798 
Tincture  of  Vanilla. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
*•   T)ecember,  19 19. 
Fuller's  Earth. — This  mineral  is  used  to  some  extent  in  phar- 
maceutical preparations.  The  most  objectionable  impurities  are 
heavy  metals,  other  than  iron,  and  arsenic. 
Among  the  many  samples  examined  by  these  laboratories  during 
the  past  few  years,  none  has  been  found  to  contain  heavy  metals, 
other  than  iron,  and  while  many  contained  traces  of  arsenic,  none 
contained  this  impurity  in  greater  excess  than  the  limit  of  I  part  in 
100,000  parts  allowed  by  the  U.  S.  P.  for  medicinal  substances. 
"  Terra  Alba." — Undoubtedly  this  name  originally  was  limited 
in  its  application,  to  white  clay,  but  this  is  not  now  the  case.  During 
the  past  three  or  four  years  a  white,  non-setting  calcium  sulphate 
has  been  uniformly  supplied  upon  orders  for  "Terra  Alba."  Pre- 
vious to  the  past  three  or  four  years,  either  a  white  clay  or  a  white, 
non-setting  calcium  sulphate  was  supplied. 
For  purposes  of  uniformity,  it  would  be  desirable  for  the  heavy 
chemical  trade  to  adopt  a  standard  iov  "  Terra  Alba  "  or  supply  the 
"  Terra  Alba  "  with  qualifying  statements  as  to  its  chemical  nature. 
Laboratories  of  H.  K.  Mulford  Company, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
THE  TINCTURE  OF  VANILLA  OF  THE  NATIONAL 
FORMULARY.1 
Tincture  of  vanilla  was  discontinued  in  the  ninth  edition  of  the 
Pharmacopoeia,  being  transferred  to  the  fourth  edition  of  the  Na- 
tional Formulary.  The  method  of  the  eighth  edition  of  the  Phar- 
macopoeia called  for  the  use  of  65  per  cent,  alcohol,  which  is  gen- 
erally recognized  as  being  higher  than  is  necessary  to  produce  the 
best  vanilla  extract,  but  otherwise  the  procedure  was  practicable 
and  workable.  The  same  cannot  be  said  of  the  substituted  method, 
which  is  as  follows : 
By  Bernard  H.  Smith. 
Tincture  of  Vanilla. 
(U.  S.  P.  VIII.) 
Tr.  Vanill. 
Vanilla,  cut  into  small  pieces,  one  hundred  grams 
Sugar,  in  coarse  granules,  two  hundred  grams  . . 
Alcohol  
Diluted  alcohol  
Water,  each  a  sufficient  quantity  
To  make  one  thousand  millimeters   
1000  mils. 
100  Gm. 
200  Gm. 
The  Jour,  of  Industrial  and  Engr.  Chem.,  Oct.,  1919. 
