February 17, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
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have shown us a good examplo, and for that part of it 
might almost put us to shame, considering the less im¬ 
portant nature of the agents they employ, in so far as 
they will receive nothing without a written guarantee, 
and not only so, but combine also, in the face of this 
guarantee, to employ a practical chemist for protection 
against impurities and adulterations. What the prac¬ 
tical chemist thus does for the foregoing, the pharma¬ 
ceutist ought to have the education, as he has the means 
and agents, within his reach to search out and accom¬ 
plish for himself. We are here forced, Mr. Chairman,— 
we must confess much against our inclination,—to touch 
upon that great question of the day amongst us as 
amongst other public bodies, the question of education ; 
but in doing so, let us speak the honest truth, however 
unpleasant it may be to hearken to or unpalatable to 
utter. The individual who is incapable or unwilling to 
discharge, in any case or every case, this duty to him¬ 
self and to the public, who is incapable or unwilling to 
examine scientifically every substance admitted into his 
possession, and, moreover, too, make this examination 
the sine qua non of his profession, is unfit for the position 
he occupies, and ought not to be a member, or in any 
way an adherent, of our Society. This may be con¬ 
sidered strong language to use, Mr. Chairman, but it is 
not stronger, we presume, than we are warranted in using 
under the circumstances, and certainly not stronger than 
we would be able to justify or willing to defend, had this 
been a general disquisition on pharmaceutical ethics, 
instead of only a few rambling remarks and facts on its 
border line. 
In thus assigning, and with every day new evidence 
that we are correct in thus assigning, to the pharmaceu¬ 
tical chemist of the future what we believe w r ill be his 
position, what will form one of his principal duties, and 
the importance which will be attached thereto, nothing 
could have happened more opportunely than the officinal 
Introduction, even whilst opinions were changing and 
forming in the direction we have indicated, of a system 
of tests at once comprehensive, simple, and withal accu¬ 
rate. We have no wish now its days are over to say one 
word against our old friend and companion, and most 
excellent instructor, the ‘ Dispensatory,’ but we must con¬ 
fess that now in the light of recent advances and changes, 
.and with more especial reference to this one system of 
tests introduced into the British Pharmacopoeia for the 
first time, the present generation are favoured—we will 
not say beyond their deserts—but beyond measure. An 
analysis may now be made in as many minutes as it 
formerly took hours ; and we all know that an analysis 
wffiich took hours to accomplish, was as much out of the 
xeach of the busy hard-worked chemist as one too deli¬ 
cate or scientific, and otherways beyond his ability. 
These last w r e presume were the grand, as possibly they 
were the unavoidable, errors and objections to most of 
the tests for purity, and more especially strength of che¬ 
micals in our older Pharmacopoeias; and whilst they are 
the objections that will ever be probably brought for¬ 
ward by a certain class—the indifferent, the unwilling, 
•and the ignorant for example—under any system, the 
excuse was then, we must confess, more valid than ever 
henceforth it can possibly be. There are between fifty 
and sixty different chemicals and compounds which our 
present Pharmacopoeia brings under the j urisdiction of 
this system, and this number can be considerably multi¬ 
plied by consulting any text-book on the subject. But 
the importance of the system is even more fully demon¬ 
strated, if we consider that most of the foregoing fifty or 
sixty substances enter into other compounds, and deter¬ 
mine more or less the relative strengths of those other 
compounds into which they thus enter. 
I had no intention whatever, Mr. Chairman, of enter¬ 
ing into any exposition of the system when I first agreed 
to appear before you to-night with a paper, but I have 
been urged so strongly by Mr. Mackay and others to do 
.so, and to accompany it also with one or two experiments | 
demonstrating it, that I have consented, I must confess 
somewhat reluctantly. In consenting, I have had in 
view more particularly the benefit of a certain portion of 
the younger part of my audience, viz. those who may 
never have had the opportunity of getting acquainted 
with this system practically, or even probably theore¬ 
tically. It must altogether be an important subject to 
them, seeing that now they must not only have a theo¬ 
retical, but also a practical knowledge of it, before 
coming up for their Major examination. 
Here the author explained— 1 . The Conditions. 
(1.) It must not occupy much time. 
(2.) The conclusion of the reaction must be easily 
noted from some visible index (F). 
2. The Analysis. 
(1.) Analysis by saturation. (Acids and bases, etc.) 
(2.) Analysis by oxidation and reduction. (Mentioning 
some of the agents.) 
(3.) Analysis by precipitation. 
3. Standard Solutions. 
(1.) Those immediately prepared by weighing a sub¬ 
stance of known composition and purity—dissolving 
and diluting it to the required volume. 
(2.) Such as are prepared by approximate mixture and 
subsequent analysis. 
4. Examples of each hind of Analysis. 
Acetic acid, phosphate of iron, hydrocyanic acid, or 
acetate of lead. 
Now after all we have said and shown, in case any 
one may be inclined to exclaim, “ Cui bono ?”—of what 
good is any system of testing at all ?—let me put a few 
results before the meeting, which came under my own 
observation during a short period of my last summer’s 
holidays, and since. Before doing so, however, let me 
premise that my observations were necessarily somewhat 
limited, principally for two reasons : first, that I had not 
an unlimited amount of time to spare; and second, that 
samples on which to experiment were not always at my 
command; and I have indeed had almost entirely to 
confine myself to those which have come under my own 
observation in the way of business. 
Sulphurous Acid .—One of the earliest substances I ex¬ 
perimented on under this system was sulphurous acid, 
which I was in the habit of manufacturing at one time, 
more, I must confess, by way of pastime than from any 
idea of profit connected with it. On examining it after 
the process was finished, I was exceedingly astonished 
from time to time, not only at the varying results ob¬ 
tained, but more especially at the unsatisfactory nature 
generally of those results. I could get the solution to 
answer every test beautifully but the test of strength, 
and in this, I must say, there was the wildest divergence 
possible. Thinking this might be the consequence of 
making it in small quantities, I from time to time, as I 
required it, after coming to this conclusion, tried larger 
makers, but generally with results not much more satis¬ 
factory. The standard strength is 9'2 per cent., but 
from o to 7 per cent. I always found more frequently to 
be nearer the mark, and if kept some time in stock, even 
less than this. I am sorry I kept at this time no note of 
the different results obtained in the different samples I 
thus tried, and I am therefore unable to put a table be- 
| fore you, but probably some of you who have tried 
similar experiments, may be able to corroborate this ex¬ 
perience. I make no remarks here on the difficulty of 
obtaining in the first place a solution of Pharmacopoeia 
strength, and in the second place of keeping it after it is 
obtained, but the results were none the less unsatisfac¬ 
tory in the face of a standard strength, and granting 
also that the varying strengths could lead to no extreme 
results in practice. 
(To he continued.) 
