236 
Cocaine  and  Stovaine. 
5  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     March,  1921. 
COCAINE  AND  STOVAINE,  A  DIFFERENTIAL 
REACTION.* 
By  M.  A.  Manseau. 
The  chlorhydrate  of  cocaine  and  the  chlorhydrate  of  amyleine 
have  reactions  common  to  all  the  alkaloids  and  particular  reactions 
that  permit  of  distinguishing  them,  some  of  which  are  given  in  the 
Codex  for  cocaine  and  in  the  supplement  of  the  Codex  for  stovaine. 
Among  the  reactions  that  are  common  to  them,  there  is  only  one 
that  presents  a  special  interest  because  it  is  capable  of  characteriz- 
ing these  two  substances.  It  is  the  action  of  the  weakly  alkaline 
substances  such  as  sodium  borate,  the  alkaline  phosphates  or  better, 
the  lime  water  of  the  Codex.  I  have  shown,  in  a  previous  note,  the 
incompatability  which  resulted  in  the  presence  of  sodium  borate 
and  the  chlorhydrate  of  cocaine  in  aqueous  solution  as  an  eye-wash 
and  the  advantage  that  there  was  in  replacing  the  sodium  borate 
by  the  boro-borate  in  order  that  a  notable  quantity  of  cocaine  can 
be  maintained  in  solution.  But  a  very  small  quantity  of  cocaine 
can  be,  nevertheless,  held  in  solution  in  the  presence  of  sodium 
borate.  It  is  not  the  same  with  stovaine.  This  substance  is 
extremely  sensitive  to  the  feeble  alkalies.  If,  indeed,  there  is  put 
into  a  tube  i  to  12  cc  of  a  solution  of  stovaine,  1  part  in  1000  parts 
of  water  and  there  is  added  1  or  2  drops  of  lime  water,  there  is 
seen  at  once  the  precipitation  of  dimethyamino-dimethylethylben- 
zoylcarbinol.  The  importance  of  this  reaction  from  a  practical 
standpoint  resides  in  the  fact  that  the  glass  employed  for  the  am- 
poules of  stovaine  should  be  absolutely  neutral. 
DETECTION.  OF  FORMIC  ACID  IN  ACETIC  ACID  *  " 
By  M.  Polinski. 
WINNIPEG,  CANADA. 
On  the  basis  of  formic  acid  being  easily  oxidized  by  boiling 
with  sulphuric-chromic  acid,  which  does  not  attack  acetic  acid. 
Twenty  c.  c.  of  the  acid  under  examination,  which  should 
preferably  contain  not  more  than  6  to  8  per  cent,  of  absolute  acid, 
is  mixed  with  20  c.  c.  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  and  2  to  3 
^Bulletin  Socletie  de  Pharmacie  de  Bordeaux,  1920-3,  183.  Translated 
by  V.  O.  Homerberg. 
*  From  The  Chemis, -Analyst,  April  1,  1920.' 
