September 24,1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
243 
Aq. Rosae, ordered to be made from rose petals, is 
often made with otto or rose geranium oil. Real 
otto is a scarce article, 100 lb. of petals yielding less 
than 5iij of solid otto fusing at 80°. To the salt pro¬ 
cess I shall refer presently. 
The last water of the Pharmacopoeia is Aq. Flor. 
Sambuci; this, as well as aq. roste, the B. P. allows 
to be made from the salted flowers. I have found 
the use of salt unsatisfactory and injurious. Often 
after salting and keeping in a cool dry place, I have 
found that before the next flower-season came round 
an odour of chlorine and sawdust was developed by 
■distillation. The metal still was corroded ; the water 
smelt like a dilute solution of chlorine and precipi¬ 
tated argentic nitrate ; I therefore discontinued the 
salting process, and distilled a stronger water and 
diluted it when wanted. This water I have found to 
keep; I have some two years old. Elder flowers 
yield scarcely ‘32 per cent, of a volatile oil slightly 
lighter than water, yellow, solid, and with a powerful 
smell of elder-flowers even when largely diluted. 
These are the waters of the Pharmacopoeia,—lime 
water is among the liquors,—the B.P. definition of 
waters evidently being solutions of essential oils in 
water. Why is aq. pulegii omitted ? It is wanted 
as much as some that are official. Standard forms 
are also wanted for aq. anisi and caryopliylli. 
When first made, many of these waters are harsh 
and musty, but by keeping they mellow down. 
What is the cause of this ? Returning to what I 
noticed in aq. destillata, has there been any of that 
slow buffsurely oxidizing force of water at work on 
these aqueous solutions of oils ? Alcohol has been 
shown by Warington to change in distilled water to 
acetic acid. And these essential oils, composed of 
alcohols and camphors, probably succumb to the 
same influences. At the bottom of such waters as 
aq. pimentse and aq. cinnamomi resinous matter has 
often been noticed. But what is resin? The term 
is as correct chemically as copperas for ferri sulph.; 
it is only a generic name for a series of acids pro¬ 
bably oxidized from oils. This goes a long way to 
show that essential oils are changed as well as alco¬ 
hol. By which of the compounds in the oils is the 
resin yielded—the alcohol, the camphor, or both? 
But resinification or change commencing, what is to 
hinder the new product modifying or etherifying the 
remainder? Such action would, in the case of a 
water, be slow and small in quantity, but such a re¬ 
arrangement of matter would remarkably alter some 
of the characteristics of the oil and water. In the 
laboratory it may be difficult to acidify some of these 
oils, but to acidify quickly and completely is one 
thing, to acidify or modify small quantities in the 
presence and by the aid of powerful agents constantly 
at work is another; some action, •we know, takes 
place which mellows the waters as they are kept 
affer distillation. So much for what is in solution. 
These waters should always have a superstratum of 
oil (except, of course, pimento and cinnamon) float¬ 
ing on them, as Haselden suggested ; adding also 
that such oil is as good as the original oil. So 
it is, but I have sometimes noticed an oleograpliic 
difference. After long contact with water the oil 
drop does not give so good a “ roll,” and the figure is 
s ightly altered and slower in its formation. Between 
the oil and the water there is always a muddy layer. 
A great deal of this is debris, or matter floated over 
by the steam, as well as the results of changes in 
the water. On examining these formations micro¬ 
scopically, I have sometimes noticed small crystal¬ 
line forms, which, when carefully separated, easily 
melt, and give an odour resembling the essential oil 
used. These crystals, as in cinnamon, pimento, ca- 
ryoph., and mentli. pip., have been nearly colourless, 
few in number, only seen with high powers and pos¬ 
sessed of polarizing properties. Are these the hy¬ 
drates of a portion of oil similar to turpine hydrate ? 
and if so, may not a hydration of the oil, especially 
of that dissolved, materially assist in maturing these 
waters ? These are subjects opening a wide field of 
research from what appears a very simple subject. 
Lastly, the modes of preparing medicinal waters 
require attention; the only authorized plan in B. P. 
is distillation (except in the instance of camphor). 
The first conclusion one draws from these notes is, 
that spirituous essences are objectionable; they make 
clear waters, but the result of oxidizing alcohol is 
acetic, acid. This was found to be the fact by Wa¬ 
rington in 1845, and every observer since has con¬ 
firmed the fact. In rejecting the Dublin form for 
waters, the compilers of the Pharmacopoeia were wise 
and justified by these facts. Oils have been rubbed 
down with magnesia and chalk; these, too, are ob¬ 
jectionable, as soaps are formed as pointed out by 
Brady and Attfield; the water also acquires an un¬ 
pleasant odour. Silex, according to the old London 
Pharmacopoeia, and kaolin, or fine clay, as sug¬ 
gested by others, have been used for dividing the oil 
with variable results. 
I find that if a small tube, containing an essential 
oil, is placed in water in a position opposite to the 
specific gravity of the oil, and the ends of the tube 
are closed with membrane, vegetable parchment, etc., 
exosmosis of the oil commences, and in twenty-four or 
forty-eight hours the water is saturated, and may be 
drawn off and replaced by a fresh portion. I do not 
propose this as a plan in opposition to distillation, 
it is too long in operation perhaps, but as a conve¬ 
nient way of making those waters only wanted oc¬ 
casionally, and which are frequently made by rubbing 
down the oil with some other substance. 
RESEARCHES ON THE ELECTROLYSIS OF CERTAIN 
ORGANIC ALKALIES.* 
BY M. EDME BURGOIN, 
Pharmacien en Chef de VUopital dcs Enfants-Malades. 
Up to the present time but few experiments have 
been made to determine the action of the electric 
current upon the alkaloids, and j such as have been 
undertaken have had in view, mainly, the demon¬ 
stration that these bodies do not owe then* birth to 
the influence of the mineral alkalies employed in 
their preparation, but pre-exist in the vegetable 
sources. From the facts observed by Lassaigne and 
Feneuille in their experiments with delphinine, and 
the researches of Pelletier and Couerbe upon picro- 
toxine, the following conclusion has been drawn, 
namely, that when a salt of an organic alkali is 
subjected to the influence of the electric current, the 
acid appears at the positive and the base at the ne¬ 
gative pole. 
Having continued these imperfect studies, I have 
recognized that, in addition to the facts noted, there 
* This is the ai'ticle by M. Bourgoin, referred to by the 
President of the Pharmaceutical Conference in his Intro¬ 
ductory Address at Liverpool. The translation is taken Irom 
the Chicago Pharmacist, and is by the editor of that journal. 
