408 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 23, 1872. 
with little evident modification, even after being exposed 
for several hours to a temperature of 100° C. . It colours 
the persalts of iron blue, reduces nitrate of silver and is 
precipitated plentifully by the acetates of lead. Its 
formula is given by M. Carles as C 1G H 3 0 G ( C s H s 0 3 ). 
Found. Calculated. 
I. II. 
Carbon . . . 63T4 63T3 6315 
Hydrogen . . 5'55 5*69 5 26 
J O 
The author describes the following compounds of vanillic 
acid obtained by him:— 
Vanillate of Lead (C 1G H 7 Pb0 6 ).—Tufts of white crys¬ 
tals radiating from a common centre, deposited upon 
cooling after mixing a hot aqueous solution of vanillic 
acid and a solution of neutral acetate of lead. 
Vanillate of Magnesia (C 1G H 7 MgO G ).—Colourless, in¬ 
odorous crystals slightly soluble in cold water, insoluble 
in alcohol and ether. Obtained easily by double decom¬ 
position between fresh vanillate of baryta and sulphate 
of magnesia, or by saturating a boiling solution of 
vanillic acid with magnesia hydrate or carbonate, and 
allowing to cool slowly. 
Vanillate of Zinc (C 1G H 7 ZnO G ).—Deposited, in white 
crystals upon cooling a hot solution of vanillic acid, 
saturated by oxide or carbonate of zinc. Slightly soluble 
in boiling water. 
Iodine Compounds (C ]G H 7 IO G and C 16 H 6 I 2 0 6 ). — The 
first consisting of white pearly crystals of faint odour, 
slightly soluble in alcohol and ether, melting at 74 Q and 
subliming without decomposition, was deposited after 
some hours from a mixture of 2 grams of vanillic acid 
dissolved in 50 grams of water and 1‘5 grams of iodine 
dissolved in 50 grams of alcohol. The second was ob¬ 
tained when iodine was used in excess, also as pearly 
crystals. It is slightly soluble in boiling water, insoluble 
in cold chloroform, soluble in hot ether and alcohol. 
Bromine Compound (0 ]G II-I> 2 0 G ).— Pearly, yellowish, 
odourless crystals, very slightly soluble in water, more 
so in alcohol, ether and chloroform, obtained by gradually 
adding slight excess of bromine to a concentrated aqueous 
solution of vanillic acid, and crystallizing the precipitate 
first from alcohol and then from boiling -water. 
Vanillic acid being ignited with potash, and the mass 
afterwards treated with water, hydrochloric acid and 
ether, yielded small white inodorous prismatic crystals, 
which product the author considers to be a new acid, and 
proposes to call oxyvanillic acid, with the formula 
C 18 H s 0 8 . When vanillic acid was heated in a sealed tube 
with hydriodic acid, the methyl-liydriodic was obtained. 
From these experiments M. Carles is led to conclude 
that the efflorescence on vanilla is neither of the sub¬ 
stances that have heretofore been described, but is a 
peculiar acid, isomeric wuth anisic, formobenzoic, methyls 
alicyclic, creasotic oxytoluic, and many other acids. 
MEDICAL EDUCATION OF WOMEN.* 
We have seen it laid down as an axiom that the 
noblest principle of life is change. All things change. 
The steadfast mountain crumbles down and its particles 
of soil are carried away by the hillside torrent to refresh 
and fertilize the plains below. Man changes from the 
child to the adult; from manhood to old age ; from the 
mortal to the immortal. Kingdoms, dynasties, and 
forms of social life change and alter their conditiun. To 
remain without change is impossible ; changes con¬ 
stantly occur even under our own observation. Old 
things are passing away,—nay, in many instances, they 
have passed away. We do not now find the home-in¬ 
dustries described to us by our elder relatives. The pro¬ 
gress of arts and manufactures has rendered unnecessary 
the home arts of spinning, baking, and brewing. All 
these things are better done on the principle of division 
* From the ‘Madras Journal of Medical Science.’ 
of labour, by organized agency specially framed for the- 
purpose, each in its appropriate manufactory, m place of 
the individual efforts of the women of the family. No 
one would now don a homespun coat, or wear a knitted 
sock, when he can. obtain a superior article at a less cost. 
Even were this not the trutn, it is a fact that oui girls 
are no longer educated with a view to the same, after¬ 
life as was lived by their grandmothers. Some sixty or- 
eighty years ago a woman was amply educated for an 
ordinary position in life could she read her prayer-book 
and write a letter. No doubt, in many ways, woman, 
was then, as she has ever been, a “help-meet” for man; 
but how many a man must have regretted that the very 
one whose affection and respect would best fit her in 
every way to be his alter ego , was utterly unacquainted 
with even the elementary principles of the art, profes¬ 
sion, or trade by which he made the daily bread of the 
household! Man has an intellectual as well as a phy¬ 
sical and a moral nature. He needs sympathy with each 
part of his character and vocation to make his life sub¬ 
stantially happy; and it certainly cannot conduce to his- 
happiness to find his partner , utterly unable to appre¬ 
ciate his labours, to exult in his successes or .to sympa¬ 
thize, with true womanly tenderness, in his failings. 
Hence arose a desire among men that their daughters 
should be better educated. The old ideas passed away, 
and in a short space of time the girl’s curriculum was- 
well nigh as arduous as the boy’s course of study, -while 
it was a good deal more varied. Our daughters were 
taught to know and appreciate their own language, to- 
read the history of their own and other lands, to converse 
in French and other modern languages, and to cultivate 
the accomplishments which serve as the recreation of life. 
Recently, during the past ten years or so, lectures have- 
been given at all first-class schools on the elements of geo¬ 
logy, botany, chemistry, and other physical sciences.. 1 he 
seed thus sown fared like other seed; in some.“ it yielded 
an hundredfold,” springing up with such vigour as to 
beautify and adorn all the girl s future life. Henceforth 
she had ample resources within herself; no place could 
be dull; no time hang heavy on her hands; the stones, 
the flowers, the silent stars all suggested thoughts which 
were companions in any solitude or leisure hour. The 
thirst for knowledge once awakened is insatiaole; and 
where the seed takes root thus kindly, the woman is a 
better, because a more intelligent, member of society, a 
fitter wife to her husband, a more capable mother and. 
guide to her children. In other cases, of course* we 
shall find that the good effects of the impression once 
received remain all but passive in the mind, and yet the 
woman is fitted to sympathize with her husband, even, 
although she may not have the power actually to aid 
him. Thus, something has been gained. The power, 
though passive, is still real; and it is clearly an im¬ 
provement on bygone days. 
The progress of manufactures and the changes in. so¬ 
cial economy have buried with the past, the spinning, 
knitting, anil sewing that filled up the leisure hours of 
our grandmothers, and that made their lives happy and 
useful in their day and generation. Our girls are no 
longer fitted for this work; nor is there any scope for 
such ability did the knowledge exist. The. result is, in 
some cases, very sad. Our daughters are, in too many 
instances, aimless, idle, and unhappy. They have no 
proper or beneficial occupations; and the time wdiich is 
so valuable, the young fresh hours of life, wdien every 
faculty is well strung, the imagination most vivid, and 
the physical constitution at its best, are frittered aw T ay 
in an objectless existence, or in the pursuit of so-called 
pleasure. This is not the case with our sons.. Their 
school career, their college course, and the business of 
actual life demand their best energies. They become 
useful, earnest, and self-reliant; wdiile the very girls 
who are to be the companions, the waves, and the 
mothers of the future, have no other device to wile away 
their precious time but the perusal of empty novels or- 
