230 .ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



alkaloids, quinine, morphine, &c., naturally encourages the attempt to 

 reproduce the latter from the former by simple substitutions. In the 

 next place, the new fixed bases lend the most powerful support to the 

 ammonium theory of Ampere and Berzelius ; the oxides of the new bases 

 perfectly correspond to the hypothetical oxide of ammonium, and are 

 stable ; again, it has always been urged against the theory of Ampere, 

 that in the formation of sal-ammoniac, for instance, the hydrogen of 

 the II Cl could not reasonably be supposed to leave the chlorine, for 

 which it has so powerful an affinity, in order to convert the ammonia 

 N H 3 into ammonium N H 4 ; moreover, in the action of lime upon sal- 

 ammoniac, we must, according to the ammonium theory, suppose that 

 the chloride N H 4 Cl is first transformed into an oxide N H 4 ; then 

 this oxide is resolved into ammonia and water. Now, in some of the 

 decompositions effected by Hofmann, precisely those changes take 

 place, which, in the ammonium theory, appear most improbable. 



EFFECTS OF HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM ON ORGANIC BODIES. 



IN a discussion which took place at the last meeting of the British 

 Association, on the employment of high-pressure steam for the produc- 

 tion of carbon for gun-powder, Mr. Mallet alluded to the astonishing 

 effects of high pressure in the process of preparing peat. It appears 

 that, in Prussia, steam at 60 Ib. pressure is used and passed through 

 hot pipes to obtain at least 600 of heat, and is then thrown into com- 

 pressed peat, where it produces the effect of a " fiery sponge," robbing 

 the peat of its water, carbonizing the material, and effecting the com- 

 plete distillation of many substances. The texture of the peat is so far 

 changed and peculiar, that it is rendered pyrophoric, and takes fire by 

 exposure to air, so that it is necessary to cool down the charcoal in an 

 atmosphere of steam. 



THE FIRST PUBLIC APOTHECARIES' HALL. 



WITH the fall of the Roman empire, through the invasion of north- 

 ern nations, arts and sciences left Europe, and found a shelter among 

 the Arabs, who preserved them for more propitious times ; and, though 

 their genius never has equalled that of the Greeks and Romans, never- 

 theless, chemistry and pharmacy are much indebted to them. They 

 discovered several chemical preparations, and introduced several new 

 medicines, still employed by all physicians. They established, in the 

 eighth century, the first public Apothecaries' Hall in Bagdad. Wo 

 owe also to the Arabs for the first legal dispensatories, in the ninth 

 century, namely, for the one of Abn Sahel ; and, in the twelfth century, 

 for that of Ebn Talmid. Whilst chemistry and pharmacy were culti- 

 vated industriously in the East, Europe was plunged in darkness and 

 ignorance, when, at length, a new light was kindled by Constantine of 

 Carthage, who established the first regular pharmacy in Europe, 

 namely, in Salerno. He called these establishments stationes, and the 

 dispensing chemists, confectionarii. Annals of Pharmacy and Practi- 

 cal Chemistry. 



