472 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
barium; the sulphate of barium separated by filtration, washed with acid and 
water, dried and weighed. The filtrate, which would contain sulphovinate of 
barium, if sulphovinic acid had originally been present, was evaporated to a 
small bulk over a water-bath. The weight of the sulphate of barium corre¬ 
sponded with that of the sulphuric acid whence it was obtained ; indeed, it was 
apparently somewhat greater—a result due, probably, to loss of alcohol during 
manipulation, and a corresponding increase of strength of the diluted acid. 
The filtrate from the sulphate of barium finally dried up without giving any 
sulphovinate of barium. These experiments were repeated, after the mixture of 
sulphuric acid and spirit had been set aside for fourteen days, with the same 
result; indicating that sulphovinic acid is not formed after a time. They 
were also repeated after due maceration with the aromatics, but, again, no 
sulphovinic acid was obtained. We are, therefore, now in a position to state 
that aromatic sulphuric acid, when made according to the Pharmacopoeia, con¬ 
tains no sulphovinic acid. 
NOTE ON THE ADULTERATION OF PRECIPITATED 
SULPHUR. 
BY PROFESSOR ATTFIELD. 
Why is precipitated sulphur still usually adulterated to a scandalous extent 
with what may be termed plaster of Paris,—hydrous sulphate of calcium 
(CaS0 4 , 2H 2 0)? Nearly every book on chemistry and materia medica 
states that instead of being made by mixing hydrochloric acid and polysulphide 
of calcium, it is often prepared by the reaction of sulphuric acid and the sul¬ 
phur salt, the result being precipitated sulphur (identical, so far, with the 
official article —Sulphur prcecipitatum B. P.), but mixed with more than an 
equal weight of the calcareous mineral compound, which when well dried con¬ 
stitutes plaster of Paris. Every chemist and druggist therefore, knows, or 
ought to know, that precipitated sulphur is more likely to be impure than pure, 
and yet the employment of the adulterated variety seems on the increase. 
From the following table it will be seen that out of eight samples which I 
recently purchased (for quite another purpose) within an area of a mile, only 
one was pure, one contained nearly half its weight of calcareous matter, and 
each of the others was actually two-thirds impurity and only one-third pre¬ 
cipitated sulphur. In explanation of this condition of things, the statement is 
commonly made that the public has become so accustomed to the satiny appear¬ 
ance of the impure article (due to the selenitic character of the adulterant) as 
to regard the pure with suspicion, often refusing to purchase it. I cannot 
believe in the general application of this explanation. The public, surely, 
places too much confidence in a pharmacist’s knowledge of drugs to persist 
in refusing a pure in favour of an impure chemical. Therapeutists cannot 
hope to arrive at a rational system of medicine unless the followers of pharmacy 
combine to crush the practice of adulteration. Precipitated sulphur is, doubt¬ 
less, an exception to the general rule that drugs are less adulterated now than 
formerly, but clearly there is room for much improvement. 
Impurity in 100 parts 
No. of the “ Sulphur.” 
1 . 66 | 
2 .43 i 
3 .66£ 
4 .66£ 
5 . 66 ^- 
6 . 64 ^ 
7 pure 
8 . 64 ^ 
