92 THE ANALYST. SEPARATION OF QUININE AND STRYCHNINE. BY B. W. DwARs.':' WHEN small amounts of strychnine must be estimated in presence of much quinine, it is advisable, according to the author, to remove first the bulk of the quinine, and this is most effectually done by means of ammonium oxalate, quinine oxalate being almost insoluble in excess of that re-agent. The author used the following process for the analysis of a sample of the well-known Citrate of Iron with Quinine and Strychnih, which, as his analysis shows, is not always what it ought to be.Five grms. were dissolved in a little water, super-saturated with ammonia, and sha,ken with chloroform. After evaporating the chloroform, and drying the residue at l l O o C., there remained -81 grm.=16.2 per cent.alkaloids. These were now dissolved in 10 C.C. warm water, and a few drops sulph. acid, then neutralized by ammonia and mixed with ammonium oxalate in excem. After standing for twenty-four hours the quinine oxalate was collected on a weighed filter, the mother liquor still adhering to it removed by gentle pressure, arid finally once washed with water, After drying at lOOQ C. it weighed *704 grms., or -618 quinine.The filtrate and wash water were sliakeii up with ammonia and chloroform, and the latter yielded on evaporation -1775 grms., consisting of amorphous alkaloid (which ought not to exist in the pure drug), strychnine, and traces only of crystallizable quinine. It was twice treated With 3 C.C. of pure ether, which dissolved the amorphous alkaioid, and left behind -021 grms.of pure strychnine. Only minute traces of strychnine were lost, The final result was a6 follows :- Amorphous qnininc . . 3.13 ), - - Y 3 ? 9 .. 4.44 Strychnine ,, .. 4 2 9 7 Cryst. quinine , . . . 12.36 per cent.=quinine citrate . . 17.66 per cent. - - 22.10 15-91 Loss * . .. *29 So 22.10 per cent, quinine citrate instead of 24 per cent. ; aud *42 per cent.strychnine instead of 1 per cent. DUTIES OF AN&YsTs.-At the meeting of the Holborn District Board of Works, on April 2, Mr. Walker called the attention of the Board to the fact that during the past three months there had been no complaints whatever in regard to adulterations in the district. He suggested that, instead of paying their Analyst by salary, the Board should give a fee per case. Mr. Mather said they had certainly had no '' flaming sensational cases )' recently, but at the same time their Analyst had not been idle, as would be seen by the number of samples that had been investigated. He thought it a matter of congratulation that the inhabitants were apparently being supplied with good and wholesome gtmls. The subject then dropped. Mr. Walker seems to consider that prosecution of the trader rather than protection of the public is the aim of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act.-Chemist and Druggist.