August 20, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
157 
Lorinser believes that in it ve have a valuable remedy 
for intermittent fever. It may be so; but, considering 
the comparative failure of the substances which have 
hitherto been recommended as substitutes for cinchona 
and quinine, still more extended and careful observation 
will be necessary before recognizing the claims of the 
Eucalyptus globulus to rank as an antiperiodic on which 
dependence can be placed. The districts which Dr. 
Lorinser has chosen for testing the effect of the remedy 
are, we believe, well fitted for the purpose—intermittent 
fever being very prevalent in them. —Philadelphia Medi¬ 
cal ancl Surgical Reporter. 
CHINESE THERAPEUTICS. 
The Chinese divide medicinal substances into heating, 
cooling, refreshing, and temperate. Their materia me- 
dicais contained in the work called the Pen-taoscang-mou, 
in fifty-two large volumes, with an atlas of plates. Most 
of our medicines are known to them and prescribed, also 
mineral waters, with which the country abounds. They 
also have animal magnetizers, called cong-mou. 
They divide their prescriptions into seven categories, 
viz.:—1st. The great prescription. 2 nd. The little pre¬ 
scription. 3rd. The slow prescription. 4th. Prompt or 
through-by-daylight prescription. 5th. The old pre¬ 
scription, for fools, madmen, hypochondriacs, and the 
hysterical. 6 th. The even prescription, for the wise and 
good. 7th. The double prescription, for those in the 
family way. 
Each of these recipes is applied to particular cases, 
and the ingredients that compose them are weighed out 
with the most scrupulous accuracy. 
The physician never pays a second visit unless sent 
for, and sometimes his services are no longer needed.— 
Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter. 
dialers for jSftttafs. 
CHEMICAL NOTES TO THE PHARMACOPCEIA. 
BY WILLIAM A. TILDEN, B.SC. LOND. 
DEMONSTRATOR OE PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY TO THE 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
Acidum Nitro-hydrochloricum Dilutum.— [§. 
Take of— 
Nitric acid .... 3 fluid ounces 
Hydrochloric acid . . 4 fluid ounces: 
Mix the acids, and allow them to remain for twenty- 
four hours in a bottle, the mouth of which is partially 
closed, then add the water in successive portions, 
shaking the bottle after each addition,, and preserve 
the mixture in a stoppered bottle.] 
The reaction which the two acids enter into gives 
rise to the production of a good deal of gas. 
2 HNO, + 6HC1 = N 2 0 2 C1 4 + 4H 2 0 + CL, 
Chloronitric gas. 
And also simultaneously, 
2HN 0 3 + 6HC1 = N 2 0 2 C1 2 + 4H 2 0 + 2C1 2 . 
Chloronitrous gas. 
Such a mixture is called aqua regia; it has the 
property of dissolving gold, from the presence of free 
chlorine. In the preparation of the dilute acid for 
pharmaceutical use the best apparatus consists of 
two Winchester quarts, connected by a piece of 
flexible tubing. One contains the two acids, the 
other the water; gases evolved from the acids are 
thus collected in the same water with which they are 
afterwards to be mixed. 
There is no advantage in the official process over 
the plan of mixing the acids with the water imme¬ 
diately; for after dilution, the elements rearrange 
themselves so as to reproduce nitric and hydrochloric 
acids. This occurs more perfectly the larger the 
proportion of water added: the less water, the larger 
will be the amount of nitrous acid and chlorine re¬ 
maining.* 
Acidum Phosphoricum Dilutum. —Phosphorus is 
digested with diluted nitric acid till dissolved: the 
solution is then evaporated to expel the excess of 
nitric acid and complete the oxidation to pliosphor-ie 
acid, and it is then diluted to the proper strength.. 
The reaction which occurs will be understood after 
studying “ nitric acid.” 
20 HNO 3 -f 3P 4 + 8H 2 0 
= 12H 3 P0 4 + 20 NO. “ 
With ammonio-nitrate of silver, phosphoric acid 
gives a yellow precip. of Ag 3 P0 4 . Evaporated to 
complete dryness, it leaves a residue (glacial phos¬ 
phoric acid) consisting chiefly of metaphosplioric 
acid. 
H 3 P 0 4 n HP0 3 + H 2 0. 
Phosphoric acid is a most important example of a 
tribasic acid. With each metal it forms three dis¬ 
tinct salts, in which one, two, or three atoms of the 
metal replace an equivalent quantity of the hydrogen 
of the acid. It is also capable of forming other 
double or triple salts. The following are some ex¬ 
amples :— 
Phosphates of Sodium. 
Monosodic.NaH 2 P0 4 
Disoclic.Na 2 RP0 4 (B.P.) 
Trisodic.Na 3 P0 4 . 
Phosphates of Calcium. 
Monocalcic . Ca"H 4 2 P 0 4 (“ superphosphate ”)> 
Dicalcic . . Ca" 2 H 2 2 P0 4 , or CaHP 0 4 
Tricalcic . . Ca " 3 2 P 0 4 (bone-asli). 
Ammonite Phosphas, B.P., or diammonic phosphate_ 
' (NH 4 ) 2 HP0 4 . 
If the first phosphate of soda is heated to redness, 
the residue is metaphosphate of sodium. 
NaH 2 P0 4 = NaP0 3 + H 2 0. 
The second one by heat gives the sodium salt of 
pyrophosphoric acid. 
2 (Na 2 HP0 4 ) = Na 4 P 2 0 7 + H 2 0. 
These three acids of phosphorus are thus distin¬ 
guished from each other. 
a. Common, tribasic, or orthophosplioric acid, 
when neutralized, and its soluble salts give a yellow 
precipitate with nitrate of silver. 
b. Pyrophosphoric acid does not coagulate albu¬ 
men, and with nitrate of silver gives a chalky-white 
precipitate only after being neutralized by an alkali. 
c. Metaphosplioric acid coagulates albumen, and 
gives, with nitrate of silver, a transparent white pre¬ 
cipitate without neutralization. 
The impurities indicated by the tests of the Phar¬ 
macopoeia are as follows :—Metals, such as copper, 
arsenic, or lead, by sulphuretted hydrogen ; sulphuric 
acid by chloride of barium; hydrochloric acid by 
acidified nitrate of silver; metaphosplioric acid by 
solution of albumen; nitric acid by darkening a. 
* See Pliarm. Journ., N.S., Yol. X. p. 580. 
