652 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [February 10,1872. 
for it had been sent by Messrs. Huskisson only late that 
day. It was a very remaikable specimen of cake chloral. 
It consisted of a few ounces of chloral hydrate in the 
bottom of a half-gallon jar, and from this small quantity 
there had grown out about twenty or thirty spear-like 
crystals, five or six inches in length. He had never 
before met with a specimen of chloral hydrate in that 
form. He had often seen crystals of chloride of potas¬ 
sium, sometimes an inch long, which had grown up from 
a mass of extract of sarsaparilla, and other medicinal 
extracts, and they had always appeared to be formed of 
superimposed cubes, as if one cube in crystallizing had 
pushed out the one before it, and thus produced a long 
square prism. A similar action, possibly assisted by 
sublimation, might have produced these remarkable 
crystals of what appeared to be chloral hydrate. 
Professor Redwood said that the deposit on the upper 
part of the bottle presented very much the appearance 
resulting from the sublimation of camphor. 
Mr. Ujixey said that it was just possible that those crys¬ 
tals contained a further amount of water than the ordinary 
water of constitution of hydrate of chloral. He had seen 
many specimens left in bottles, but he had never noticed 
any crystals like these. 
Mr. Groves said that it had occurred to him that, as 
the bottle was only partially filled, the appearance might 
be the result of oxidation, or some such chemical action 
on the chloral. 
Dr. Tildex said that it would be interesting to have 
the crystals analysed, in order to find out whether they 
consisted of a modification of chloral. Chloral was 
known to be trichlor-aldehyd; and aldehyd was well 
known to exist in at least three isomeric forms. These 
crystals might consist of an isomeric chloral. 
Note ox Tixcture of Cixxamox. 
A “ Note on Tincture of Cinnamon, in connection 
with Mr. Haselden’s paper, read at the last meeting,” 
was communicated by Mr. Greenish. * 
[This paper is printed at page 6-11, and gave rise to 
the following discussion :—] 
The Phesidext inquired, in reference to Mr. Greenish’s 
statement that with a strong spirituous preparation the 
decomposition of tincture of cinnamon would be likely 
to occur, how long it was since the author made the pre¬ 
paration of tincture of cinnamon upon which he based 
bis observations ? 
Mr. Greexish : I think quite two years. 
The Presidext said that was a considerable time ; and 
if the preparation would keep two years, that was per¬ 
haps as long as could be expected. Not only did he 
.agree with Mr. Greenish and Mr. Giles that the diffe¬ 
rent strengths of spirit might be used with advantage 
for different tinctures, but he also thought that some¬ 
times a different mode of applying the spirit and pre¬ 
paring the ingredients might be used with advantage. 
He might mention especially the tincture of calumba. 
Calumba was one of those roots which was with 
great difficulty exhausted, and it was also one that ab¬ 
sorbed a large amount of the menstruum, of which there 
was a considerable loss in making the tincture. He had 
found (and he believed this method was approved by 
Professor Redwood) that it was better to slice the ca¬ 
lumba than to powder it. But still ho found that there 
was a difficulty in slicing it equally, and that with 
an ordinary root-cutter the substance would break off, 
and ' some pieces would be lump and thicker than they 
ought to be. Hence he had taken a portion of the dis¬ 
tilled water which he should have used in making the 
proof spirit, and placed some of it over the calumba— 
the whole uncut root—and allowed it to remain for 
twelve hours. There was just sufficient water to cover 
the calumba, and the next morning he found that the 
substance was in a nice condition for slicing with the 
cutter,—neither too soft nor too hard. He found, also, 
that when the calumba was in that condition, the loss 
was considerably less upon the gallon of tincture than 
it was when either powdered or ordinary sliced calumba 
was employed. He believed that some process of that 
kind might be applied to other tinctures. Tincture of 
orange-peel was one upon which there was a great loss 
of menstruum; and he believed an improvement might 
be made in its preparation. He was not prepared at 
present to state exactly w T hat the improvement should 
be, but he believed that the liquid might be applied 
to the orange-peel in a better way. He should be glad 
to hear remarks on the subject. 
Professor Redwood said that he was sure the mem¬ 
bers were much indebted to Mr. Greenish for bringing 
forward this subject, and he (Prof. Redwood) should be 
glad if gentlemen, who, like the President and Mr. 
Greenish, were constantly and largely engaged in the 
preparation of this and similar medicines ordered in the 
Pharmacopoeia, would give the Society a little more in 
detail the result of their experiences and observations. 
It had struck him (Prof. Redwood) that there were two 
points in connection with the subject which it was very 
important to keep separately before the mind. One was 
the occurrence of decomposition, and the other was the 
evidence of a decomposition. It seemed to him that all 
the inferences which had been formed with reference to 
! the tinctures that had j ust been brought under their notice 
were inferences founded simply upon the obvious appear¬ 
ances which the tinctures presented to the eye; and in 
cases in which there had been some alteration or varia- 
' tion in the mode of operating, such as an alteration in the 
strength of the menstruum or spirit, it seemed to have 
been inferred, because there was no evidence to our 
senses of decomposition, that no decomposition had 
taken place. He thought that that was too violent an 
assumption. He was not at all clear that in cases 
where, in consequence of the use of a stronger spirit, 
there had been no deposition of insoluble matter, there 
had been no decomposition. The decomposition might 
have taken place, though the deposit had not been 
formed. That was a point upon which they required 
proof one way or the other. It was quite possible that 
the spirit had held in solution the product of decompo¬ 
sition which, if a weaker spirit had been used, would 
have given a muddy appearance to the tincture. If 
that were so, then there naturally arose another ques¬ 
tion,—Was there in such a case, or would there be, an 
advantage in the substitution of the stronger spirit for 
the weaker ? He should be inclined to say, No. He would 
rather continue the use of the w r eaker spirit, and for this 
simple reason, that they wanted the tincture to be used 
in a definite condition. It might be a tincture which 
would not keep for more than a certain limited period; 
and if that were so, it ought to be used within that 
period, and not used beyond it. If it became muddy when 
the decomposition took place, that would preclude its use; 
but if by the use of a different menstruum—a stronger 
spirit—that muddy character was prevented, then there 
was an inducement to go on using the tincture when it 
was in an unfit state. In fact, it appeared to him that 
the case was somewhat analogous to that of oil of bitter 
almonds. Oil of bitter almonds in the purified state, 
freed from hydrocyanic acid, underwent a speedy oxida¬ 
tion. He would not say that this oxidation always 
occurred, for Dr. Tilden had shown them that if the 
oil were anhydrous, it might be kept without rapid 
oxidation ; but in its ordinary state, when purified from 
hydrocyanic acid, it would oxidize quickly, and pass 
into the state of benzoic acid, which would crystallize in 
it; and, in place of the fluid oil, there would be a mass 
of crystals nearly filling the bottle, and they would at 
once indicate that there had occurred such a change as 
would preclude the use of the oil, or at least of the altered 
part of it. If, on the other hand, they had essence of 
bitter almonds instead of oil,—that is to say, if they had 
dissolved the oil previously in a certain quantity of 
spirit,—there was no longer such an indication as that. 
