BOARD QUESTIONS ANSWERED A MINNESOTA EXAMINATION. 13. What is the official Latin name for lime water? Liquor Calcis. 14. How is lime water prepared? The official directions are as follows: Slake 12 grammes of lime by the very gradual addition of 400 Cc. of distilled water, and agitate occasionally during half an hour. Allow the suspended particles to subside, decant the supernatant liquid and reject it. Then add to the residue 3600 Cc. of distilled water, agitate thoroughly, let the mixture stand for 24 hours, agitate again, then let the coarser particles of solid matter subside, and pour the liquid, holding the undissolved calcium hydroxide in suspension, into a glass-stoppered bottle. From time to time shake the bottle, so as to keep the solution saturated. the clear liquid when required for use. Pour off 15. What is the object of keeping undissolved lime in a lime-water stock bottle? To insure a completely saturated solution at all times. This is assured if the bottle is shaken from time to time. 16. (a) What liniment contains lime water? (b) How is it made? (a) Lime liniment. (b) By mixing by agitation equal parts by volume of lime water and linseed oil. 17. (a) What is the official Latin name of mercurial ointment? (b) How does it differ from blue ointment. (a) Unguentum Hydrargyri. (b) Mercurial ointment has a higher mercury content than does blue ointment. The latter is made by diluting 670 parts by weight of mercurial ointment with 330 parts by weight of petrolatum. 18. Why is benzoinated lard used in making ointments? Benzoinated lard is less liable to rancidity than ordinary lard. It is superior to many other ointment bases when a readily absorbable base is required. It is also cheaper and better suited to mix with many medicinal agents than are certain other bases. 19. What are tinctures? Tinctures are solutions of non-volatile or only partially volatile substances, in liquids other than simple water or glycerin, and which invariably contain alcohol. While tinctures are usually assumed to be solutions of vegetable principles, this is not the case in all the official tinctures; two of these, the tinctures of iodine and ferric chloride, are solutions of inorganic substances, and must also be classed as exceptions to the rule that tinctures are solutions of non-volatile substances. 20. State by what different methods tinctures are made and give an example of one made by each process. Tincture of capsicum is made by percolation. Tincture of ferric chloride is made by solu tion. Tincture of aloes is made by maceration. Tincture of quillaja is made by decoction. Tincture of poppy is made by digestion. CHEMISTRY. 1. Define the science of chemistry and chemical change. Chemistry is the science that investigates the composition and structure of matter. It is that branch of physical science which treats of matter considered as composed of atoms and of the relations of one kind of matter to another. A chemical change is a change of chemical composition and structure-a change of atomic linking. Whenever any substance undergoes a chemical change its very identity is lost, and it becomes another kind, or two or more other kinds of matter. Its own distinctive molecules disappear and new and different molecules take their places. Thus when water is decomposed into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen, this change is a chemical change because the molecules of hydrogen hydroxide cease to exist and molecules of hydrogen and oxygen take their places. 2. Explain what is meant by the terms "atom" and "molecule." All matter consists of indivisible and, therefore, undecomposable particles called atoms. An atom is consequently the smallest particle of any element that can enter into the formation of any kind of compound matter. Molecules are the smallest particles of matter which are capable of separate or independent continued existence, or subsistence. They may consist of one or more atoms; but molecules consisting of single atoms (monatomic molecules) are extremely rare. Elemental molecules are molecules consisting of but one kind of atoms. The chemical elements, or the several kinds of elemental matter, consist of elemental molecules. Compound molecules, or chemical compounds, are molecules composed of more than one kind of atoms, or of two or more elements. 3. (a) How many atoms in a molecule of NH? (b) Give molecular weight and state what elements unite to form the molecule. (a) Four. (b) The molecular weight of the molecule of NH, is 16.93. One atom of nitrogen and three atoms of hydrogen unite to form the molecule. 4. Why is potassium iodide added in the preparation of tincture of iodine? Mainly for the purpose of retarding the formation of hydriodic acid; it also prevents precipitation when the tincture is mixed with water. 5. What is the chemical name and formula for (a) Epsom salt, (b) heavy calcined magnesia? (a) Magnesium sulphate, MgSO1+7H2O. (b) Heavy magnesium oxide, MgO. 6. What is the chemical reaction in the preparation of solution of citrate of magnesia? Acid magnesium citrate, carbon dioxide and water are formed when magnesium carbonate, citric acid and water are brought together in proper proportion. The equation is as follows: (4 MgCO3+Mg (OH)2+5 H2O)+ 5 (H&CH2O; + H2O) = 5 MgHC.H2O, + 4 CO, +16 H,O. 7. Give a chemical test for the identification of a "carbonate." The addition of an acid to an aqueous solution of a carbonate will cause a strong effervescence due to the liberation of carbon dioxide. 8. Give a chemical test for a "chloride.” When a test solution of silver nitrate is added to an aqueous solution of a chloride there is formed a curdy precipitate which is soluble in ammonia water. 9. Give a chemical test for a "sulphate." An aqueous solution of a sulphate yields, with barium chloride (test solution), a white precipitate insoluble in hydrochloric acid. 10. What does inorganic chemistry treat of? What does organic chemistry treat of? Inorganic chemistry treats of the metallic and non-metallic elements and their compounds, distinguished from organic chemistry, which is devoted to the investigation of carbon and its compounds. 11. Name five of the principal solvents. Water, alcohol, glycerin, ether, and chloroform. 12. What is "Lugol's solution" and how is it prepared? Lugol's solution is the U.S.P. compound solution of iodine. It is prepared by dissolving 5 parts by weight of iodine and 10 parts by weight of potassium iodide in a sufficient quantity of distilled water to make one hundred parts by weight of finished product. 