808  Scientific  and  Technical  Abstracts.     { Am^0°" r'1f2hiarm' 
200  cc.  of  water  for  30  mins.  under  a  reflux  condenser,  the  solution 
cooled,  diluted  to  500  cc.  and  filtered.  Ten  cc.  of  the  filtrate  is 
placed  in  a  test-tube  and  a  series  of  standards  is  prepared  in  10 
test-tubes,  these  containing,  respectively,  quantities  of  0.1  to  1.0  cc. 
of  0.0038  per  cent,  formaldehyde  solution,  and  each  diluted  to  a  vol- 
ume of  10  cc.  To  each  tube  is  added  2  cc.  of  SchifFs  reagent  and 
the  colorations  obtained  are  compared  after  the  lapse  of  3  mins. 
The  presence  of  lactose,  sucrose,  and  menthol  does  not  interfere. — 
(W.  P.  S.;  through  The  Analyst.) 
Estimation  of  Santonin  in  Wormseed. — Kariyone  and  Ki- 
mura  recommend  the  following  method  for  the  assay  of  wormseed : 
10  gm.  of  powdered  wormseed  is  extracted  with  ether  for  three 
hours  in  a  Soxhlet  extractor.  The  ether  is  removed  by  evaporation, 
and  the  residue  boiled  for  thirty  minutes,  under  a  reflux  condenser, 
with  100  cc.  of  barium  hydroxide  solution  (5  per  cent.).  The 
solution,  after  being  saturated  with  carbon  dioxide  until  it  turns 
blue  litmus  red,  is  then  filtered.  Eighty  cc.  of  the  filtrate  (=8  gm. 
of  drug)  is  placed  in  a  separator  of  200  cc.  capacity;  10  cc.  of 
hydrochloric  acid  (15  per  cent.)  and  20  cc.  of  chloroform  are  added, 
and  the  mixture  is  vigorously  shaken  for  two  minutes.  After 
standing  for  a  few  minutes  the  clear  chloroformic  solution  is  filtered 
through  a  filter,  previously  moistened  with  chloroform,  into  a  flask 
of  200  cc.  capacity.  The  acid  solution  is  then  shaken  three  times, 
using  on  each  occasion  10  cc.  of  chloroform,  each  washing  being 
filtered  through  the  same  filter.  The  total  chloroformic  solution  is 
evaporated  to  dryness,  and  the  residue  dissolved  in  30  cc.  of  hot 
alcohol.  After  cooling,  the  alcoholic  solution  is  neutralized  with 
N/10  solution  of  potassium  hydroxide,  using  phenolphthalein  as 
indicator.  Thereupon  20  cc.  of  N/10  solution  of  potassium,  hydrox- 
ide is  further  added,  and  the  mixture  boiled  for  thirty  minutes 
under  a  reflux  condenser.  After  cooling,  it  is  re-titrated  with  N/10 
hydrochloric  acid.  On  the  other  hand,  30  cc.  of  the  alcohol  used 
to  dissolve  the  chloroformic  extract  is  treated  with,  20  cc.  of  N/10 
solution  of  potassium  hydroxide  in  the  same  way  as  described 
above,  and  neutralized  with  N/10  hydrochloric  acid.  If  the  num- 
ber of  cc.  of  N/10  hydrochloric  acid  used  in  the  first  instance  is 
=X,  and  in  the  second  test  =Y;  the  percentage  of  santonin  present 
is  calculated  by  the  use  of  the  following  formula : 
