^■jui^"iS™'}    Keeping  Qualities  of  Spiritus  ^heris  Nitrosi.  349 
time  than  three  or  four  days  when  the  proportion  of  strychnine  is 
kept  at  1  per  cent.  The  precipitate  in  every  case  was  about  50  per 
cent,  strychnine,  and  any  patient  who  should  get  the  last  doses  from  a 
vial  that  had  not  been  well  shaken  at  every  dose,  would  be  surely 
poisoned  by  the  strychnine ;  not  fatally  of  course,  because  if  the  pre- 
cipitate was  all  strychnine  and  if  all  the  strychnine  was  deposited,  it 
would  require  50  to  100  grains  to  yield  a  fatal  dose.  Yet  the  effects 
might  be  alarming  and  troublesome. — Ephemeris,  III,  page  1128. 
THE  KEEPING  QUALITIES  OF  SPIRITUS  JETHERIS 
XITROSI,  B.  P. 
By  Johx  C.  Hunter. 
From  time  to  time,  during  the  last  two  years,  statements  have  ap- 
peared in  the  Journal  as  to  the  results  of  analyses  of  spiritus  sethe- 
ris  nitrosi  by  various  experimenters,  and  have  been  generally  to  the 
effect  that  samples  of  that  preparation,  obtained  from  various  whole- 
sale houses,  varied  greatly  in  the  amount  of  nitric  oxide  given  off 
upon  the  decomposition  of  the  nitrous  ether  in  them,  and  further  that 
samples  which  may  have  been  of  standard  strength  when  first  bought 
gave  off  upon  testing  them  after  several  months  had  elapsed  a  less 
amount  of  nitric  oxide,  showing  that  the  amount  of  nitrous  ether  in 
them  had  diminished. 
Wishing  to  determine  the  amount  of  deterioration  attending  the 
ordinary  routine  of  the  retail  sale  of  spirit  of  nitrous  ether,  I  made 
half  a  gallon  on  March  10,  1887,  and,  on  testing  the  product,  found 
it  to  give  off  7  vols,  of  nitric  oxide  at  standard  temperature  and 
pressure.  A  portion  was  filled  into  the  front  shop  bottle  and  the  re- 
mainder tightly  corked  and  put  into  a  cool  press  away  from  the 
light. 
On  April  25,  the  contents  of  the  shop  bottle  were  tested  and  found 
to  give  off  5*6  vols,  of  nitric  oxide.  The  stock  bottle  was  tested  at 
the  same  time,  and  found  to  give  off  6*766  vols,  of  nitric  oxide.  On 
July  28,  both  bottles  were  again  tested,  when  the  shop  bottle 
gave  off  5'4  vols,  nitric  oxide  and  the  stock  bottle  gave  off 
6*7  vols.  The  shop  bottle  at  this  time  was  refilled  from  the  stock 
bottle.    The  latter  was  recorked  and  not  opened  again  until  Decem- 