13. What is (a) a normal solution, (b) a decinormal solution, (c) a centinormal solution? (a) Normal volumetric test-solutions are so made that the number of grammes of the reagent contained in one liter of the solution expresses the molecular weight of that reagent divided by the number of valence units presented by each of the two radicals or ions of the molecule, except in cases where the test solution is used as an oxidizing or reducing agent, in which case the molecular weight (or the atomic weight if the reagent be an element) is divided by the number of units of polarity value lost or gained by the whole number of atoms of the oxidizing or reducing elements contained in one molecule of the reagent. (b) A decinormal volumetric solution is one which contains in 1000 Cc. one-tenth of the quantity of the active reagent in the normal solution. (c) A centinormal volumetric solution is one which contains one-hundredth of the quantity of the active reagent in the normal solution. 14. For what, in chemistry, are normal, decinormal and centinormal volumetric solutions employed? For the purpose of accurately determining the quantity of a given constituent contained in another solution. 15. What is the percentage strength of (a) diluted acetic acid, (b) hydrocyanic acid, (c) hydrochloric acid, (d) phosphoric acid? (a) Not less than 6 per cent, by weight, of absolute acetic acid. (b) Hydrocyanic acid is not official in the U. S. P. VIII. Diluted hydrocyanic acid is official, however; it should contain not less than 2 per cent, by weight, of absolute hydrocyanic acid. (c) 31.9 per cent, by weight, of absolute hydrochloric acid. (a) Vomiting would be induced. (b) Unless the person taking it was an habitual user (such persons can sometimes take as high as 8 or 10 grains without alarm (d) 85 per cent, by weight, of absolute ing consequences) death would probably reorthophosphoric acid. 16. How is diluted nitrohydrochloric acid prepared and what precautions are necessary to obtain a perfect product? By mixing 40 Cc. of nitric acid with 182 Cc. of hydrochloric acid in a capacious glass vessel, and, when effervescence has ceased, adding 778 Cc. of distilled water. Diluted nitrohydrochloric acid should be kept in dark amber-colored, glass-stoppered bottles, in a cool place. It should not be dispensed unless recently prepared. 17. What would occur if you mixed lime water and calomel and what is the mixture known as? When lime water and mild mercurous chloride are mixed a precipitate of black mercurous oxide results. This preparation is sometimes prescribed as aqua phagedanica nigra, and is popularly known as "black wash." TOXICOLOGY AND POSOLOGY. 1. What is the objection to using an emetic in first treatment of phenol poisoning? Owing to its corrosive action, which softens and weakens the membranes of the alimentary tract, any attempt to remove phenol by administering an emetic is likely to cause further injury to the already corroded tissues. 2. What would you do in a case of phenol poisoning? The administration of a soluble sulphate has proved efficient in numerous cases and such a method of treatment is probably the best one to follow. Administering 1 ounce of magnesium sulphate, or 1⁄2 ounce of sodium sulphate, dissolved in half a pint of water results in the formation of harmless phenolsulphates. Even if several hours have elapsed since the ingestion of the poison this treatment should be employed, as the antidotal action of the sulphates proceeds in the blood. Alcohol, in any form, should never be used. 3. What would be the result if a person took (a) 20 grains of zinc sulphate, (b) 2 grains of morphine sulphate, (c) 10 grains of calomel, (d) 10 grains of tannin, (e) 1 drachm of aqua regia? sult. Even when 2 grains are taken, however, it is possible to save the patient if the poison is speedily removed, respiration maintained (artificially if necessary), and the circulation kept up. (c) In large doses, from 5 to 15 grains, calomel possesses purgative properties. The cathartic action is not increased in proportion to the dose, and enormous quantities have been given with impunity. (d) Tannic acid (tannin) may be given in doses of ten grains or greater amounts without producing more than a mild gastrointes tinal irritation. Tannic acid is astringent in action. (e) Unless taken greatly diluted and fol lowed by the prompt administration of an alkali, a one fluidrachm dose of aqua regia (nitrohydrochloric acid) would probably cause death. 4. For what poison may each of the following be used to advantage: (a) Epsom salt, (b) coffee, (c) vinegar, (d) plaster from the walls, (e) old oil of turpentine? (a) Phenol. (b) Opium. 5. Name a good antidote for each of the following and state whether the antidote is chemical or physiological: (a) Solution .of potassium hydroxide, (b) iodine, (c) strychnine, (d) aqua fortis, (e) headache powders. (a) Diluted acid (vinegar or lemon juice), a chemical antidote. (b) Starch is a chemical antidote for iodine, but the stomach should be evacuated as soon as possible, as the iodide of starch formed is not inactive. (c) Tannic acid is a chemical antidote; chloral is a physiological antagonist. (d) Alkalies, as sodium bicarbonate or magnesia, are chemical antidotes. (e) For acetanilide headache powders belladonna or atropine to maintain the bloodpressure, and strychnine for the respiration, are physiological antagonists. (To be continued.) A NEW DRUG CHAIN IN THE WEST There is to be a new chain of drug stores along the Pacific Coast, it is stated. J. G. Vance, president of the Vance Drug Company, Los Angeles, is the moving spirit and is to head the big corporation. Mr. Vance, a strong and vigorous business man, is well known in the West, where he has been identified with retail drug interests for more than twenty years. He had owned, at different times, three of the best stores in Los Angeles; in fact, still owns one of them. This store is to be made the nucleus of the coming group, it is understood. According to press reports San Francisco and Fresno are to be invaded, and in all probability links will be forged farther north. Dispatches state that Mr. Vance and his associates have been successful in negotiating a number of very desirable leases. Mr. Vance recently completed an extended trip through the East, where he made a special study of chain methods and possibilities. He returned fully convinced that the chain idea is |