December 9,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
467 
I am ready to admit tliat an analytical method 
which deals, as this does, with a substance so com¬ 
plex and variable in composition as opium, must 
have an extended trial before its reliability can be 
placed altogether beyond doubt. 
Table of Results. 
Sample. 
Percentage of 
crude morphia ob¬ 
tained by B. P. 
process. 
Weight of precipi¬ 
tate after washing 
with chloroform. 
Amount of real 
morphia in preci¬ 
pitate estimated 
by reduction 
process. 
Percentage of 
real morphia in 
sample as deter¬ 
mined by re¬ 
duction process. 
Colori¬ 
metric. 
Iodi- 
metric. 
, Colori¬ 
metric. 
j 
Iodi- 
metric. 
1 
13-8 
12-8 
11-0 
11-3 
2 
12-0 
10-8 
9-4 
' 
io-o 
3 
11-2 
io-o 
8-8 
92 
4 
10-2 
9'3 
7'7 
7-81 
8-0 
8 T 
5 
5-8 
5-6 
5-0 
i 
5-4 
0 
16-2 
15-0 
136 
14-0 
7 
6-4 
6 T 
5'5 
5-76 : 
6 4 
6-43 
8 
io-o 
94 
9-0 
1 
100 
9 
13-8 
126 
11-0 
11-2 
11-5 
11-8 
10 
11-3 
10-6 
9-6 
10-0 
11 
14-2 
13-0 
11-6 
| 
12-0 
12 
6 T 
5-7 
50 
5 T 3 
5 T 
5-28 
13 
10-4 
9‘8 
8-7 
90 
14 
12-0 
12-4 
12-0 
12-5 
15 
11-4 
10 T 
8-8 
8 -G 
96 
95 
16 
95 
8-7 
7'6 
74 
8-3 
8-48 
17 
9 4 
9 2 
8-8 
95 
18 
17-4 
15-8 
13-8 
14-0 
- 14-5 
14-2 
Sheffield , October, 1871. 
[The discussion upon this paper is printed at p. 477.] 
THE SYRUP AND RESIN OF TOLU, AND 
TINCTURE OF CINNAMON.* 
BY A. F. HASELDEN, F.L.S. 
The legitimate field of operation for the pharma¬ 
ceutist is pharmacy, but, wide as that field may be, 
it is not always easy to supply the demand for origi¬ 
nal matter; nevertheless, facts not necessarily 
known to all do occasionally spring up, and which 
are considered worth recording. 
Syrup of tolu, like many other preparations of the 
Pharmacopoeia, would seem at first sight to be a 
very unimportant one; it has, however, been made 
more prominent by some pharmaceutists since the 
introduction of the hydrate of chloral. At any rate, 
there is more in the mode of preparation than is 
commonly given credit for. Though it is well known 
to you, I must, in order to make my observations clear 
to some, give the Pharmacopoeia process. Balsam of 
tolu is boiled with distilled water for half an hour in a 
lightly-covered vessel, distilled water being then 
.added, if required, to make up the quantity specified. 
"When cold the liquor is filtered, and the sugar, being 
added, is dissolved by the aid of a water-bath heat, 
the product having a specific gravity of P330. The 
result of filtering, when cold, is the separation of 
small particles of resinous matter, with a mixture of 
•cinnamic and benzoic acid floating upon the surface 
-of the liquor,—a circumstance of which any student 
* Read at the Evening Meeting of the Pharmaceutical 
.Society of Great Britain, Dec. 6,1871. 
would or should be cognisant. If filtered whilst 
hot, this combination of acid would remain sus¬ 
pended, although not dissolved, in the cold syrup, 
which, when used as an adjunct in cough prepara¬ 
tions, might induce, and has been known to do so, 
■ the very irritation or tickling about the fauces wliich 
it was intended to allay. In the last edition of 
Boyle’s ‘ Materia Medica ’ it is stated that the syrup 
of the P. B. is about twice as strong as that of the 
P. L.; this is an error of calculation, as the prepa¬ 
rations are as near as possible identical. The older 
and harder the balsam of tolu, the larger the crop of 
crystals will be. On making the syrup, I separated 
from one quantity of §iij 5yj of balsam 14 grains of 
ciystals ; and three or four months later, from a 
similar quantity of the same balsam, 34 grains. 
The quantity of balsam ordered for making the 
syrup appears larger than necessary, inasmuch as it 
is not exhausted ; but that is not a matter of much 
moment, the object being, as I am told, to obtain a 
full-flavoured syrup. Besides this mixture of cin¬ 
namic and benzoic acids, which I hope to utilize, 
though the quantity obtained is small, there is the 
resin remaining. This I use, as undoubtedly many 
others do, for coating pills and some descriptions of 
granules. 
In the Conference ‘ Year-Book of Pharmacy’ for 
1870, at page 53, may be found the following form 
for a pill-varnish, viz. Ether, 100 parts; Balsam of 
Tolu 10 parts ; Colophonium 1 part; Absolute Alco¬ 
hol 10 parts: macerate until the resin is dissolved. 
The tolu balsam must be previously digested four 
hours in hot water, and then dried and added to the 
rest. The mode of coating is by putting the granules 
with sufficient of the varnish, which is found out by 
practice, into a shallow circular porcelain evaporating- 
dish, and quickly shaking them round. The process 
of drying may be quickened by throwing them into 
a sieve, and keeping up the rotatory motion. Pills 
in large quantities hi the same way; in small quan¬ 
tities, in pots having an egg-shaped bottom. I have 
employed a similar varnish for several years, but I 
simplify the form for preparing the solution. In the 
first place, I omit the colophony, or resin, as being 
neither necessary nor agreeable ; and, instead of 
digesting fresh balsam of tolu in hot water, I take 
the resin of tolu, the waste product after preparing 
the syrup. I use less ether and more alcohol, 
thereby obtaining a less costly result, and one 
equally good,—the only advantage of a large quan¬ 
tity of ether being the drying of the varnish in a 
shorter time ; but, for general purposes I find it 
dries quickly enough. If very rapid drying be ne¬ 
cessary, methylated chloroform is the best solvent. 
My proportions are the following:—Besin of Tolu 
3 parts ; Ilectified Spirit 0 parts; Methylic Ether 
2 parts; well shake until all that will is dissolved. 
Use the clear solution. Iodide of iron pills are well 
preserved by this coating, and also granules of 
secale cornutum, as suggested by Dr. Skinner, of 
Liverpool. For preserving secale in a portable 
state the plan is good; for, if there should be any 
difficulty in swallowing the granules, they can be 
readily crushed into a coarse powder and taken 
with water. I have also employed this solution as 
a liquid-stopping for the teeth, applied by means of 
cotton wool, and have found it more manageable 
and less disagreeable than the various solutions of 
mastich. If it could be deprived of colour and odour 
without destroying its adhesive quality, it would b<j 
