234 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [September 17 , 1870. 
words, that they may he derivatives of ammonia, NH 3 , 
in which one atom of hydrogen has been displaced by an 
organic molecule. 
Having alluded to botany and chemistry, allow me to 
take up a little more of your time by giving an illustra¬ 
tion of the advantage of a knowledge of natural physics, 
because many of the most beautiful phenomena pass 
under the dispenser’s notice every day. 
At our last meeting I had the honour of alluding to 
some experiments, showing the practical application of 
spectrum analysis to several of our fluid preparations. 
By means of the spectroscope many elements have since 
then been detected in articles of the Materia Medica, 
which, a few years ago, were considered great rarities. 
On the table are the ashes of many pharmacopoeial 
substances which contain the metals rubidium, lithium 
and strontium. 
Lithium has been noticed in creta preeparata, potassse 
tartras acida, radix taraxaci, radix rhei, Gentiana lutea , 
Atropa Belladonna , Nicotiana Tabacum, Triticum vulgare, 
commercial pearlash, raisins, carbo animalis, carragheen 
and kaolin. 
Strontium exists in many specimens of taraxacum, 
creta preeparata, calamine, etc. 
Rubidium has been detected in syrup made from loaf 
sugar which most probably had been manufactured from 
Austrian beetroot, also in oak-bark, from trees growing 
on beds of lias in the neighbourhood of Bristol, and in 
tea, coffee and cream of tartar. 
Many samples of bismuthum album show the green 
line of thallium very distinctly, while oxide of zinc will 
sometimes indicate the presence of indium. 
By some authors it has been denied that plants absorb 
from the earth such metals as are not absolutely essential 
to their nutrition. Experiments, however, afford strong- 
evidence to the contrary. 
Mr. R. Warington ( Journ. Chem. Soc. 1865) found in 
the ashes of the beech and birch -193 per cent, of man¬ 
ganese. In a case of cattle poisoning at Wells Assizes, 
the animals were proved to have been killed by eating 
plants containing lead derived from the soil on which 
they grew. Analysis showed that grass, weeds, fungi, 
thistles and shrubs contained a poisonous quantity of 
lead, although totally unaffected in their growth. 
The triassic marls of Cotham, near Bristol, are cele¬ 
brated for an abundance of celestine, or sulphate of 
strontium. An examination of the ashes of plants and 
shrubs growing on these strata nearly always shows the 
presence of strontium in small quantity. I have detected 
this metal in Taraxacum , Arabis , Senecio , Capsella , To a, 
Senebiera and Scoparium. 
In a communication to the Royal Society ( Proc. Roy. 
Soc. 18, 546) Mr. Huggins says he has found traces of 
lime in every specimen of magnesia he has examined, 
even in what was sold as pure magnesium oxide and 
magnesium chloride.- 
When magnesium oxide was examined, the heat of 
the oxyhydrogen flame was necessary to bring out the 
calcium lines distinctly. He noticed that it was always 
most satisfactory to employ a minimum quantity of oxy¬ 
gen, for when too much was used they were not so dis¬ 
tinctly visible. Dr. Emerson Reynolds, whose experi¬ 
ments were recorded in the same paper, gives the same 
results. 
But perhaps of all the phenomena observed in phar¬ 
maceutical optics, that termed fluorescence is the most 
striking and beautiful. It is the ghostlike appearance 
which we see every time we dispense a bottle of mixture 
containing quinine, or syrup of red poppies. By very 
delicate methods of observation the singular fluorescent 
property may actually be seen on the white demy in 
which we wrap our bottles before sending them out. 
It was formerly supposed to be occasioned by the re¬ 
flection of light from an irregular surface, or from par¬ 
ticles mechanically suspended in a solution, as when 
tincture of arnica is added to distilled water. In such 
mixtures, the effect to the eye very much resembles fluo¬ 
rescence, yet is of a very different character, and may be 
distinguished by the rays of light being polarized, which 
is never the case with the true diffusion of fluorescence. 
The most convenient way of viewing these phenomena 
is by looking at the solution under examination through 
a prism, or by the actinic light of burning magnesium, 
or by passing the spark of an induction coil through a 
central vacuum tube. 
Fluorescence may thus be observed in many substances 
of the Pharmacopoeia, such as guaiacum, sulphate of qui¬ 
nine, Hyoscyamus, Stramonium, Curcuma , Cannabis indica, 
Digitalis , Lobelia , litmus, orchil, madder and Rapavcr 
Rhceas. 
For some time the phenomena were explained by Sir 
J. Herschel, under the term epipolism, and afterwards by 
Sir D. Brewster as internal dispersion. It however re¬ 
mained for the President of the British Association, Pro¬ 
fessor Stokes, to discover the true explanation, viz. that 
the effects were caused by a change of refrangibility in 
the rays of light. The index of refraction is always 
diminished , because the length of the light wave is in¬ 
creased and the velocity lessened. 
For instance, the invisible actinic rays which lie be¬ 
yond the violet, are shown by quinine in the blue, by 
stramonium and curcuma in the yellow, and by chloro¬ 
phyll in the red. In every case the change is towards 
the red end of the spectrum. 
It sometimes happens that fluorescence is observed to 
commence in two parts of the spectrum, and would in¬ 
dicate that the solution under examination contained two 
distinct chemical compounds. 
The bark of the horse-chestnut (xEsc ulus Jlippocasta- 
num) is a remarkable example of this. Its beautiful 
green fluorescence was formerly supposed to originate 
from a crystalline substance called eesculin. A more 
accurate series of experiments by Mr. Stokes has shown 
that two parts of the spectrum were simultaneously 
affected. 
This fact aroused the professor’s suspicion, which a 
chemical analysis afterwards proved to be well grounded. 
Two glucosides were produced, viz. sesculin (C 21 H 24 0 13 1, 
which gives a sky-blue light, and paviin (C 27 H 30 O l3 ), 
which gives a bluish-green. When an aqueous mixture 
of both these principles is submitted to examination, a 
light is perceived in every particular identical with that 
from an infusion of the original bark. 
Thus it is that we often observe the different branches 
of natural philosophy dovetailing as it were into each 
other, and hastening to complete the chain of evidence 
required for the elucidation of some interesting problem. 
The past year has been prolific in so many new and 
important discoveries that it becomes difficult to point 
out one or two only for consideration. 
At our last meeting Mr. Hanbury brought before our 
notice a new hypnotic, the chloral hydrate. Then it 
was an expensive curiosity, now it is in every one’s 
pharmacy and manufactured in enormous quantities. 
The general impression is, that it will prove a very effi¬ 
cient remedy, especially where opiates are inadmissible. 
It is, however, much to be regretted, that already an¬ 
other preparation has been introduced into the market, 
which only contains 70 instead of 90 per cent, of chloral, 
and which is declared by Dr. Liebreich to be devoid of 
any therapeutic power. The chloral alcoholate, as it is 
called, is not so deliquescent as the hydrate, and has a 
boiling point of 113-5° Cent, and a sp. gr. 1-34, while the 
true hydrate boils at 97° Cent., and has a sp. gr. of 1*57- 
A very simple method of detecting the imposition 
by the use of ammonia is described by Mr. Umney. 
(Pharm. Jourx., Aug. 6, 1870.) 
Sulpho-carbolic acid is another preparation that has 
recently been brought into use. It is made by com¬ 
bining sulphuric and carbolic acids in their molecular 
weights (49 to 94) at a temperature of 290° F. 
That true chemical union occurs is evident from the 
