.Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1901.  / 
Co m mercia I  Asa fcetida . 
133 
pieces  of  sacking,  and  in  addition  to  this,  many  of  the  tears  had 
quite  a  considerable  amount  of  coarse  sand  adhering  to  them. 
Another  sample,  No.  10  of  the  annexed  list,  was  kindly  lurnished 
from  the  stock  of  a  local  hospital,  where  it  had  been  on  hand  tor 
upward  of  five  years.  This  sample  was  dry  and  hard,  but,  as  far  as 
yoreign  admixture  was  concerned,  was  not  above  the  average. 
The  other  specimens  were  samples  of  commercial  gum,  and  the 
results  of  the  examinations,  with  the  prices  paid  or  asked  for  the 
various  varieties,  are  indicated  in  the  annexed  table  : 
No. 
Source  and  Description. 
Alcohol 
Soluble. 
Insoluble. 
Ash. 
Price. 
1 
I,oose  tears  .  . 
.  .  New  York 
70*1 
29 '9 
7-2 
$0:55 
2 
44"3 
557 
34"2 
■  30 
3  j 
414 
58-6 
35-8 
•45 
4 
36-4 
63'6 
45'i 
■43 
5 
31-2 
68-8 
5i*9 
•36 
•6 
30*2 
69-8 
50*6 
•32 
7 
28-5 
7i'5 
46-6 
•39 
8 
Powdered  .  .  . 
.  .  Philadelphia 
19-8 
8o'2 
606 
•35 
9 
817 
62-1. 
.40 
10 
4°'5 
59'5 
45'9 
? 
The  method  followed  in  making  these  examinations  was  to  take 
IOO  grammes  of  the  drug  and,  after  coarsely  comminuting  the 
same,  placing  it  in  an  Erlenmeyer  flask  and  adding  200  c.c.  of  alco- 
hol ;  the  mixture  was  then  set  in  a  warm  place  for  three  or  four  days 
and  occasionally  agitated.  After  this  the  dissolved  portion  was  fil- 
tered through  a  double  tared  filter,  while  the  residual  drug  was  then 
put  into  a  mortar  and  rubbed  down  to  a  paste ;  it  was  then  trans- 
ferred to  the  Erlenmeyer  flask  again  and  the  mortar  washed  out  with 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  alcohol,  which  was  added  to  the  drug ;  this 
mixture  was  allowed  to  stand  in  a  warm  place,  with  occasional  agi- 
tation, for  several  days,  and  then  transferred  to  the  filter  mentioned 
above.  Here  it  was  subsequently  washed  with  warm  alcohol  until 
the  washings  from  the  filter  were  without  odor  and  did  not  give  any 
turbidity  when  added  to  water.  The  residual  drug  was  then  dried 
to  constant  weight  in  a  drying  oven  and  weighed.  After  being 
thoroughly  mixed,  10  per  cent,  of  this  residue  was  taken  and  incin- 
erated to  obtain  the  proportionate  amount  of  ash. 
