!6  Early  History  of  Percolation.       { A  janJu°au;ryj 
vested  and  used  for  the  commercial  preparation  without  fear  of 
the  total  alkaloid  content  falling  below  0.25  per  cent.,  which  is  the 
desired  standard. 
I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  George  E'We  and  the  analytical  depart- 
ment for  having  made  all  of  the  alkaloid  determinations  and  I  wish 
to  take  this  opportunity  to  express  my  thanks  in  this  connection. 
Biological  Laboratories, 
H.  K.  Mulford  Co., 
Glenolden,  Pa. 
THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PERCOLATION. 
By  James  F.  Couch. 
The  use  of  a  process  analogous  to  percolation  for  the  extraction 
of  soluble  matters  from  their  admixture  with  an  insoluble  residuum 
has  been  traced  back  to  the  ancient  Greeks,  centuries  before  our  era, 
by  Raubenheimer.1  The  application  of  the  process  to  pharmacy, 
however,  dates  from  much  more  recent  times.  In  fact,  the  exact 
date  of  its  introduction  as  well  as  the  pharmacist  to  whom  belongs 
the  honor  of  establishing  the  method  for  the  extraction  of  drugs  is 
still  within  the  realm  of  controversy.  Conflicting  claims  have  been 
advanced  by  various  writers  and  no  one  has,  as  yet,  devoted  the 
time  necessary  to  make  a  serious  study  of  this  question,  to  weigh  the 
published  evidence,  and  to  offer  a  conclusion. 
I  have,  during  the  past  four  years,  been  collecting  data  on  per- 
colation, for  other  purposes  than  the  strictly  historical,  and  in  the 
course  of  this  work  have  been  able  to  review  the  early  literature 
and  obtain  sufficient  material  to  cast  much  light  upon  the  origin  of 
percolation  in  pharmacy.  It  seemed  of  interest  to  present  this  ma- 
terial and  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  it  to  American  pharma- 
cists since  they  have  done  more  to  develop  and  apply  the  process  of 
percolation  than  any  others. 
It  is  certain  that  percolation  was  unknown  as  a  pharmaceutical 
process  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  for  the 
curious  "  Pharmacopee  Universelle "  of  Doctor  Nicholas  Lemery, 
which  was  published  in  1698,  does  not  mention  it.  Lemery,  how- 
ever, gives  detailed  and  complete  directions  for  carrying  out  all  sorts 
1  This  Journal,  vol.  82,  p.  32,  1910. 
