412  Proposed  Method  of  Micro  sublimation.  ^S^^^Si' 
used  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  the  public  and  to  safeguard 
the  public  health. 
While  it  is  true  that  originally  the  National  Formulary  was 
compiled  by  an  association  of  pharmacists  to  bring  a  degree  of 
relief  to  the  followers  of  their  craft  who  were  being  oppressed  by 
commercial  conditions  that  were  evolved  largely  through  false- 
hood and  misrepresentation,  it  is  also  true  that  the  book  has  de- 
veloped to  be  and  must  continue  to  be  a  factor  in  the  elimination 
of  ignorance  and  hypocrisy  from  the  practice  of  medicine. 
Just  a  little  sober  thought  devoted  to  the  subject  will  convince 
even  the  skeptical  that  while  the  National  Formulary  has  done  much 
to  promote  the  evolution  of  American  Pharmacy  along  profes- 
sional lines  its  direct  and  indirect  influence  in  the  way  of  estab- 
lishing, the  therapeutic  uses  and  limitations  of  drugs  and  prepara- 
tions of  drugs  on  a  firm  scientific  basis  will  prove,  in  time,  to  have 
been  its  greatest  achievement. 
THE   PROPOSED    METHOD   OF  MICROSUBLIMATION 
FOR  THE  DETECTION  OF  ^SCULIN  AND  THE 
IDENTIFICATION  OF  GELSEMIUM.1 
By  Frank  Tutin. 
In  some  recent  "  contributions  to  applied  plant  microchemistry," 
O.  Tunmann  has  proposed  a  method  for  the  detection  of  sesculin  by 
the  microsublimation,  which  he  considers  especially  adapted  for 
the  identification  of  gelsemium.2  It  is  stated  that  when  a  small 
quantity  of  the  ground  drug,  or  a  section  of  the  rhizome  or  root, 
is  placed  between  two  microscope  slides,  and  suitably  heated,  a 
characteristic  crystalline  sublimate  of  sesculin  is  obtained.  The 
sublimate  is  recognized  with  the  aid  of  the  microscope  by  its  appear- 
ance, crystalline  form,  and  certain  reactions.  It  is  furthermore 
stated  that  sesculin,  when  examined  by  the  micro-chemical  method, 
does  not  behave  as  it  does  under  the  conditions  of  an  ordinary 
1  A  communication  from  the  Wellcome  Chemical  Research  Laboratories, 
London,  E.C.,  and  reprinted  from  The  Pharmaceutical  Journad  and  Pharma- 
cist, February  10,  1912. 
2  Apoh.  Zcit.,  1911,  26,  and  Pharm.  Journal  and  Pharmacist,  1911,  87, 
849. 
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