542  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {Am?S!^2arm' 
water,  and  that  the  ointment  should  be  occasionally  stirred  while  cooling  as  a 
means  of  obviating  the  defect  of  lumpiness. 
Podophyllum  Emodi.  —Mr.  John  C.  Umney  shows  that  the  resin  obtained 
from  it  yields  a  much  smaller  proportion  of  crystalline  picropodophyllin,  upon 
which  its  activity  is  supposed  to  depend,  than  does  that  prepared  from 
P.  peltatum.  The  Himalayan  drug  would,  therefore,  appear  to  be  unsuitable 
as  an  alternative  source  of  podophyllin  resin  prepared  according  to  the  official 
process. 
Grape  Sugar  Estimation. — Mr.  A.  W.  Gerrard  points  out  that  when  Feh- 
ling's solution  is  made  with  a  double  amount  of  copper  sulphate,  and  100  cc.  of 
it  is  treated  with  3-3  grammes  of  cyanide  of  potassium,  it  retains  its  original 
sugar  value,  but  during  reduction  gives  no  precipitate  except  on  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  blue  color.  The  end  reaction  is,  therefore,  sharp  and  more  exact 
than  is  the  case  in  the  ordinary  Fehling's  test. 
Potassium  Bromide. — Mr.  Dott  considers  that  the  official  tests  for  potassium 
bromide  are  fairly  complete,  but  that  the  volumetric  test  with  argentic  nitrate 
is  not  by  itself  capable  of  determining  the  purity  of  a  sample  with  accuracy. 
He  finds  a  considerable  variability  in  the  composition  of  the  commercial  salt, 
and  suggests  that  an  additional  test  should  be  introduced  into  the  Pharma- 
copoeia, fixing  a  limit  to  the  percentage  of  silver  salt  yielded  by  precipitation, 
and  specifying  a  minimum  percentage  of  loss  on  fusing  the  same  in  a  current 
of  chlorine. 
Jambul. — An  interesting  paper  by  Mr.  Thomas  Stephenson,  of  Bombay,  on 
Jambul  and  its  influence  on  the  action  of  diastaiic  ferments  was  read.  This 
drug  has  been  used  as  a  remedy  for  diabetes  sometimes  with  marked  success, 
while  at  others  it  has  completely  failed,  and  it  was  with  the  object  of  ascertain- 
ing the  cause  of  this  discrepancy  that  Mr.  Stephenson's  experiments  were 
made.  On  the  assumptions  that  the  efficacy  of  the  drug  consists  in  its  power 
to  arrest  the  action  of  diastatic  ferments  upon  starch,  and  that  its  age,  as  well 
as  the  process  employed  in  making  medicinal  preparations  from  it,  may  have 
an  influence  upon  its  therapeutic  activity,  comparative  experiments  were  made 
with  old  and  fresh  seeds,  and  with  liquid  extracts  prepared  with  and  without 
the  application  of  heat.  It  was  found  that  the  best  result  was  obtained  with 
the  fresh  kernels,  and  with  a  preparation  which  had  not  beeu  subjected  to  the 
action  of  heat.  The  pericarp  was  found  to  have  a  much  more  feeble  action 
than  the  kernel  even  when  fresh.  The  method  of  testing  adopted  was  to  mix 
a  definite  quantity  of  starch  mucilage  with  2  grammes  of  malt  extract,  adding 
the  different  preparations  of  jambul,  and  then  keeping  the  liquids  at  a  tem- 
perature of  960  to  ioo°  F.  for  two  hours.  The  sugar  was  then  determined  by 
means  of  Fehling's  solution.  Mr.  Stephenson  is  of  opinion  that  the  differ- 
ences of  the  results  thus  obtained  furnish  an  explanation  of  the  discrepancies 
which  have  been  observed  in  the  use  of  jambul  as  a  remedy  for  diabetes.  As 
a  practical  result  he  suggests  that  a  medicinal  preparation  of  jambul  should 
be  made  of  the  fresh  seeds,  discarding  the  pericarps  and  avoiding  the  applica- 
tion of  heat.  He  finds  that  a  weak  alcoholic  menstruum  extracts  the  active 
constituents  and  gives  a  stable  preparation,  and  he  suggests  that  the  process 
of  re-percolation  might  be  employed  with  advantage  in  the  case  of  this  drug. 
He  also  recommends  that  the  therapeutic  value  of  preparations  of  jambul 
should  be  tested  on  the  lines  laid  down  in  his  experiments. 
