August 19,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
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pieces, nearly dry to the touch, and not having a very 
strong pungent odour. 
(4.) The various samples varied in the amount of 
chloroform yielded,—chiefly, it appeared, on account of 
the time each had stood in the shop. 
Generally, the experiments showed that the chloral 
hydrate at present sold by pharmaceutical chemists is of 
a fair degree of purity. 
The President said he would be glad to hear any one 
who would give some results of his experiments. Ho 
saw Dr. Paul, Mr. Wood, Mr. Williams and others pre¬ 
sent who, he had no doubt, would take part in the dis¬ 
cussion. 
Dr. Paul said ho had nothing further to say than 
that both the papers seemed to confirm the general 
result. arrived at by several experimenters some time 
ago, viz. that the hydrate of chloral of commerce was so 
far a pure article that the amount of impurity varied 
within the narrow limits of about 5 per cent.; and 
it was only in a few cases that it came up to as much as 
5 per cent. In those cases where the amount of hydrate 
of chloral in the commercial article was 1, or 2, or 3, or 
5 per cent, less than if the article were absolutely pure 
hydrate of chloral, the impurity was in most cases 
water, due to the hygroscopic nature of the substance. 
In the specimens ho himself examined there was only 
one case of alcoholate met with, and that was not a 
bought sample, but one obtained as a specimen from a 
house in the City reported to have been selling it. An¬ 
other impurity that was observed in one or two cases was 
a flocculent deposit that was formed when the ammonia- 
test was applied. That deposit obscured the test, and 
one was not able to tell how much chloroform was pro¬ 
duced, because the deposit collected between the chloro¬ 
form and the watery liquid rendered indistinct the line 
of separation between the two substances. 
Mr. "Wood said that in the remarks he was about to 
make ho would probably run somewhat counter to the 
general current of opinion, but he must protest against 
attaching too much importance to the chloroform-test. 
It occurred to him that it was leading them rather 
astray, and likely to do more harm than good. No 
doubt it was very valuable, and served a useful purpose 
when it was suggested by Mr. Williams, but what they 
required at the present time, he believed, was a means 
of recognizing that they had chloral hydrate, and no 
other chlorine substance or impurity which might be 
formed during the process of manufacture. The chlo¬ 
roform-test was not required, as it appeared to him, be¬ 
cause it was not a sufficient means of ascertaining the 
purity in these respects, and because the presence or 
absence of a little more or less water in a chloral hydrate 
was a matter of slight importance to them, provided 
that they had pure chloral and no other substance. It 
could merely affect the commercial and not the medi¬ 
cinal value. He believed it was the general experience, 
as stated by Dr. Paul and others, that what caused the 
principal variations in the chloroform results was the 
presence of rather more or less water in the sample 
they were examining. In the manufacture of chloral it did 
appear probable that there were produced certain other 
chlorinated substances, and that these might remain as¬ 
sociated with the chloral in greater or less proportion ; 
and those substances were likely to have considerable 
influence on the 
on tiie medicinal properties of the article. 
There was a very great temptation to every manufac¬ 
turer to stop the action of the chlorine upon the alcohol, 
as soon as it would yield a crystallizable article that was ral hydrate and they sent it to him. 
saleable; but atill at that time it might retain more or 
less, and sometimes a considerable portion, of those other 
products that had been first formed, and from which 
the chloral had been derived. An ethereal oily liquid, of 
high boiling-point, described by Liebig, Dumas and others tion on the subject, 
as the original chloric ether, was the body first formed by 
the action of chlorine on alcohol. It was that body which 
ultimately yielded chloral by the further action of chlo¬ 
rine, and it was that which would be likely to influence- 
its medicinal efficacy. Moreover, alcohol of commerce 
was by no means pure, it contained considerable quantities- 
of fusil oil and other products; and if in the manufacture: 
of chloral such spirit had been used, they would have- 
thc products of the action of chlorine on those other- 
substances which were impurities in the alcohol. Ger¬ 
man spirit was known to contain appreciable quantities* 
of aldehyd ; and Dr. Hofmann had recently shown that 
aldehyd yielded by the action of chlorine a crystalline- 
body resembling chloral, but having an entirely different 
composition. As far as his experience went, the chloro¬ 
form-test failed to be of much use in indicating the pre¬ 
sence or absence of such substitution products. Many 
of these substances did give an oily liquid on treatment 
with an alkali. It might or might not be chloroform. 
It might consist of that alone, or it might contain other- 
liquids. They never applied any further means of re¬ 
cognizing the purity of the chloroform layer. They 
had no means of examining it. It appeared to him, 
therefore, that the test was apt to mislead them ; for if 
they got a good result in point of quantity they thought 
the sample good. But what they really required was 
the means of testing chloral, so as to recognize the pre¬ 
sence of other chlorine products. He was inclined to* 
regard the boiling-point as a more valuable test to apply. 
Unfortunately it seemed impossible to distil hydrate of 
chloral to absolute dryness without increasing the boil¬ 
ing-point. He thought they required some test which, 
would show the presence of other substances than chlo¬ 
ral, rather than being particular as to whether they got 
1 or 2 per cent, of water in excess. 
Dr. Paul said he wished to express the satisfaction, 
with which he had heard Mr. Wood’s remarks. He 
thought he had taken the true chemist’s point of view, 
and had raised a question as to the purity of hydrate of 
chloral in a far more important manner than had yet 
been done. Looking to the materials used for the- 
manufacture of hydrate of chloral, there was, he thought,, 
no doubt that there might be other chlorine compounds; 
in the chloral hydrate of commerce. He was sure that 
everybody would agree with him in hoping that before 
the Conference met next year Mr. Wood would exercise 
the ability and opportunities he possessed of carrying 
out an inquiry in such a way that he could place before- 
them some positive evidence on the matter. He did not 
know any one who could do it so well. 
Mr. Williams said he agreed with Mr. Wood as to- 
the importance of discovering other chlorine compounds 
in chloral. He explained some experiments he had 
made in distillation, and said he thought the redistilled 
chloral much sweeter and nicer in flavour than the* 
chloral from which it was prepared. It was all the- 
purer, and warranted the expense of distillation. 
Mr. H anbury said he did not understand the author- 
of the first paper to say, whether the samples he ex¬ 
amined had been obtained from manufacturers who were- 
previously informed that they were for analysis, or in. 
the ordinary way of trade. That was one point ha 
thought they should know. 
Mr. Umney said the author had proved that chloral 
hydrate had been manufactured in large quantities in 
this country. He thought they were entitled to know 
where it was manufactured, as they were told that there- 
was only one place where it was produced. Perhaps; 
Mr. Mason could enlighten them on the subject. 
Mr. Mason said he applied to manufacturers for chlo- 
One firm refused, 
to entrust him with a sample of their manufacture. 
Mr. Umney said he knew one house that had tried to- 
manufacture it, but the product was mixed with alco¬ 
holate. Perhaps Mr. Wood could give some informa-- 
Mr. Wood said he thought it was a misfortune to in¬ 
troduce manufacturers’ names into such matters; but as* 
