874  Scientific  and  Technical  Abstracts.    _|  Ambe°ur  1921 arm' 
Pharmacological  Evaluation  of  Convallaria  Majalis. — • 
Dr.  S.  G.  Zondek  finds  that  convallaria  contains  an  unusually  high 
per  cent,  of  glucoside,  which  acts  on  the  heart.  The  activity,  meas- 
ured on  frogs,  is  five  times  that  of  digitalis.  The  flowers  are  the 
most  active  part  of  the  plant.  The  M.  L.  D.  of  convallamarin  per 
gram  of  frog  was  found  to  be  0.015  mgm.  Extracts  made  with 
water,  70  per  cent,  alcohol,  and  absolute  alcohol  all  showed  about  the 
same  activity.  The  relative  potency  of  the  herb,  flowers  and  roots 
is  reported  as  6000,  10,000  and  5000.  The  stability  of  the  tincture 
was  investigated  with  the  result  that  two  samples  of  tincture  made 
from  different  specimens  of  the  herb  and  one  made  from  flowers, 
after  standing  one  year  showed  only  10  per  cent,  change,  one  sam- 
ple showing  an  increasing  activity.  The  author  concludes  that  it  is 
possible  to  standardize  tincture  of  convallaria  accurately  by  the  frog 
method  and  that  the  drug  is  worthy  of  more  extended  use. — Archiv. 
Exp.  Path.  u.  Pharmakol.  go,  pp.  2yy-S'/  (1921). 
J.  F.  C. 
New  Color  Reactions  of  Quinine. — An  (aqueous?)  solution 
of  a  quinine  salt  is  treated  in  a  test  tube  with  chlorine  water.  To  this 
there  is  added  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  form  the  lower  layer,  a 
very  dilute  ammonia  or  caustic  alkali  solution  which  is  saturated 
with  sodium  chloride  in  order  to  increase  its  density.  At  the  inter- 
face a  violet  red  ring  appears  while  the  lower  layer  is  colored  green, 
if  ammonia  was  used,  or  yellow  with  potassium  or  sodium  hy- 
droxides. In  the  erythroquinine  reaction,  a  solution  of  quinine 
treated  with  either  chlorine  water  or  bromine  water,  and  then  with 
potassium  ferrocyanide,  gives  a  red  color.  The  author,  attributing 
this  reaction  to  the  formation  of  ferricyanide,  has  modified  it  as  fol- 
lows :  The  quinine  solution  is  added  to  a  slight  excess  of  either 
chlorine  water  or  bromine  water,  and  ammonia  is  added  to  slight 
alkalinity.  A  green  (thalleoquin)  color  results.  If  a  few  drops  of 
freshly  prepared  solution  of  potassium  ferricyanide  are  added  the 
green  color  changes  to  red,  and  on  shaking  the  mixture  with  chloro- 
form, the  red  color  passes  into  the  lower  layer. —  (D.  Ganassini, 
Bolletino  chim.  farm.,  v.  60,  p.  141  [1921].) 
J.  F.  C. 
