BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
130 
who, combining technical still with a practical acquaintance with gas-work, 
shall 1 be able to apply this source of heat to Pharmaceutical manufacturing pur- 
^ Judging from the Codex we might imagine that the whole of the Succinic 
Acid -was first produced, and in due course the Oil but in practice, owing to 
the heat required to melt the entire mass of Amber (a thing of the last import¬ 
ance) the three products—Acid Liquor, Succinic Acid, and the Oil—rise simul¬ 
taneously, while a yellow powder called Succinite is deposited in the neck of the 
retort. The two first are used in French Pharmacy, and the Oil is utilized on 
both sides of the Channel. Abroad it enters into the composition of the 
Baurne de Fioravanti, Eau de Luce, Sirop de Karabe, and other preparations. 
The average yield of oil from Amber ranges between 25 to 30 per cent. A 
skilful operator should obtain about twenty eight per cent. This distillate once 
seen and smelt can never be mistaken for another. Treated with Aitiic Acid 
in proportions given in works on Materia Medica, the substance termed Arti¬ 
ficial Musk is formed, which owes its peculiar flavour to the presence of Acetic, 
Propionic, and Butyric Acids. This should be kept under water ;—when re¬ 
quired for use, the acid liquor should be poured off and hot water added. Ihe 
mass, however seemingly deteriorated by keeping melts together, every particle 
is recovered, and on being pulled will assume various shades of colour, riv ailing 
the most exquisite of the yellow auiline dyes. Artificial Musk dissolved m 
Eectified Spirit, according to recognized printed formulae is invaluable in its 
special therapeutical application. A . , ,, , 
A black, shiny, bitumenous residue is left after distillation at the bottom ot 
the retort.—which when dissolved in Chloroform, furnishes Photographic Gar¬ 
nish. This residue should be removed while still hot, and the operator should 
be cautioned not to place fresh Amber, nor to commence a second distillation on 
the remains of a previous make. . . 
Unequal expansion by heat is a fertile source of accident, against which it is 
difficult to guard. Lastlv. let me advise that one direction of the Codex as far 
as we manufacturing English are concerned, should be disregarded—the rectifi¬ 
cation of the oil by subsequent distillation. Its physical characters are by this 
means altered; a lighter, red-grape, purple Oil is produced: its peculiar charac¬ 
teristic smell is partially destroyed, and the yield of Artificial Musk is (as far 
as I could judge from one experiment,) diminished; while for reasons tome 
unknown, the Oil becomes unsaleable as a commercial article. 
I consider the crude unrectified Oil, carefully separated from the Acid Liquor 
and the Succinic Acid to be Oleum Succini \ erum. 
LAED, ANB ITS PEEPAEATION FOE USE IN PHAEMACY. 
BY MR. EDWARD SMITH, TORQUAY. 
One of the subjects suggested for investigation by the Pharmaceutical Con¬ 
ference is “ The Best Means of Preparing Lard,” and this must be my apology 
for bringing under the notice of the Conference what may be thought a very 
unimportant, and perhaps uninteresting subject. . 
The different Pharmacopoeias of this country and the Continent have from 
time to time given very varying instructions w’ith regard to the prepaiatiou of 
lard, some ordering the flare to be first cut up into small pieces, others not to be 
cut at all, some recommending the flare to be first well washed, others ignoring 
the washing, and so on, with various and differing directions as to straining, 
etc. 
The Austrian and Prussian Pharmacopoeias order the flare to be cut into 
