March 4,1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
710 
reconsidered their decision, and withdrawn the project. I 
would warn every chemist and druggist, ere it is too late, not 
to come under the rule of Mr. Simon and his medical col¬ 
leagues. If they want to know how it will fare with them 
should such an unfortunate event ever happen, they have 
only to look at the tyrannical and despotic manner in which 
Mr. Simon rules over boards of guardians in the matter of 
the Compulsory Vaccination Acts. All their individuality of 
action is gone, and they are mere tools in his hands. Ab uno 
disce omnes. 
As to the remarks of the British Medical Journal, quoted 
on page 687 of your last number, they are so insulting to us 
as a body that I think the Council ought immediately to 
publish an indignant remonstrance, and let the accredited 
organs of the medical profession know, in unmistakable 
terms, that we neither covet their praises nor fear their 
censure. 
Harroto Boad, W., Feb. 28 th, 1871. Wm. Young. 
Sir,—In your editorial footnote appended to my letter of 
last week, you exercise a freedom of inference which I ven¬ 
ture to assert is not warranted by any of my remarks. I 
never said the regulations “should not be adopted, because 
medical men neglected them,” and no part of my letter will 
bear any such construction. What I said, and what I now 
reiterate, is, that the proposed regulations evince a disregard 
for the public safety, and that the position of our Council, in 
reference to them, shows a want of good faith towards the 
trade and its interests. 
The position I take is that, so far as chemists are con¬ 
cerned, these regulations are not required, inasmuch as every 
precaution is already adopted; and that to disturb the syste¬ 
matic arrangements now in use, and which are especially 
adapted to the requirements of each individual establish¬ 
ment, will be fraught with stupendous difficulties to the 
trade, and positive danger to the public. On the other hand, 
the so-called surgeries of medical men are, as a rule, so ill 
fitted, so ill kept, and so scantily-provided with anything like 
safeguards against accidents, that coercion might very advan¬ 
tageously be applied to them in the interests of society. 
How very absurd, then, or even something worse, must 
appear the attempt to legislate for the former whilst over¬ 
looking the latter! Chemists will do well to remember that 
the whole scope and tendency of the “poison clauses” of the 
last Pharmacy Act have not been towards the preventing of 
poisoning, but was directed mainly against counter-prescrib¬ 
ing. They will also do well to remember who were the 
instigators of these clauses. 
Chemist. 
Our correspondent errs in supposing we attributed 
to him any enunciation of the argument we spoke of as fal¬ 
lacious. But since two-thirds of his letter was devoted to 
comments on the need for poison regulations in surgeries, and 
on the injustice of surgeries being exempted from the appli¬ 
cation of the proposed regulations, it seemed to us a fitting 
opportunity to refer to these opinions as being—whether 
right or wrong—altogether foreign to the discussion of the 
present pharmaceutical question, for we believe that will be 
an advantage if the discussion be kept within its proper 
limits.— Ed. Pharm. Journ.] 
Sir,—Though much has been said about voting-papers 
in the matter of the new poison regulations, I have not 
heard anything of our power of voting by “proxy,” a 
form of which I here enclose, and which, it appears to me, 
should give me that proper and legal influence on the deci¬ 
sion of the meeting which is my right; because, though .. 
intend to be at the Annual Meeting, yet it may be so ful 
that I cannot get in; and when I get there, if there is any¬ 
thing like a repetition of the uproar which we had last year, 
it will be a disgrace to us as debaters. 
Now, what could be more simple than one page of the 
Pharmaceutical Journal filled with a form of proxy, 
which Journal, being posted, as it is, to all members, each 
one would be at liberty to stamp with a Id. Inland Revenue 
(a receipt stamp), name his proxy, and return it to the 
Secretary at a cost of l^d. ? So that there could be a ful 
debate, and a clear expression of the feeling of the members ; 
and if the votes were registered according to the number o 
proxies, a peaceable and gentlemanly solution of the diffi¬ 
culty could be arrived at, which would not put the country 
members to the great expense and trouble of a journey to 
town. 
