May 13,1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
pure borax), tilkh (talc, probably), kibreetk (sul¬ 
phur), sweet salt and soot, equal parts ; mix all well 
together and add a quantity of salt water; then boil 
the whole down and strain slowly through a cloth 
by drops, then boil the clear fluid till crystallization 
takes place. 
This appears to be the genuine medicinal salt 
such as we have met with, and which was known to 
Dr. Waring when he wrote the description we have 
quoted. In the Punjab an artificial black salt is 
made without iron or sulphur, according to Mr. 
Baden Powell, who gives the following mode of 
manufacture in his recent volume of ‘ Punjab Pro¬ 
ducts.’ It may be remarked incidentally that there 
are several compounds known to the natives under 
different names wliich have chloride of sodium as a 
principal ingredient:—“ One maund of Sambar, or 
Dindwa salt; \ seer of ‘ baherali ’ (fruit of Termi- 
nalia belerica) , seer of ‘ liar ’ (fruit of Terminalia 
chebula) ; ^ seer of ‘ aonla ’ (fruit of Emblica offici¬ 
nalis) ; -j- seer of black sajii (impure carbonate of 
soda): all these are put into an earthen pot over a 
fire and kept there till scorched; when about 35 
out of 41 seers remain, the pot is taken oft’ and the 
black salt is made. About two maunds of wood are 
used. The price is now in Bhawani three rupees 
per maund. It is used only as medicine, and is ex¬ 
ported to the North-Western Provinces and to the 
Punjab. No tax is levied at Bhawani, but it pays 
duty as salt when taken across the customs’ line.” 
It is called Kala nimak or Nimak sonclial. There 
is no indication of iron in this process. Probably 
both methods are employed, and hence the ‘black 
salt ’ may or may not contain iron according to its 
mode of manufacture. The name given in the 
* Taleef Shereef’ is Nemuk-soonchur or Nemuk-sia, 
called also Bitlaban and Kala-nemuck. It is de- 
- J ——-"•« •—* ^ am • o rl 
scnoea as a tome m u.y ojjcjjoi.c» Ul UV f W V1W W 
struent in obstructions of the spleen and mesenteric 
glands of children; a stimulant in chronic rheu¬ 
matism and palsy; a vermifuge. Dr. Henderson 
and Mr. Twining consider that there is reason to 
believe that in chronic enlargements of the spleen 
and liver, the result of malarious poisoning, it pos¬ 
sesses considerable powers. Twining advises its 
administration in doses of gr. x. with 5ss of the 
black myrabolan every morning, in the intervals 
between the employment of liis famous spleen 
mixture. It is held in high esteem in various forms 
of paralysis, especially in that in which the organs 
of speech are affected, and it is extensively used 
by native farriers in the diseases of cattle. 
THE PREPARATION OP CHLORAL. 
Extracted from the remarks of Dr. E. R. Squibb 
before the American Pharmaceutical Association. 
Cliloral is the ultimate product of the action of 
chlorine on alcohol, as its name implies, the first 
syllables of the two words being formed into the 
name; “ clilor,” the first syllable of chlorine, and 
“ al,” the first syllable of alcohol, making “ chloral.” 
When chlorine gas in a dry state is passed into 
absolute alcohol, a series of changes appear to take 
place wliicli may depend on the abstraction of hy¬ 
drogen and the substitution of chlorine. The first 
portions of chlorine gas that pass into absolute 
alcohol are converted, or appear to be converted, at 
once into hydrochloric acid, and that hydrochloric 
903- 
acid is absorbed by the remainder of the alcohol and 
reacts with it, producing hydrochloric ether. The 
second step in the reaction is to again decompose or 
supersaturate this hydrochloric ether with chlorine, 
and then hydrochloric acid escapes; and finalty, as 
heat is applied in the process, the hydrochloric ether 
escapes and a substitution appears to take place, 
whereby chlorine is substituted for hydrogen in the 
already-decomposed alcohol. This is but a rude out¬ 
line of the process. Cliloral was discovered by Lie¬ 
big in 1829 or 1830, although the paper in which it 
was described was not published until about 1832; 
therefore it is commonly stated that he discovered 
it in 1832, which is incorrect. Dumas was the next 
who investigated it, and these two observers investi¬ 
gated it as a table specimen product. Last year. 
Dr. Otto Liebreicli, in his physiological investiga¬ 
tions regarding the group of anaesthetic chemicals, 
reasoned back to this substance the known effects of 
chloroform, and tried it first upon animals, then upon 
patients. At first he supposed it was an anaesthetic,, 
but afterwards modified this view, and now I believe 
regards it as a hypnotic, and, in some cases, an ano¬ 
dyne. The apparatus for making chloral consists, 
first, in the means of generating chlorine; second, 
in the means of drying the chlorine ; third, in the 
means of passing it into absolute alcohol without 
loss; and, fourth, having the absolute alcohol in 
such a position that it can be gradually wanned. 
The process requires about twenty-eight days for 
the current of chlorine to be passed into the absolute 
alcohol, and I believe the slower the current passes 
into the absolute alcohol the better; that is to say, 
the longer the time which is taken to produce the 
chloral the better; I think there is less waste and 
more chloral obtained for the same quantity of alco¬ 
hol. It is a curious circumstance that hydrate of 
hv nassinor the chlorine into ab- 
XVJ p/A VV* V*v V JU w 
solute alcohol, and this shows that water 13 OTIC Of 
the results of the decomposition of the alcohol; yet 
if hydrated alcohol be used, the product is different. 
I have tried different degrees of strength of alcohol, 
from absolute down to ninety-two per cent., and have 
obtained good results only from absolute alcohol. 
16 gallons of such alcohol, in twenty-eight days, 
with the use of about a ton and a quarter of mixture 
of binoxide of manganese and common salt, and 
about the same quantity of sulphuric acid,—the 16 
gallons of absolute alcohol weighing about 92 pounds, 
—I obtained about 160 pounds of crude hydrate of 
chloral. This crude hydrate of chloral, as it is made 
by the passage of the chlorine into the alcohol, is 
contaminated with several other products wliich pass 
over in the distillation, and cannot be separated by 
simple distillation. It is necessary, therefore, to 
apply sulphuric acid in the purification of the cliloral. 
Concentrated sulphuric acid is shaken with the crude 
hydrate of chloral, and the dehydrated chloral is 
then distilled off from the sulphuric acid. In this 
way we get cliloral that is free from water. After 
purifying tliis by one or two applications of sulphuric 
acid, then the stoecliiometric proportion of water is 
added, and it is either sublimed or crystallized. In 
connection with tliis liydrature allow me to go. back 
to the name of chloral. I iwopose to call it simply 
chloral,—not hydrate of chloral, nor chloral hydrate. 
It seems to me surplusage, as we do not in our lan¬ 
guage commonly call hydrated compounds hydrates ; 
that is, we do not usually recognize the presence of 
combined water in the names of chemical compounds. 
