BOARD QUESTIONS ANSWERED

AN IOWA EXAMINATION. (Continued from the July BULLETIN OF PHARMACY.)

PHARMACY.

27. What drugs enter into the composition of (a) Dover powder, (b) composition powder, (c) hiera picra, (d) Lassar's paste, (e) Haine's solution?

(a) Ipecac, opium, and sugar of milk. (b) Bayberry bark, ginger, capsicum, and cloves.

(c) Purified aloes and canella.

(d) The National Formulary contains formulas for three dermatologic pastes with which the name of Lassar is associated. "Lassar's naphthol paste" is composed of betanaphthol, precipitated sulphur, petrolatum, and soft soap; "Lassar's mild resorcin paste" is composed of resorcin, zinc oxide, starch, and liquid petrolatum; and Lassar's zinc-salicyl paste is composed of salicylic acid, zinc oxide, starch, and white petrolatum.

(e) Copper sulphate, water, glycerin, and potassium hydroxide.

28. What is the best method for preparing suppositories containing ichthyol and oil of theobroma?

First mix the ichthyol with an equal amount of hydrous wool-fat and then incorporate thoroughly with the cocoa butter which has previously been melted to a semi-fluid state. Allow the mixture to cool, stirring occasionally, and when cold form into suppositories by means of a pressure mold. If the mass upon cooling is too soft for use, it should be hardened by the addition of from 5 to 10 per cent of paraffin.

29. How much cocoa butter would you use to prepare one dozen rectal suppositories?

The U. S. P. requires that rectal suppositories made from cocoa butter should weigh about two grammes. Therefore to prepare one dozen such about 24 grammes should be used. 30. How would you prepare belladonna ointment?

By the following process:

Triturate 10 grammes of extract of belladonna leaves with 5 Cc. of diluted alcohol until a smooth mixture is obtained; with this incorporate 20 grammes of hydrous wool-fat;

then add 65 grammes of benzoinated lard and mix thoroughly.

31. How would you make citrine ointment? By the following process:

Heat 760 grammes of lard, free from water, in a capacious glass or porcelain vessel to a temperature of 105° C., then withdraw the heat and gradually add 70 grammes of nitric acid. When the reaction moderates, reapply the heat until effervescence ceases, and allow the mixture to cool to about 40° C. Having dissolved 70 grammes of mercury in 105 grammes of nitric acid, using sufficient heat to prevent the solution from crystallizing, add this solution to the lard mixture. When the

mass begins to congeal, stir it thoroughly with a wooden spatula, until it is of a bright citrine color. Contact with metallic utensils should be avoided.

32. How many fluidounces in a pound of chloroform?

The specific gravity of chloroform is not below 1.476. As one fluidounce of water weighs 454.6 grains, one fluidounce of chloroform would weigh 454.6×1.476 or 671 grains. And as there are 7000 grains in an avoirdupois pound, one pound of chloroform would measure 7000/671 or 10 fluidounces, 3 fluidrachms, and 27 minims.

33. How many fluidounces in a pound of peroxide of hydrogen?

The specific gravity of hydrogen peroxide is practically identical with that of water. One pound of it, therefore, would measure 7000/454.6 or 15 fluidounces, 3 fluidrachms, and 11 minims.

34. How many fluidounces in a pound of ether? The specific gravity of ether is not less than 0.716. One fluidounce, therefore, would weigh 454.6X0.716 or 325.5 grains. One pound would measure 7000/325.5 or 21 fluidounces, 1 fluidrachm, and 34 minims..

35. How many fluidounces in one pound of glycerin?

The specific gravity of glycerin is not less. than 1.246. One fluidounce, therefore, would weigh 454.6X1.246 or 566 minims. One pound would measure 7000/566 or 12 fluidounces, 2 fluidrachms, and 56 minims.

36. How many fluidounces in a pound of castor oil?

The specific gravity of castor oil is from 0.945 to 0.965. Taking 0.955 as an average

would give 0.955X454.6 or 423.14 grains as the weight of one fluidounce. In one pound, therefore, there would be 7000/423.14 or 16.543 fluidounces, which is equivalent to 16 fluidounces, 4 fluidrachms, and 20 minims.

37. Name the ingredients used in the manufacture of flexible collodion.

Collodion, Canada turpentine, and castor oil. 38. How is commercial sulphur obtained? Commercially, sulphur occurs in four varieties, namely, that known as stick or roll sulphur; and sublimed, washed and precipitated sulphur.

Roll sulphur is prepared by heating crude sulphur obtained from various sources, allowing impurities to settle and pouring the fused sulphur into cylindrical molds, in which it is allowed to congeal.

