4o6  Pharmaceutical  Notes,  { ^"^l^l"; ^z^^' 
odor  and  of  an  acid  reaction.  Evaporating  the  supernatant  liquid  and 
allowing  to  cool  crystals  were  obtained  similar  to  those  of  the  alcoholic 
extract,  the  quantity  being  too  small  to  allow  further  investigation. 
Examinatiou  of  the  Resinous  Precipitate. 
By  treating  with  stronger  boiling  alcohol  and  allowing  to  cool  a  soft, 
greenish,  waxy  substance  separated,  forming  a  pellicle.  This  sub- 
stance was  freed  from  coloring  matter  by  continued  washing  with  cold 
alcohol.  The  residue  was  proven  to  be  vegetable  wax,  possessing  a 
slightly  greenish  tinge.  After  treating  the  resinous  precipitate  with 
boiling  stronger  alcohol  there  remained  a  soft,  sticky  substance,  having 
neither  taste  nor  odor,  but  slightly  soluble  in  benzin  and  ether,  readily 
soluble  in  chloroform,  and  from  this  solution  was  reprecipitated  on  the 
addition  of  alcohol,  not  volatile,  burning  with  a  sooty  flame,  which 
experiments  prove  its  being  identical  with  caoutchouc. 
The  remaining  alcoholic  liquid  was  of  a  dark  green  color  ;  boiling, 
then  digesting  this  liquid  for  24  hours  with  animal  charcoal,  filtering, 
subsequently  evaporating  by  gentle  heat,  a  brittle  resin  was  obtained  of 
an  amber  color,  aromatic,  slightly  bitter  taste  and  faint  odor. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES. 
By  R.  F.  Fairthorne,  Ph.G. 
Benzoic  Acid  Pills, —  Benzoic  acid  is  one  of  those  substances,  of  a 
class  that,  on  account  of  difficult  solubility  in  water,  makes  it  desirable 
to  find  some  method  by  which  it  can  be  administered  without  the  dis- 
agreeable effect  which  follows  each  dose  of  the  mixture  when  swal- 
lowed. The  unpleasant  effect  referred  to  arises  from  particles  of  the 
acid  adhering  to  the  throat  and  palate,  and  remaining  there  for  some 
time  on  account  of  partial  insolubility.  This  difficulty  can  be  avoided 
by  giving  it  in  the  pilular  form.  Now,  it  so  happens  that  some  of  my 
pharmaceutical  friends  have  not  been  able  to  find  a  suitable  excipient 
for  making  benzoic  acid  pills,  and,  having  been  applied  to  by  one  of 
them,  I  have  tried  a  number  of  substances,  and  found  two,  either  of 
which  will  make  a  good  pill  mass  with  that  acid.  They  are  balsam  of 
fir  and  Castile  soap.  Of  the  former  a  few  drops  are  sufficient  to  make 
a  plastic  mass  with  a  drachm  of  benzoic  acid  ;  of  the  latter,  I  find 
that  it  requires  i  grain  for  7  grains  of  the  acid.  Of  course,  a  little  water 
is  added  to  the  soap.    By  either  of  these  means  a  perfectly  satisfactory 
