November 19, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
403 
CjH t HO H- H 2 S0 4 = C 2 H 8 HS0 4 + H 2 0. 
[The presence of this compound can be shown by 
saturating the liquid with chalk, and evaporating 
down the filtered solution: a soluble crystallizable 
salt (C 2 H 6 ) 2 Ca"(S0 4 ) 2 results.] 
Heated, this compound is decomposed by alcohol, 
giving, at a temperature of 280° to 300° F., ether and 
sulphuric acid. 
C 2 H 5 HO + C 2 H 5 HS0 4 = (C 2 H 5 ) 2 0 + h 2 so 4 . 
The ether and the water formed by the first reac¬ 
tion distil over together; the sulphuric acid thus re¬ 
generated remains behind to pass again through the 
same changes. A little alcohol distils over unchanged, 
and a small quantity of sulphurous acid accompanies 
it; these are removed from the distillate by agitating 
with slaked lime and a strong solution of chloride of 
calcium, the ether is then redistilled. 
It is important in this process to observe the pro¬ 
portions in the boiling mixture, so that the tempera¬ 
ture may neither be too low (when little but spirit 
would pass'over), nor too high (when the ether would 
be contaminated with oil of wine). 
Ether may be formed from alcohol by the action 
of many other bodies. Doubtless the explanation 
of its production by sulphuric acid just given is 
correct, but in other cases, as in the action of chloride 
of zinc, the alcohol seems simply to lose the elements 
of water,—the residues of two molecules becoming 
condensed into one. 
cfnjo 
— HoO = 
C 2 H 6 
c 2 h 5 
} 
o 
Ether, though of low specific gravity as a liquid, 
forms a veiy heavy vapour. This would be inferred 
from its formula, (C 2 H 5 ) 2 0 (= 74) forming the 
same volume of vapour as H 2 (=2). It is, there¬ 
fore, 37 times heavier than hydrogen, and 37 X ‘0693 
(the sp. gr. of H) = 2’564 times heavier than the air. 
Pure ether agitated with water takes up of that 
liquid about ^ of its volume ; whilst it dissolves in 
about 9 or 10 times its volume of water. Ether is 
used as a solvent, chiefly of fatty matters, and in the 
Pharmacopoeia for other purposes. As a solvent, 
benzol or purified bisulphide of carbon might in 
some cases be advantageously employed instead of 
ether. The valuable properties of these liquids have 
been somewhat overlooked in pharmacy. 
Alcohol Amylicum. —This liquid is employed in 
the Pharmacopoeia as the source of valerianic acid 
and valerianates. The acid is derived from it by 
boiling with oxidizing agents, of which a mixture of 
bichromate of potash and sulphuric acid is the most 
frequently employed. Ordinary amylic alcohol is an 
alcohol belonging to the same series as wood-naphtha 
(methylic alcohol) and common spirit of wine (ethylic 
alcohol), and it gives products of oxidation and other 
derivatives similar to those obtained from those 
bodies. Thus, the formation of fonnic, acetic and 
valerianic acids is shown in the following equa¬ 
tions :— 
CHjHO + O, = CHH0 2 + H 2 0. 
Methylic alcohol. Formic acid. 
c 2 h 5 ho + o 2 = c 2 h,ho 2 + h 2 o. 
Ethylic alcohol. Acetic acid. 
aH HO + 0 2 = C 5 H 9 H0 2 + HoO. 
Amylic alcohol. Valerianic acid. 
In either of these the oxygen of the air may be em¬ 
ployed (through the agency of platinum black) or 
nascent oxygen developed from some oxidizing mix¬ 
ture. 
The Pharmacopoeia is hardly correct in treating 
fousel oil as identical with anylic alcohol. Fousel 
oil differs considerably in character, according to the 
sources from which it has been procured, some 
samples containing no inconsiderable proportions of 
other alcohols, such as butylic, which would yield 
butyric acid, C 4 H 3 0 2 . Probably much of the vale¬ 
rianate of soda prepared from fousel oil contains 
butyrate. The characters indicated in the B.P. as 
belonging to amylic alcohol should be more definitely 
stated. 
{To be continued.) 
A COMBINED SOLUTION OF PEPSINE AND 
PANCREATINE.* 
The value of pepsine as a remedial agent in cases of 
indigestion is generally admitted, but experience has 
proved that it is only in certain forms of indigestion 
that it is of use. 
Food is divided into two classes, nitrogenized and 
unnitrogenized. The former, being digested in the 
stomach, is acted on by pepsine; the latter, digested in 
the intestine, escapes its action almost altogether. The 
only action pepsine, as it appears in the gastric juice, 
seems to have on fat is to dissolve the albuminous cell- 
wall, so leaving the fat free to be acted upon by the 
pancreatic secretion. This suggests a probable cause of 
indigestion ; for if the gastric fluid be deficient in quan¬ 
tity or quality, the albuminous cell-walls of the fat may 
not be dissolved, the fat is not acted on sufficiently by 
the pancreatic secretion, and not being emulsified, can¬ 
not be taken up by the lacteals. On the other hand, 
diseases of the pancreas or intestine, by checking the 
absorption of fat, may cause indigestion incurable by 
pepsine. This indigestion should be treated by pan¬ 
creatine, the chief action of the pancreatic secretion being 
the emulsion of fats. 
There being two classes of food to be digested, each in 
a different portion of the digestive tract, it is evident 
that the more perfectly one is digested the more easily 
will the other be. If the stomachic digestion be weak, 
the fat granules are not set free nor the fibrine dissolved 
as they should be ; the consequence being that the pan¬ 
creatic secretion cannot do its work properly. If the 
intestinal digestion be weak, the emulsifying of the fats 
as they pass from the stomach being imperfectly per¬ 
formed, the food is detained longer in the stomach than 
is right, the proportion of fat to fibrine is increased, the 
fat enveloping the nitrogenized food hinders the action 
of the gastric juice, and acidity and stomachic indiges¬ 
tion are produced. In treating stomachic indigestion, 
therefore, it is important to accelerate the digestion of 
fatty and saccharine portions of the food; and in intestinal 
to accelerate and perfect the digestion of the albuminoids. 
There are also cases in which the digestion of both the 
nitrogenized and unnitrogenized food is at fault. 
Impressed with the foregoing ideas, Mr. Edward Long, 
of Dublin, sent to the author a sample of his solution of 
pepsine in glycerine, asking him to try it in practice, 
and give his opinion upon it. The author, however, 
thought that a solution of pepsine and pancreatine, com¬ 
bined in suitable proportions, would fulfil the conditions 
necessary for a perfect digestive; he therefore sug¬ 
gested to Mr. Long the preparation of such a solution. 
The result of the experiment is given in a letter from 
* Abstract of a paper by Richard John Kinkead, B.A. and 
M.T.C.D., in the Lancet, no. xx. vol. ii. 1870. 