Sublimed sulphur is obtained by vaporizing crude sulphur and passing the vapor into large stone or brick chambers, the temperature of which is not allowed to rise above 100° or 110° C. The sulphur is deposited in partly crystalline and partly amorphous particles known as flowers of sulphur. The two varieties can be separated from each other by treatment with carbon disulphide, which dissolves the crystalline but not the amorphous variety of sulphur.

Washed sulphur is prepared by digesting sublimed sulphur with diluted ammonia water. This treatment removes any sulphuric acid and arsenic sulphide present as ammonium sulphate, arsenite, and sulpharsenite. The mixture is subsequently strained, and the resulting purified sulphur is washed with cold water to remove excess of ammonia; it is finally dried thoroughly with the aid of moderate heat, so as to prevent oxidation.

Precipitated sulphur is made from sublimed sulphur by first uniting this to an alkali and then decomposing the resulting compound with an acid.

39. Convert 23° F. to its equivalent in Centigrade scale.

To convert Fahrenheit into Centigrade the following rule may be used: Subtract 32 and divide by 1.8.

Therefore, 23-32 divided by 1.8-9 divided by 1.8 or -5. Answer -5° centigrade.

40. Name five official syrups.

Syrup, syrup of citric acid, syrup of almond. syrup of orange flowers, and syrup of ipecac.

41. Briefly describe the methods used in preparing two syrups.

Syrup of almond is prepared by mixing together 10 Cc. of spirit of bitter almond and 100 Cc. of orange-flower water with sufficient syrup to make a volume of 1000 Cc.

Syrup of orange-flower water may be prepared as follows: dissolve 850 grammes of sugar in 450 Cc. of orange-flower water by agitation, without heat, add enough orangeflower water to make the product measure 1000 Cc., and mix thoroughly.

CHEMISTRY.

1. Give the chemical formula of each of the following: (a) calomel, (b) glycerin, (c) corrosive sublimate, (d) potassium cyanide, (e) sulphurous acid.

(a) HgCl, (b) C2H,(OH)3, (c) HgCl2, (d) KCn, (e) H2SO3.

2. Give the chemical formulas of (a) two ferric salts, (b) two ferrous salts.

(a) Ferric chloride, FeCl3+6H2O; ferric sulphate, Fe2(SO4)3.

(b) Ferrous bromide, FeBr2+6H2O; ferrous sulphate, FeSO4+7H2O.

3. Give identification tests for acetates. Solution of ferric chloride forms, with solutions of acetates, a red solution containing ferric acetate, which on boiling precipitates brownish-red, basic ferric acetate. The red solution is not decolored by solution of mercuric chloride (distinction from thiocyanate), but is decolored by strong acidulation with. sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid (distinction from thiocyanate and from meconate). The ferric acetate is precipitated by alkali hydroxides.

If acetic acid or an acetate be warmed with sulphuric acid and a little alcohol, the characteristic and pungent and fragrant odor of ethyl acetate or acetic ether is obtained.

4. What is the molecular weight of sulphuric acid? Show how the result is obtained.

The molecular weight of sulphuric acid (H2SO4) is the sum of the weights of the atoms contained in it. Thus, as the atomic weight of hydrogen is 1, of sulphur 31.83, and of oxygen 15.88, the molecular weight of sulphuric acid is 2X1 plus 31.83 plus 4X15.88, or 97.35.

LETTERS

ONCE AGAIN-QUININE AND ASPIRIN. To the Editors:

On page 249 of the June BULLETIN, J. F. Smith, of Bishopville, S. C., says that in practice, at least, he can't agree with the statement that a combination of quinine and aspirin is incompatible. My experience with the mixture leads me to reach the same conclusion.

I have two physicians who frequently prescribe capsules containing 3 grains of quinine sulphate with 2 grains of aspirin, and also capsules containing 21⁄2 grains of each of the substances. I have filled at least one thousand such prescriptions.

Some time ago I conferred with the local physicians in regard to the alleged incompatibility; each of them claimed that he had obtained good results from the mixture and had never seen any harm resulting from its administration.

I believe that fully 90 per cent of the druggists throughout this part of the country have filled numbers of prescriptions calling for quinine and aspirin in combination.

presence of free mineral acids prevents this change. If the mixture is heated, the quinine isomerizes rapidly and is completely changed within 24 hours. At temperatures below 100° C. the change proceeds more slowly, and appears to be in ratio to the temperature.

Quinotoxin has none of the usual therapeutic effects of quinine, but acts something like digitoxin, producing first nausea and skin rashes, and in toxic doses death by convulsions.

When quinine sulphate and aspirin are brought together in dry form (as in capsules, powders or tablets) the change is very slow. The water of crystallization in the quinine sul

phate slowly splits up the aspirin into acetic and salicylic acids, and these act upon the quinine to form quinotoxin. In liquid mixtures, where the aspirin is hydrolyzed rapidly, the change into quinotoxin will proceed more rapidly.

