A wish to determine the effect of Santonine in parasitic disease of the bladder led me, after a good deal of trouble, to find that I could form a suitable stronger solution than was needed for my purpose by means of carbonate of soda. Santonini, in pulvere, gr. Sodae bicarbonatis, gr. Aquae distillatae iij. Put the soda and water into a flask, keep the fluid near the boiling point, adding, as it disappears, about two grains of the Santonine at a time, until the whole is dissolved.
Solution is affected in about half an hour, during which time the water is reduced by boiling to ij.
If an alkaline reaction be objectionable, neutralize with acetic acid. Carefully neutralized with acetic acid, an equally bright and permanent neutral solution is formed. Both the alkaline and neutral solution may be dilated to any extent with either cold or hot water, without impairing the perfection of the solution of the Santonine. Excess of acetic acid, after some hours, and the mineral acids immediately precipitate the whole, or nearly the whole of the Santonine, unchanged and in its original form of colorless, rectangular plates with bevelled edges. Mixed with from one to twenty times its bulk of acrid urine, sp.