An juneri9Pnarm' }         Podophyllum  Ash  Standards.  429 
These  results  indicate  that  aconitine  is  about  300  times  as  effi- 
cient, i.  c,  toxic  as  benzoyl-aconine,  and  4000  times  as  toxic  as  acon- 
ine,  and  at  the  same  time  they  apparently  possess  practically  none 
of  the  characteristic  properties  therapeutically  of  the  aconitine — as 
for  instance,  producing  numbness  on  the  tip  of  the  tongue,  etc. 
The  method  employed  in  these  experiments  was  for  the  Fluid- 
extract  Aconite  to  dilute  1  c.  c.  thereof  to  10  c.  c.  with  50  per  cent, 
alcohol.  Use  300  to  400  gm.  guinea  pig  and  calculate  the  dose  per 
pig  and  dilute  this  with  normal  salt  solution  to  a  total  volume  of  1.5 
c.  c.  per  pig.  Inject  this  into  the  subcutaneous  tissues  of  the  abdo- 
men and  take  as  a  lethal  dose  the  smallest  amount  which  will  killv 
within  24  hours. 
For  the  Aconitine — disolve  0.1  gm.  in  100  c.  c.  of  2  per  cent, 
acetic  acid.  Dilute  1  c.  c.  of  this  solution  to  10  c.  c.  with  distilled 
water,  givin  a  1  :  10000  solution  of  aconitine.  Calculate  the  total  dose 
required  for  a  pig  of  300  to  400  gm.  and  dilute  with  normal  saline 
solution  to  a  sum  total  of  1.5  c.  c.  and  inject  as  for  the  Fluidextract 
Aconite.  Approximately  0.00000005  per  gram  is  usually  the  lethal 
dose. 
With  the  aconitine  cryst.  above  used  as  a  standard  it  will  now 
remain  to  establish  by  comparative  tests  in  various  laboratories  the 
extent  of  agreement  reached  in  the  application  of  above  method  of 
physiological  assay  for  fluidextract  and  tincture  aconite  as  well  as 
the  drug  aconite,  which  latter  will  of  course  only  be  an  application 
of  the  method  of  the  two  fluid  preparations,  as  a  liquid  extract  will 
have  to  be  prepared  to  make  the  assay.  This  work  is  now  before  our 
Committee  on  Aconite  and  will  doubtless  be  worked  out  some  time 
soon. 
PODOPHYLLUM  ASH  STANDARDS. 
By  E.  L.  Xewcomb,  C.  H.  Rogers  and  C.  W.  Folkstad, 
MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN. 
The  present  criticism  of  the  3  per  cent,  ash  limit  for  Podophyl- 
lum appears  to  be  well-founded.  Much  of  the  drug  on  the  market  at 
the  present  time  has  been  carelessly  cleaned  and  should  no  doubt  be 
rejected  or  properly  cleaned  before  being  used.  On  the  other  hand, 
some  very  well  cleaned  samples  yield  considerably  more  than  the 
permitted  3  per  cent.  ash. 