Ordinarily when combinations of quinine. sulphate and aspirin are prescribed, the mixture is freshly prepared and is all taken by the patient before any material amount of quinotoxin is formed. In a normal stomach, also, the normal secretion of hydrochloric acid will probably prevent its formation within the body. Hence under ordinary conditions there

is little or no trouble from the combination.

But there is considerable evidence (as testified to by reputable Detroit pharmacists) that rash and nausea may follow the administration of this combination, which are frequently regarded as peculiar symptoms of the disease, because physicians do not understand the formation or action of quinotoxin. Combinations of quinine with organic acids other than those present in aspirin will also cause nausea, skin rash, and general discomfort.

I have read of but one death which may have been due to quinotoxin-that of a woman in Richmond, Va., about a year ago, whose death from convulsions puzzled her physicians, and who had been taking quinine and aspirin for a number of days.

Doubtless in the large majority of cases no quinotoxin is formed before administration or in the body, and hence no ill results follow. But there is plenty of evidence that ill results do follow in some cases, and that quinotoxin may be formed within the body in such combinations and cause minor symptoms which are likely to be attributed to "the progress of the disease." WILBUR L. SCOVILLE.

acre, when he could buy the best improved farm in Sturgis township at $50. He replied that he expected to raise the price of his land.

One year later another brother went west and bought ten acres at $150 an acre and set it out to orange trees. Before five years were up both these brothers sold out, realizing $1000 for every $100 invested.

City lots in Los Angeles were sold at enormous profits-rebought and resold at a profit three times.

These facts made me ambitious, so I sold out a good drug business, sent $2000 to my brother for investment, and he bought me two lots in Los Angeles for $2500. When I got there a month later with $500 in my pocket it took it all to pay for the lots. Then they were assessed $100 for street grading.

I went to the bank and borrowed money and bought another lot, and sold it next day at $100 profit-and paid the assessment on my city lots!

Being desirous of improving a ranch as my brothers had done, I found a desirable five acres with a good water right at $150 an acre. I was shown my corner stakes and head ditch for irrigation, and all with a clear title, so I closed a bargain and borrowed $500 of my brother for a first payment, taking a contract for a deed, and giving my brother a mortgage on my Los Angeles lots. The man I bought of was an invalid.

Proceeding to lay off and stake my ground for trees, I turned on the water to stop the gopher holes in my head ditch. I hadn't worked an hour when along came a man who wanted to know by what right I had opened the main ditch to get my water. I showed him my water right, and was informed that it was all right, only it lay across the river in another company!

My land was worthless without the water. I went to the man from whom I had made the purchase and demanded my money back. He was then on the verge of the grave, and it was like setting the day for his funeral to crowd things. His wife almost went into hysterics. I waited for him to get better, but he died the next day, and his estate went to probate.

Later I was called back to Michigan on urgent business, and left my contract with my brother. Still later he wrote me that they had had a flood in the canyon above my land and

that it was buried under six feet of sand. I let the contract go by default.

Meanwhile the boom had "busted" and the bottom had fallen out of Los Angeles lots; and when my $500 mortgage to my brother amounted to $1200 at 12 per cent (California interest rates were high at that time) I deeded the lots to him, and he held them until they sold for $800.

My whole investment of $2600 turned to blue sky, although it looked all right at the start. My brother lost $400 interest money.

Still later the California oil fields encroached on the city limits until whole blocks of fine residences were rendered valueless by oil vapors and soot. My lots were within a few hundred feet of a flowing well.

I have also duplicated your Ohio Druggist's experience. I hold some Telepost stock. I was offered $1.00 for my elegant "steal" engravings.

ANOTHER MICHIGAN DRUGGIST.

To the Editors:

O. M. HICKS AGAIN.

Now a word about the Harrison Law. Frankly, I don't like it-the law; and I'm not an addict, either.

Fine thing for the drug journals and the associations, though. It gives them an issue; something to work on.

I don't know all there is to be known about the Harrison law; nobody does. But I do know this: it wasn't put over on the square.

We have laws which make it a misdemeanor to obtain money under false pretenses. Moral law, which is (or ought to be) higher than statute law, is unalterably opposed to doubledealing and deceitful practices. What shall we say, then, about a law that pretends to be one thing and obtains another?

I don't often do such things, for it isn't good for my digestion, but I read in full the Supreme Court decision that caused so much uncertainty a month or two ago; the one that holds that possession of narcotics does not draw a term in the workhouse, or worse; and in that bunch of words I found this sentence: "Congress gave it [the Harrison law] the appearance of a taxing measure in order to give it a coating of constitutionality, but it really was a police measure that strained all the powers of the legislature," etc.