Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
December,  1895.  / 
Calx  Sulphur  at  a. 
60 1 
one  that  could  be  used  to  replace  the  glycerin  suppository  now  in 
common  use. 
The  suppositories  made  with  agar-agar  have,  however,  these 
advantages :  they  easily  leave  the  moulds,  and  are  not  affected  to 
the  same  extent  by  exposure  as  are  those  containing  sodium 
stearate. 
No  experiment  was  made  to  ascertain  the  value  of  the  supposi- 
tories made  with  agar-agar  as  a  laxative. 
CALX  SULPHUR  ATA.— 
By  Irwin  A.  Becker, 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy.    No.  150. 
The  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  of  1880  directed  calx  sulphur ata 
to  be  prepared  by  heating  together  finely  powdered  lime  and  pre- 
cipitated sulphur,  but  in  the  revision  of  1890,  the  official  process 
was  made  to  consist  in  heating  dried  calcium  sulphate  with  char- 
coal and  starch.  The  Pharmacopoeia  of  1880  fixed  the  strength  of 
the  preparation  as  containing  not  less  than  36  per  cent,  of  calcium 
monosulphide ;  the  revision  of  1890  describes  the  product  as  con- 
taining at  least  60  per  cent,  of  that  substance. 
The  method  of  estimating  the  calcium  monosulphide  is  the  same 
now  as  in  the  former  revision,  and  depends  upon  the  complete  pre- 
cipitation of  the  copper  from  a  definite  amount  of  copper  sulphate 
by  a  weight  of  the  product  which,  if  it  be  of  full  strength,  should 
contain  sufficient  of  the  calcium  monosulphide  to  convert  all  of  the 
copper  into  insoluble  copper  sulphide. 
With  the  view  of  ascertaining  whether  or  not  the  manufacturing 
chemists  had  adopted  the  increased  strength  of  the  lately  enforced 
Pharmacopoeia,  samples  were  procured  from  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia and  St.  Louis,  and  examined  by  the  following  official  directions : 
"If  1  gramme  of  sulphurated  lime  be  gradually  added  to  a  boiling 
solution  of  2-o8  grammes  of  cupric  sulphate  in  50  c.c.  of  water,  the 
mixture  digested  on  a  water-bath  for  fifteen  minutes,  and  filtered 
when  cold,  no  color  should  be  imparted  to  the  filtrate  by  one  drop 
of  potassium  ferro-cyanide  T.  S.  (presence  of  at  least  60  per  cent,  of 
pure  calcium  monosulphide)." 
When  the  samples  were  treated  in  this  manner  it  was  found  that 
in  no  case  was  1  gramme  of  the  sample  sufficient  to  completely  pre_ 
