Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May.  1888. 
Jottings  from  a  Note  Booh. 
247' 
JOTTINGS  FROM  A  NOTE  BOOK.* 
By  Jos.  F.  Burnett,  F.  C.  S. 
Pharmaceutical  Chemist. 
Sugar  as  an  Alkaloid  Reagent. — I  have  recently  had  my  attention 
directed  to  sugar  as  an  alkaloid  reagent  and  have  tried  a  number  of 
experiments  to  show  how  useful  it  is.  With  codeine,  morphine,  and 
veratrine  the  reactions  with  sugar  and  sulphuric  acid  are  highly  charac- 
teristic. Apply  the  test  thus  :  Mix  a  trace  of  the  alkaloid  with  about 
an  equal  quantity  of  powdered  cane  sugar  upon  a  white  plate,  and 
then  drop  on  a  drop  or  two  of  strong  sulphuric  acid  by  means  of  a  glass 
rod.  Morphine  turns  light  pink ;  codeine  a  deeper  pink  ;  veratrine 
becomes  dark  red,  then  in  a  few  moments  green,  changing  again  to  a 
rich  dark  blue.  With  aconitine  the  behavior  is  peculiar.  It  develops 
an  orange  color,  after  a  time  becoming  pink  in  the  case  of  exotic 
aconitines ;  but  with  crystallized  English  samples  the  result  is  such  that 
no  dependence  can  be  placed  upon  it.  Negative  results  were  obtained 
with  the  following  alkaloids  :  Quinine,  quinidine,  cinchonine,  cinchoni- 
dine,  caffeine,  berberine,  physostigmiee,  strychnine,  cocaine,  pilocarpine, 
atropine,  apomorphiue,  brucine,  and  cupreine. 
Bismuth  with  Mucilage. — A  recent  writer  in  the  Pharmaceutical 
Journal  in  some  dispensing  notes  lays  down  as  an  ^xiom,  that  when  bis- 
muth is  ordered  in  a  mixture  mucilage  must  be  added  by  the  dispen- 
ser to  suspend  it.  To  this  I  cannot  but  take  exception,  for  the  follow- 
ing reasons  :  A  mixture  containing  bismuth  and  tragacanth  was  made 
in  some  quantity  by  myself  last  summer,  and  however  carefully  made 
or  however  elegant  its  appearance  when  made,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
days  the  bismuth  had  set  at  the  bottom  of  the  bottle,  and  no  amount 
of  shaking  .would  again  diffuse  it.  In  fact,  one  might  as  well  turn  a 
a  few  feet  of  cord  into  a  bottle  full  of  water  and  attempt  to  diffuse 
that.  When  tried  with  mucilage  of  acacia  the  result  was  not  one  bit 
more  satisfactory.  I  would  therefore  maintain  that  a  bismuth  mixture 
is  much  the  better  in  the  long  run  without  gum  at  all,  and  no  medical 
man  who  foresaw  such  a  result  as  I  have  laid  before  you  would  be 
likely  to  order  it.  Is,  then,  the  dispenser  justified  in  spoiling  a  mix- 
ture which  has  to  be  kept  a  week  simply  for  the  sake  of  the  appear- 
ance it  may  bear  for  the  first  day  ?     If  a  suspender  be  desired,  I  can 
*Read  before  the  Chemists'  Assistants'  Association,  March  29,  reprinted 
from  Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  April  7,  1888,  p.  854. 
