THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 



COLLOIDS AND THEIR IMPOR- 

 TANCE TO PHARMACY.* 



Curt P. Wimmer Phar. D., New York. 



If I remember correctly, it was about 

 five or six years ago that my esteemed 

 friend, Jerome Alexander, in conjunc- 

 tion with Professor Hallock of Columbia 

 University, exhibited and explained the 

 ultra-microscope for the first time at a 

 meeting of the College of Pharmacy. A 

 few months after that, at a meeting of 

 the Chemist's Club, I had again occasion 

 to view a number of substances in the 

 ultra-microscope and, each time and ever 

 since, have been greatly interested in the 

 colloid state of matter and have made 

 it my business to follow the rapid strides 

 which this new science, called "Colloid- 

 Chemistry," has made. The first sight of 

 a substance in the colloidal state under 

 the ultra-microscope is a truly impres- 

 sive and remarkable one ; the substance, 

 which appears to be perfectly homo- 

 geneous and at rest when observed with 

 the naked eye, is found to be full of life 

 anrl motion. We see little particles oscil- 

 lating back and forth; we see the ever- 

 lasting, never-ending motion of matter. 

 Again, a few weeks ago, I attended a 

 series of colloid-chemical conferences 

 held by Dr. Wolfgang Ostwald at Colum- 

 bia University, and I felt that Colloid 

 Chemistry is, and will be destined to be 

 of the greatest importance to all sciences, 

 but especially to pharmacy. 



It is with a great deal of pleasure that 

 I come before you to-night with the 

 privilege of talking about colloids and 

 their importance to pharmacy. 



*A lecture delivered before the New York 

 Branch of the American Pharmaceutical As- 

 sociation, March 9, 1914. Reprinted from 

 J. A. Ph. A., July, 1914- 



In the short space of an hour allotted 

 to me, it will be possible only to skip 

 over the surface of the science and to 

 give the most important facts, omitting 

 much that would be of great interest. 



I have divided the subject matter of 

 my lecture into two general parts : 



1. The nature, preparation and prop- 

 erties of colloids. 



2. Their importance to the sciences, 

 especially to that of pharmacy. 



The subject of colloids is a vast one, 

 although the science, as such, is only 

 about fifteen years old, and is growing 

 at a pace which makes it well nigh im- 

 possible to keep track of it. Colloids 

 have been prepared and used for centu- 

 ries, but without any true conception of 

 this state of matter. 



Although true colloidal solutions have 

 been prepared as far back as 1802 by 

 Richter, in 1839 by Woehler, and again 

 in the fifties by Faraday, Kuhn and St. 

 Gilles, none of these investigators had 

 an exact idea of the true state of colloidal 

 subdivision, although some of them sus- 

 pected that they had metals suspended 

 in the liquid in fine subdivision. The 

 first systematic investigations along these 

 lines were made by Thos. Graham, an 

 English scientist, in 1861 to 1864, who 

 published his findings in "Philosophical 

 Transactions," and in "Liebig's Annalen 

 der Chemie." Graham studied dialysis — - 

 the diffusion of dissolved substances 

 through parchment paper or a mem- 

 brane. He observed that some sub- 

 stances passed readily into a surround- 

 ing pure solvent, while others did not or, 

 at least, did so at an exceedingly slow 

 rate. 



Those which passed through, he found 

 to be substances which could be readily 

 obtained in crystalline form, those which 



