August 6, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
107 
Holm assigns to it tlie formula C 26 H 24 O c , and the 
name Chiratogenin. 
Tlie herb itself gave the same results as the stem 
and roots. 
HYDRATE OF CHLORAL. 
BY C. UMNEY, F.C.S. 
Reference has already been made in the leading 
journals of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy to a 
compound of chloral with alcohol. 
Recently this alcoholate of chloral has found its 
way into commerce, and has been offered for sale as 
hydrate, at a much lower rate than the market value 
of true hydrate of chloral. 
It is highly important that the alcoholate should 
be distinguished from the hydrate, not only because 
it yields upon decomposition a smaller proportion of 
chloroform, but because Dr. O. Liebreich and other 
therapeutists who have experimented with it affirm 
that its medicinal properties are dissimilar to those 
of the hydrate. 
The object of this communication is to give to 
pharmacists the details of a quantitative test for de¬ 
termining the chloroform value of any specimen of 
either of these chloral compounds which may pass 
through their hands. 
a. Hydrate of Chloral .—Take 500 grains of the 
salt, and dissolve in about 1 ounce of distilled 
water; transfer to a 1000-grain graduated tube, and 
make up the measure of the solution to 700 gram- 
measures ; to this add solution of caustic ammonia 
('891) until the whole measures 1000 grains. Agi¬ 
tate ; immerse the tube in warm water, to assist tlie 
reaction, and set aside for twelve hours. 
Upon examination, the fluid will be found to have 
perfectly separated into two layers, the lower being 
chloroform (from fine specimens of the hydrate 
nearly colourless), the upper, a deep, sherry-coloured 
solution of formiate of ammonia. 
The volume of the chloroform layer should not be 
less than 235 grain-measures, which, calculated at 
the sp. gr. of chloroform (1*49 7), would give 351'7 
grains by weight, a quantity equal to about 7 0 per 
cent. (70'3) of the chloral compound employed. 
£. Alcoholate of Chloral .—Proceed as in test¬ 
ing the hydrate. The chloroform layer will be 
about 200 grain-measures, or by weight 299 grains, 
an equivalent of about 60 per cent, by weight (59'8) 
of the chloral alcoholate. Such a difference, it must 
be apparent, is of great importance, as the physiologi¬ 
cal action of chloral is principally due to its trans¬ 
formation into chloroform in the blood. 
An eye accustomed to the rate of solution of the 
hydrate in water can soon detect the alcoholate by 
its much less solubility. The hydrate in detached 
crystals,* resembling crystals of sulphate of mag¬ 
nesia, is a much more soluble form than the ordi¬ 
nary hydrate in masses; it will also produce upon 
decomposition with ammonia 70 per cent, by weight 
of chloroform. 
The difference in the boiling-point of the hydrate 
(95° Cent.) and of the alcoholate (116° Cent.) is 
alone almost sufficient to distinguish one from the 
other. At any rate, this characteristic, combined with 
the quantitative chloroform test, is quite sufficient 
to enable the pharmacist to give with accuracy an 
opinion upon the purity of any chloral hydrate. 
Laboratory , 40, Aldersgate Street , E.C. 
* Hanbury, Pliarm. Journ., May, 1870. 
OINTMENT OF MERCURIC NITRATE. 
BY R. ROTHER. 
One of the most serious imperfections of the Pharma¬ 
copoeia is its process for the ointment of mercuric nitrate. 
This is a failure in every respect, the nomenclature not 
excepted. The ever-recurring difficulties that the offi¬ 
cinal formula engenders have caused the accumulation 
of abundant literature designed to obviate or remove some 
of these inherent obstacles. But even the enumeration 
of all the known processes has been of no avail. Most 
of the modifications that have been suggested are based 
upon the officinal process itself, and consist mainly of 
alterations in the proportion of the ingredients or their 
quality. But the officinal process is in the full sense of 
the term irrational; likewise must be any other which 
grounds itself upon this. Therefore, the solution of this 
profound problem cannot be discovered in the compo¬ 
nents of the formula, but must be sought for in the ope¬ 
ration alone. A review of all the known facts connected 
with the history of this preparation reveals as follows : 
—Firstly, since the value of this combination is generally 
recognized, the title should be distinctive of its character. 
In this regard the Pharmacopoeia completely fails. If 
the solution of the metal is officinally effected in the con¬ 
tact with the acid at the ordinary temperature, it is 
positively certain that both mercuric and mercurous 
nitrate form even in the large surplus of acid shown by 
the precipitation of mercurous chloride in the presence of 
chlorhydric acid, consequently the ointment will receive 
both nitrates from the beginning. Evidently, the lower 
the temperature at which the solution is made, the greater 
will be the proportion of mercurous nitrate, in the same 
ratio the remaining acid, and through it the more power¬ 
ful the oxidation of the fats. But the intenser the re¬ 
action, the more probable will be the reduction of the 
mercurial salts, and especially the mercurous nitrate, 
which is eminently dissimilar in its effects and molecular 
constitution to the mercuric salt. The following equa¬ 
tions will sufficiently illustrate the above :— 
3 Hg + 8 (N 0 3 H) = 3 ((N 0 3 ) 2 Hg") + N n O, + 4 O H, 
6Hg + 8 (N0 3 H) = 3((N0 3 ) 2 Hg 2 ) + N 2 “0 2 + 4 OIU 
When these mercurial solutions come in contact 
with the heated glycerides, the complicated reaction 
which immediately ensues commences with two distinct 
phases. One of these is characteristic only for the so- 
called non-drying oils ; the other is pretty general with 
all. The first of these is determined by the catalytic 
action of the nitrogen tetroxide (which is always present 
in the mercurial solution prepared without heat, and 
should it not be present, as would be the case by employ¬ 
ing a solution containing the mercuric nitrate only, it 
would, of course, simultaneously result from the mutual 
decomposition of the nitric acid and the facts), and con¬ 
sists in the transformation of the liquid triolein into its 
white concrete and crystalline isomere elaidin. But the se¬ 
cond, which is characterized by the violent evolution of 
volatile products, consists, according to the prolongation 
of the reaction or its intensity, favoured by external 
causes, and the relative quantity of nitric acid, of the 
destruction of part of the oleic, palmitic and stearic acid 
contained in the glycerides that are usually employed. 
But the complete dissociation of the original compounds 
is effected with difficulty. Pure lard, heated with eight 
and ten times the quantity of strong nitric acid until the 
latter was dissipated, still was attacked by a fresh por¬ 
tion. In this case, all of the nine volatile acids of the 
series C n H 2n 0 2 , from acetic to capric inclusive, are pro¬ 
duced together with fixed acids of the series Gfi H 2 „—olfi, 
of which suberic and succinic acid are more abundantly 
produced from glycerides containing chiefly palmitim 
A peculiar and undetermined substance is invariably 
generated in quantity, and resists the destructive action 
of the nitric acid with remarkable obstinacy. This is an 
intensely yellow oil, which saponifies with potassium 
hydrate, with the formation of a deep red colour; and it 
