-302 
Powdered  Drugs. 
f  Ain.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      June,  1883. 
it  in  the  cold  with  a  bright  red  color,  becoming  somewhat  darker  in 
warming ;  dilute  nitric  acid  shows  the  same  behavior,  but  is  much  slower 
in  its  action.  With  concentrated  hydrochloric  acid  it  forms,  even  in 
the  cold,  a  bright  yellow  liquid,  which  upon  boiling  becomes  decom- 
posed with  the  separation  of  a  smeary,  dark  gray  substance ;  dilute 
hydrochloric  acid  dissolves  it  only  by  the  aid  of  heat.  It  is  slowly 
dissolved  by  fresh  chlorine-water,  as  also  by  solutions  of  potassium  or 
sodium  hydrate,  es])ecially  on  boiling.  The  aqueous  solution  of  colo- 
cynthin  is  completely  precipitated  by  tannic  acid,  with  the  formation 
of  a  very  abundant  white,  flocculent  precipitate ;  acetate  of  lead  pro- 
duces only  a  very  slight  white  turbidity.  The  solution  in  water  is  not 
effected  by  basic  acetate  of  lead,  ferric  chloride,  argentic  nitrate,  lime- 
water,  ferrous  sulphate,  potassium  ferrocyanide,  mercuric  chloride, 
ammonia,  and  the  alkalies. 
When  heated  with  caustic  alkali  it  developes  no  vapors  of  ammonia, 
and  therefore  contains  no  nitrogen.  The  aqueous  solution  of  coiocyn- 
thin  quickly  reduces  Fehling's  solution ;  if  to  the  aqueous  solution  a 
few  drops  of  sulphuric  acid  be  added,  a  slight  turbidity  ensues. 
Although  Walz  is  stated  to  have  obtained  colocynthin  in  a  crystal- 
line form,  the  experiments  of  the  author  upon  the  colocynthin  of  his 
own  preparation,  as  also  with  that  of  Walz,  Bastick,  and  Hiibsch- 
mann,  afforded  only  negative  results ;  it  always  remained  as  a  smeary 
mass,  becoming  brittle  upon  complete  drying.  The  author  further- 
more considers  the  statement  of  the  decomposition  of  colocynthin  into 
-cane-sugar  and  colocynthein  by  the  action  of  concentrated  sulphuric  or 
hydrochloric  acid  to  be  very  improbable. 
The  entire  yield  of  pure  colocynthin  from  5  kilograms  of  colocynth 
amounted  to  scarcely  30  gms.  The  statement  of  Walz  to  have  obtained 
about  2  per  cent,  is  thus  also  not  confirmed. — Arch,  der  Pharm.,  Bd. 
221,  1883,  pp:  200-205. 
Powdered  Drugs. — C.  L.  Becker  has  examined  microscopically 
forty-two  powdered  drugs  obtained  from  a  retail  drug  store,  and  found 
thirty  to  be  pure.  The  nature  of  the  supposed  adulteration  is  not 
stated,  or  was  not  determined  in  powdered  asafetida,  cloves,  jalap  and 
rhubarb.  Starch  was  found  in  cinnamon ;  wheat  flour  in  elm  bark, 
mustard  (with  turmeric),  mandrake,  poplar  bark  and  valerian;  corn 
meal  in  fenugreek,  and  an  inferior  gum  with  crystals  of  silica  in  gam- 
boge.— The  Microscope,  February,  1883,  p.  189. 
