1  must,  however,"  he  states,  "mention  one 
imperfection  to  which  these  preparations  (plasmas)  are  liable,  namely, 
a  tendency  after  three  or  four  months'  existence  to  lose  more  or  less 
their  original  fine  consistence  and  become  softer.  This  is  an  unfortu- 
nate quality,  but  I  think  it  is  one  for  which  experience  will  be  able  to 
suggest  a  remedy."  About  nine  years  later,  we  find  Mr.  T.  B.  Groves 
writing  as  follows:  "The  chief  objection  to  plasma,  of  which  I  know 
little,  and  therefore  shall  say  little,  is  that  it  is  dear.  I  have  heard  that 
in  use  it  is  troublesome  in  consequence  of  its  proneness  to  deliques- 
cence "  Nevertheless,  at  the  same  date  (1867),  plasma  had  acquired 
a  sufficiently  important  position  to  rank  with  preparations  of  a  some- 
what similar  character  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  and  consequently 
it  is  there  introduced  under  the  name  of  "Glycerin  of  Starch,"  the  only 
1  Read  as  an  evening  meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain, 
April  2,  1879. 
