20G 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[September 14, 1872. 
an accessory to the fermentation of sugar, and which, 
in consequence of its had odour, the manufacturer care¬ 
fully separated from the spirit of wine, Cahours dis¬ 
covered a third alcohol; and thus a substance which 
hitherto had taken much trouble to get rid of, ac¬ 
quired at once a great scientific importance. This body 
was arnylic alcohol, contained also in potato spirit. It 
was soon found that it presented all the properties of the 
alcohols already studied, and that under the influence 
of oxidizing agents it produced an acid, just as methylic 
acid was converted into formic acid and ethylic alcohol 
into acetic acid. But what was the astonishment of 
chemists when it was recognized that this acid, obtained 
for the first time by Dumas and Stas, was identical with 
the substance which the study of valerian root had super¬ 
ficially made known ! So long as valerianic acid was 
extracted from valerian, as that root contained only very 
small quantities, it was not possible to use it generally 
in consequence of its high price ; but no sooner had 
science demonstrated that it could be prepared from 
potato spirit than it became an object of manufacture, 
and its salts, especially the valerianates of zinc and bis¬ 
muth, were employed in medicine. 
Among the organic acids which were best known to 
chemists was lactic acid. First observed in sour milk 
by Scheele, this acid was afterwards found in a series of 
acid.liquids, in the gastric juice, in sour krout, and in 
the juice, of cucumbers. But it was only when the rela¬ 
tion which existed between lactic acid and sugar was 
discovered, when it was demonstrated that it was formed 
in the majority of cases at the expense of saccharine ' 
matters, and when the conditions under which sugar is 
transformed into lactic acid were determined; in fact, 
only when the chemist had given a method which 
allowed of its fabrication industrially, that the use of 
this acid was introduced into therapeutics, where now, 
under the form of lactate of iron, it plays so important 
a part. 
I ought to .mention here succinic acid, although its 
employment in. medicine is not to be compared with 
that of lactic acid. The former method for the prepara¬ 
tion of succinic acid by the dry distillation of amber 
yielded.but a small quantity of acid, and it was difficult 
to rid it from the impurities with which it was con¬ 
taminated. But no one would think now of preparing 
it by a method so costly. Analysis has demonstrated 
that the molecule of succinic acid only differs from that 
of malic acid by having one atom of oxygen less. Des- 
saigne has demonstrated that the berries of the mountain 
ash (Sorbus aucuparid) will give an abundant supply of 
malic acid, which can be transformed into succinic acid 
by. a simple process of fermentation. All the succinic 
acid of commerce is prepared in this manner. 
No. less remarkable and important for the progress of 
chemical research is the revolution which has been 
effected in the manufacture of benzoic acid. The exist¬ 
ence of this acid had been indicated from the fourteenth 
century, but it was not till the latter years of the last 
century that its nature was ascertained. It was first 
obtained from benzoin. Although it had been met with 
in other resins, and especially in balsam of tolu, benzoin 
was until the last few years the chief material from which 
benzoic acid was manufactured; to-day only a small 
portion of that used in pharmacy and in the arts is pre¬ 
pared in this manner. In 1829 Liebig discovered in the 
urine of. herbivorous animals hippuric acid, a peculiar 
nitrogenize.d acid, which by fermentation is transformed ; 
into benzoic acid. Later, Dessaigne showed that the i 
same transformation could be effected by boiling hippuric 
acid with concentrated hydrochloric acid, a reaction in 
which a most interesting secondary production is formed, 
viz. glycocol. The present manufacture of benzoic acid 
is based on these reactions. 
Formic acid is another acid meriting notice, although 
less important therapeutically. It is scarcely necessary 
to say that in the distillation of oxalic acid, chemists have 
I 
i 
a source which furnishes the acid much more easily and 
in a state of greater purity than the organism of the 
insects from which it takes its name. 
I needly hardly speak of glycerine, the marvellous 
properties of which are every day utilized in some fresh 
way in pharmacy. Glycerine is, however, properly 
speaking a pharmaceutical conquest; for Scheele dis¬ 
covered it in 1783 while preparing lead plaster. But it 
is only since science has demonstrated its nature, and the 
classic labours of Chevreul upon the fats have enabled 
us to understand in all its simplicity the mechanism of 
saponification, that the industrial manufacture of the 
fat acids and of glycerine could be undertaken with 
success. It was reserved for our time to be a witness of 
the great modification which the introduction of saponi¬ 
fication by water has caused in the fat industry, the 
conception of that process having been impossible before 
the development of organic chemistry. Since the adop¬ 
tion of aqueous saponification, glycerine has become 
very easily obtainable, and as it is found in the market 
in a state of purity which leaves nothing to be desired, 
it is not easy to assign any limit to its employment. 
(To be continued.) 
MANCHESTER CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS’ ASSO¬ 
CIATION AND SCHOOL OF PHARMACY. 
The Council of the above Association, desiring to 
meet the expressed requirement of increased accommoda¬ 
tion, have taken and furnished rooms at 37, Blackfriars 
Street, Manchester, in the centre of the city, and within 
easy distance of all the railway stations. The reading- 
room and museum are supplied with an excellent col¬ 
lection of materia medica specimens, book of autograph 
prescriptions, and a valuable library of works on phar¬ 
maceutical subjects. The class-room is capable of ac¬ 
commodating a large number of students. The rooms 
are to be open for study and reference on Tuesdays 
and Fridays, from 5 till 10 p.m., and on Mondays, Wed¬ 
nesdays, and Thursdays from 7 till 10 p.m. The fol¬ 
lowing courses of lectures and classes have been arranged 
for the coming session :— 
Pharmaceutical Chemistry. —Twenty-five lectures, by 
Mr. Louis Siebold, on Tuesdays, from 8 to 9.30 p.m. 
Fee 12s. §d. To commence October 8th. 
Materia Medica. —Twenty-five lectures, by Mr. Louis 
Siebold, on Fridays, from 8 to 9 p.m. Fee, 12s. 6d. To 
commence October 11th. 
Pharmaceutical Botany .—Fifteen lectures, by Mr. 
Louis Siebold, on Fridays, from 9 to 10 p.m. Fee, 
7s. 6 d. To commence October 11th. 
Pharmaceutical Latin ( (Elementary ).—Ten lessons in 
elementary Latin, by Mr. J. J. Smith, B.A., on Wednes¬ 
days, from 7 to 8 p.m. Fee, os. To commence October 
9th. 
Pharmaceutical Latin {Advanced }.—Ten lessons in 
more advanced Latin and reading and translating pre¬ 
scriptions, by Mr. J. J. Smith, B.A., on Wednesdays, 
from 8.30 to 9.30 p.m. Fee, 5s. To commence Oc¬ 
tober 5th. 
.Students willing to attend the three first courses 
(viz., Chemistry, Materia Medica, and Botany), may do 
so for a reduced composition fee of 30s. 
Tickets may now be obtained of Mr. F. Baden 
Benger, Hon. Sec., 1, Market Place, or of Mr. Louis 
Siebold, Oxford Street, Manchester. 
In. addition to the above lecture courses, monthly 
meetings will be held from October to March, for the 
reading of papers on, and discussion of, subjects in¬ 
teresting to the trade. 
A very considerable outlay having been made in pre¬ 
paring tor the coming session, the committee earnestly 
invite, the co-operation of masters, assistants and ap¬ 
prentices, without which the facilities now offered to 
pharmaceutical students in Manchester and district 
cannot be maintained. 
