264 
Acetic  Extract  of  Ipecacuanha. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1888. 
masses  of  putrescent  boiled  vegetable  matter;  it  frequently  shows 
large  patches  of  a  black  or  dirty  blue  color,  it  cannot  hold  together,  but 
drops  to  pieces  when  handled,  and  often  has  a  sour  fetid  smell.  The 
fact  is  that  the  Chinamen,  finding  that  anything  will  be  accepted,  boil 
down  leaves  which  may  be  either  too  old  or  too  young,  mixed  up  with 
useless  shoots  and  twigs ;  the  hangsal  proprietors  save  as  much  fire- 
wood as  they  possibly  can,  it  being  one  of  their  principal  items  of  ex- 
penditure ;  the  extract  is  not  sufficiently  boiled  and  the  crude  stuff 
will  not  crystallize  properly.  It  is  doubtful  whether  it  can  stand  a 
few  days  smoke-drying,  but  it  is  not  put  to  this  test,  however,  for 
after  a  very  brief  course  of  asap,  it  is  bundled  up  in  mats  and  de- 
livered in  all  haste  to  the  merchant,  ^vho  accepts  it  with  residts  which 
must  be  best  known  to  himself. 
A  few  words  as  to  the  general  chemistry'  of  gambier  may  be  inter-  . 
festing.  Roughly  speaking,  good  gambier  may  be  said  to  contain  be- 
tween 40  per  cent,  and  50  j^er  cent,  of  tannic  acid,^  the  other  chief  in- 
gredient of  gambier  being  a  soluble  gum  :  its  action  upon  hides  is  to 
precipitate  all  their  fatty  and  fleshy  matter,  leaving  nothing  but  the 
imputrescible  substance,  that  is  to  say,  leather.  Notwithstanding  this 
precipitation,  the  hides  take  up  so  much  gambier  as  to  gain  in  weight 
by  the  process. 
There  is  no  space  in  this  rapid  sketch  for  any  details  about  the  work- 
ing of  the  hongkek/'  or  of  adulteration  of  gambier  with  foreign 
matter,  but  the  overloading  of  gambier  with  water,  combined  with 
what  can  only  be  called  the  fraudulent  method  of  its  prepara- 
tion, constitute  adulteration  of  the  worst  and  most  destructive  type. 
EEPOET  OX  ACETIC  EXTRACT  OF  IPECACUANHA.^ 
By  I.  W.  Thomsox  axd  William  Duxcan. 
The  introduction  of  the  new  process  for  making  ipecacuanha  wine 
had.  the  authors  said,  been  productive  of  a  demand  for  a  ready-made 
extract.  The  new  process,  although  an  advance  on  that  of  the  1867 
Pharmacopoeia,  was  so  troublesome  that  many  preferred  to  buy  the 
acetic  extract  rather  than  make  it.  They  had  published  a  process  in 
The  Chemist  and  Druggist,  June  12,  1886,  in  which  they  recom- 
■?  Catechin. — Ed.  Pharm.  Journ. 
■  A  nstract  of  a  paper  read  before  the  North  British  Branch  of  the  Pharma- 
eu  leal  Society;  reprinted  from  The  Chernisi  and  Bruggist.  March  31, 1888,  p.  420. 
