Am  jour.  Pharm.  i      P  harmaco  pooial  Nomenclature.  ?6q 
June,  1919.      J  r  ou7 
natant  liquor  is  then  decanted,  the  precipitate  drained  and  rapidly 
dried  at  a  moderate  temperature.  Gelatin  tannate,  prepared  in  this 
manner,  is  a  white  odorless  nearly  tasteless  powder ;  almost  insoluble 
in  water,  dissolved  by  alkalies,  and  insoluble  in  acids.  It  has  proven 
to  be  a  good  intestinal  astringent,  being  less  irritant  to  the  stomach 
than  tannin  and  most  other  tannates.  For  an  adult  the  dose  is  0.5 
Gm.  given  from  four  to  eight  times  each  day.  Children  can  be  given 
from  two  to  three  decigrams  four  or  five  times  each  day. — The 
Pharm.  Jour.,  102  (1919),  172. 
Peppermint  Cultivation  in  Holland. — It  is  claimed  that  the  ex- 
perimental cultivation  of  this  most  popular  household  remedy  is 
being  attended  with  promising  results.  Two  lots  were  found  to 
contain  0.70  and  0.95  per  cent,  of  oil  respectively.  Taste  and  odor 
were  deemed  excellent.  A  chemical  investigation  revealed  the  fol- 
lowing: Refractive  index  (200  C.),  1.4621  and  1.4615;  optical  rota- 
tion, —  29°.2  and  — 290  ;  specific  gravity,  0.907  and  0.905;  ester 
value,  23.7  and  21 ;  combined  menthol,  61  and  63.4  per  cent.  It  is 
hoped  to  repeat  these  experiments  next  year  on  a  larger  scale. — 
Pharm.  Weekbl.,  56  (1919),  41,  through  The  Pharm.  Jour.,  102 
(1919),  172. 
PHARMACOPCEIAL  NOMENCLATURE.1 
Prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  necessity  of  establishing  in- 
ternational standards  for  potent  drugs  was  realized,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  recognized  by  all  pharmacopoeias.  But  while  provi- 
sions were  made  for  standardizing  the  strength  of  certain  prepara- 
tions nothing  was  done  towards  establishing  uniformity  in  nomen- 
clature, either  in  the  Latin  titles  adopted  by  different  pharma- 
copoeias, or  indeed  in  the  names  of  similar  preparations.  Thus,  at 
present  we  have  the  following  official  varieties  in  Latin  nomencla- 
ture for  the  same  substance :  Hydrargyri  subchloridum,  hydrargyri 
chloridum  mite,  hydrargyrum  monochloratum,  chloretum  hydrargy- 
rosum,  hydrargyrum  chloratum.  This  lack  of  uniformity  in  nomen- 
clature almost  led  to  a  Belgian  pharmacist  being  shot,  under  the 
following  circumstances.  A  German  doctor  doing  duty  at  Fort 
Malonne  sent  down  to  the  military  hospital  in  Namur  a  collective 
1  Reprinted  from  The  Chemist  and  Druggist,  May,  1919. 
