Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
October,  1909.  j 
British  Conference. 
487 
Experiences  in  the  Testing  of  Drugs  by  Biochemical  Meth- 
ods, with  Special  Reference  to  Digitalis,  Squill, 
and  strophanthus. 
By  William  Martin. 
The  author  gives  the  result  of  his  work  in  testing,  biochemically, 
various  drugs,  such  as  cannabis  indica,  ergot,  epinephrin,  and  the 
cardiac  drugs  mentioned  in  the  title  of  his  paper.  He  agrees  with 
Professor  Marshall  that  the  main  cause  of  deterioration  of  extract 
of  cannabis  indica  is  oxidation  of  the  active  constituent,  and  that 
storing  in  tightly  sealed  vessels  would  tend  to  secure  greater  uni- 
formity. He  agrees  that  generally  good  results  are  obtained  from 
fluidextract  of  ergot,  although  the  differences  in  activity  are  suffi- 
cient proof  that  much  improvement  could  be  made  in  the  official 
preparations  of  ergot. 
His  method  for  testing  the  cardiac  tonics  is  one  which  requires  a 
fatal  termination  to  follow  the  giving  to  a  frog  of  a  fixed  dose  of 
the  preparation  tested  within  a  certain  time-limit.  That  considerable 
variation  exists  in  the  physiological  action  of  preparations  of  these 
cardiac  drugs,  particularly  digitalis,  is  the  conclusion  at  which  he 
arrives.  Dr.  Martin  thinks  that  biochemical  testing  could  and  should 
be  undertaken  by  pharmacists. 
Estimation  of  Extractive  and  Glycerin  in  Spirituous 
Galenicals. 
By  W.  A.  H.  Naylor  and  E.  J.  Chappel. 
The  authors'  method  consists  of  distilling,  under  reduced  pres- 
sure and  in  a  current  of  steam,  a  sample  of  the  preparation  to  be 
tested.  The  distilled  portion  is  evaporated  to  a  definite  volume  and 
an  aliquot  part  used  for  determining  glycerin  by  the  use  of 
Hehner's  bichromate  method  as  modified  by  Richardson  and  Jarre, 
the  treating  with  lead  subacetate  being  omitted.  The  extractive 
which  remains  in  the  flask  is  dried  at  no°  C.,  and  weighed. 
The  Constituents  of  the  Rhizome  of  Cimicifuga  Racemosa. 
By  Horace  Finnemore. 
Water,  light  petroleum  ether,  chloroform,  ethyl  acetate,  and 
alcohol  were  used  in  the  treatment  of  an  alcoholic  extract  of  the 
rhizome.    The  aqueous  contained  a  small  quantity  of  isoferulic 
