'^"'■jan?i888^''"''}        Mes  071  Tlnctuve  of  Qaillaia.  15 
Sacchaeated  Oxede  of  Iron, — Traub,  of  Berlin^  agrees  with 
Hager,  that  this  preparation  represents  a  combiDation  of  ferric  saccha- 
rate  and  sodic  saccharate,  in  which  the  latter  determines  the  sokibility 
of  the  former.  In  presence  of  an  excess  of  soda,  a  relatively  smaller 
amonnt  of  sugar  is  needed  to  hold  the  ferric  oxide ;  otherwise  a  large 
quantity  is  needed.  The  preparation  is  made  by  dissolving  100  gm 
perchloride  of  iron  in  500  ccm.  of  water,  into  which  is  poured  a  solu- 
tion of  85  gm.  crystallized  sodium  carbouate  in  500  ccm.  of  water. 
The  precipitate  is  washed,  pressed  and  mixed  with  100  gm.  powdered 
sugar,  to  which  has  been  added,  1*50  gm.  of  caustic  soda  (in  plaques) 
dissolved  in  3  gm.  of  water.  The  mixture  is  then  evaporated  to  dry- 
ness. The  mass  is  now  pulverized,  the  quantity  of  iron  determined, 
and  a  q.  s.  of  powdered  sugar  added.  This  saccharate  is  very  soluble. 
The  oxide  precipitated  by  ammonia  is  not  soluble  with  sugar  and  soda. 
Bull.  Com.,  Nov.  1887. 
Hager  recommended  (Commentar,  I,  p.  723)  33  gm.  solution  of 
ferric  chloride,  sp.  gr.  1*282  (containing  29  per  cent.  Fe2C]6),  and  27 
gm.  cryst.  sodium  carbonate ;  the  washed  and  pressed  precipitate  is 
dissolved  in  water,  30  gm. ;  sugar,  10  gm.;  and  caustic  soda  solution 
(sp.  gr.  1*162)  26  gm,,  the  clear  solution  poured  into  alcohol,  the  pre- 
cipitate dried  and  properly  diluted  with  sugar. 
PRELIMINAKY  XOTE   ON  TINCTURE  OF  QUILLAIA 
SAPONARIA. 
By  Peter  Boa. 
Having  had  some  experience  in  the  use  of  quillaia  bark  for  other 
than  strictly  medicinal  purposes,  I  had  long  ago  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  an  aqueous  menstruum  was  the  most  suitable  for  extracting 
its  active  constituents.  I  was  therefore  somewhat  surprised  to  find 
that  the  formula  given  by  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference 
Committee  directed  the  tincture  to  be  made  with  rectified  spirit.  It 
is  true  that  no  dose  is  specified,  and  as  the  tincture  for  wliich  the 
formula  is  given  is  used  in  the  preparation  of  liquor  ])icis  carbonis 
we  may  reasonably  assume  that  this  was  the  sole  object  for  which  the 
tincture  was  designed,  and  if  this  be  so  we  can  scarcely  find  fault 
with  it,  because  for  the  purpose  in  question  a  rectified  spirit  tincture 
would  be  preferable  to  one  less  strong  in  alcohol.    However,  there  is 