A resolution in accordance with this plan was passed last 
night at the General Meeting of Chemists in Manchester; 
and if you would be good enough to print along with this a 
brm of proxy suitable for the case, a full and timely conside¬ 
ration can be taken of its utility. 
7, Lower Hillgate, Stockport, Thomas Kay. 
February 23rd, 1871. 
[*#* Voting in the manner suggested by our correspondent 
would be invalid, since the Charter of Incorporation specified, 
“ That at all general meetings and meetings of the Council, 
he majority of the Members present having a right to vote 
liereat respectively, shall decide upon the matters propounded 
;o such meetings, the person presiding therein having, in 
case of an equality of numbers, a second or casting vote.”— 
Ed. Pharm. Journ.] 
Hydrate or Chloral. 
Sir,—Since the publication of the paper upon chloral, etc., 
in your issue of the 7th ultimo, I have found some of the data 
;here given to be inaccurate; I therefore wish to made this 
statement public in justice to all of those interested. 
My analyses were conducted in good faith; but at that 
line, as at present, the mode of testing hydrate of chloral was 
only imperfectly understood; therefore, I was liable to inao*- 
curacies which I have since discovered by repeated experi¬ 
ments upon some of the identical samples. 
In using the ammonia test, I would suggest that half the 
quantity of hydrate of chloral (viz. 250 grains) be treated ex¬ 
actly as prescribed by Mr. Umney; immediately the ammo¬ 
nia is added, well secure the aperture of the tube, agitate the 
liquid freely and immerse the tube in warm water (the tem¬ 
perature not to exceed 100° F.); when quite cold, read the 
chloroform layer; in this way coinciding results may be ob¬ 
tained. 
My paper upon this subject has called attention to a most 
important question; already some makers have been im¬ 
proving their manufacture, and I do not doubt great good 
will accrue to all from ventilation of the subject. 
I wish to thank those who have so kindly assisted my en¬ 
deavour to arrive at truth in this matter. 
Alered H. Mason. 
Liverpool, February 22nd, 1871. 
Sir,—Mr. Mason hints that in several of the samples re¬ 
ferred to in his paper, alcoholate was substituted for hydrate of 
chloral; yet this can hardly be correct,tfor while he states that 
alcoholate is soluble in cold chloroform, he admits that all 
those samples were insoluble in that menstruum. What, then, 
is this body possessing such a definite composition as always 
to yield identical analytical results ? Clearly not hydrate of 
chloral, for it only yields 57 per cent, of chloroform, and as 
clearly not alcoholate, because it is insoluble in cold chloro¬ 
form. I hope that Mr. Mason is following up his inquiries, 
and that we shall shortly learn the true nature of this hitherto 
unknown compound.* 
The subject was evidently of so much interest that I have 
been induced to make some experiments on my own account, 
the results of which 1 propose to lay before your readers. 
After making several trials, I have come to the conclusion 
that caustic potash is, on the whole, more trustworthy as a 
means of separating the chloroform than caustic ammonia. 
It does not require the application of heat, and I have, at all 
events, been able to obtain more constant results in this way. 
Thinking that the sample obtained by Mr. Mason from my 
firm might possibly have been exceptional, I have examined 
samples taken out of five different batches ; they were all in 
cake (the only form in which I have yet made hydrate of 
chloral) and perfectly dry. I may mention here that I have 
frequently seen it stated that hydrate of chloral is deliques¬ 
cent, and this statement is repeated in an editorial article in 
the Pharm. Journ. of February 11. According to my ex¬ 
perience, pure hydrate of chloral is not in any way deliques¬ 
cent. I have frequently found that the hydrate made at our 
works has become damp, and even run to a liquid after long 
exposure, but I have rejected it as an impure article when it 
* Mr. Mason’s letter will probably be the best answer to 
this question.—E d. Pharm. Journ. 
