526 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Dr. Redwood remarked that it was very well known that, in getting sul¬ 
phate of quinine, great difficulty was experienced in getting it in a crystallized 
state ; indeed, it was rarely the case that anything near the full amount that 
was capable of crystallization could be got in that state as an analytical result 
in operating on small quantities. Therefore, if Mr. Bland had succeeded to the 
extent indicated, he had really not succeeded badly. But he did not consider 
it important, with reference to such a substance as sulphate of quinine, that 
the process given in the Pharmacopoeia should be the best practical process that 
could be given. It was just one of those cases in which, if it had been left to 
his judgment, he should have given no process at all; but the members of the 
Pharmacopoeia Committee thought it desirable to give processes in such cases, 
although they did not insist upon their being used, so as to indicate methods 
by which the articles referred to might be produced. Sulphate of quinine was 
an article the manufacture of which would be only in the hands of those who 
made it upon a large scale. Mr. Bland had also referred to the process in the 
Pharmacopoeia for obtaining chloride of gold, and he (Dr. Redwood) must ad¬ 
mit that the process was, in one respect, an absurd one; that was in ordering 
much more acid than was required for dissolving the gold. Of course it would 
yield chloride of gold, but it would yield it at the cost of more acid than was 
necessary, and therefore in that respect it ought to be altered. How that quan¬ 
tity of acid came to be indicated originally he could not tell. He then referred 
to two or three points alluded to by other gentlemen ; and, first, he confessed 
his indebtedness to Mr. Martindale for some of his valuable practical remarks, 
and he felt the same also with respect to Mr. Bland. But he considered some 
of Mr. Martindale’s remarks to be of special value, particularly that which 
related to the mucilage of tragacanth. So far as he could judge, the method of 
manipulation suggested, although a very slight modification of that at present 
contained in the Pharmacopoeia, was a great improvement, as it afforded the 
means of obtaining the result very much more readily. Mr. Haselden had 
taken exception to the fact that the formula? in the Pharmacopoeia were not all 
framed according to one type,—that, if they took the mixtures, the quantities 
ordered to be produced were not all the same ; that some of the formulae were 
evidently constructed at a time when the 16-ounce pint was in use, and others 
when the 20-ounce pint was in use. It would certainly have contributed to 
the general uniformity of the Pharmacopoeia if a greater amount of consistency 
in that respect had been carried out and maintained. In some cases they had 
done so—as, for instance, with reference to the decoctions and infusions ; the 
decoctions especially had been brought up to one general quantity ; but there 
was more difficulty in reference to the mixtures, and an insuperable difficulty 
would arise in some cases, without complicating the formulae. This would be 
seen at once in attempting to alter the formulae for mistura creasoti and mis- 
tura cretae from eight to ten ounces. Of course it would not be contended by 
Mr. Haselden that any practical inconvenience arose from the present quanti¬ 
ties being ordered. With regard to emplastrum belladonnae, he would only say 
that the alteration made in the present edition of the Pharmacopoeia simply 
consisted in this, that instead of putting the given quantity of extract of bella¬ 
donna into the plaster, they took the active matter of the extract in the form in 
which it made a much more homogeneous plaster than it otherwise would ; and, 
if the present plaster was subject to variation of strength, the old one was 
equally so. Most present were no doubt aware that Mr. Balmer had recom¬ 
mended belladonna plaster in which an alcoholic extract, prepared from the 
root, was used instead of the extract made from the leaves ; but it remained to 
be seen what advantage, if any, this presented. Whether atropia should be 
substituted for the extract was a question upon which he was not prepared to 
enter then. He thought, however, they must not be too hasty in coming to the 
