356 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
macopoeia; it possesses the property of dissolving balsam of copaiba when mixed 
in equal volumes, which is not the case with the spirit of nitre usually sold. 
This specimen is quite fresh, but some distilled a few weeks back, though free 
from acid at first, became strongly acid in the course of four or five days. 
The Chairman expressed satisfaction at having to congratulate an Associate 
of the Society on supplying so practically useful a communication. It was to 
those who are now Associates that the Society must look for its future support, 
and he was glad to see their young men coming forward to contribute papers to 
the meetings. 
Professor Redwood said the Pharmacopoeia process for the preparation of 
nitrite of soda was, as he believed he had been the first to notice, quite unequal 
to the production of the article in a state fit for the purpose to which it was ap¬ 
plied. The salt produced by the process was a variable mixture of nitrite, 
nitrate, and carbonate, together with caustic soda, if much heat be applied. 
The alcohol test for nitrite was very fallacious, and could not be used for sepa¬ 
rating this from the undecomposed nitrate, as the latter was soluble in spirit to 
some extent,—indeed, according to Fischer, as quoted by Storer in his 1 Dic¬ 
tionary of Solubilities,’ nitrite of soda w 7 as even less soluble in alcohol than 
nitrate. The use of a salt made by the Pharmacopoeia process in the prepara¬ 
tion of spirit of nitre was objectionable, on account of the uncertainty belong¬ 
ing to it; but if a good and reliable nitrite could be obtained at a suitable cost, 
the use of such a salt would probably afford the best means of producing nitrous 
ether. Rather than use the so-called nitrite of the Pharmacopoeia, he would 
prefer to employ the nitrate which could be obtained in a state of purity, and 
would therefore yield spirit of nitre in a more uniform state than the other. It 
must be admitted that not only the production, but even the composition of the 
nitrites was involved in some doubt. They appeared, in their decomposition 
with acids, to give off N0 2 rather than N0 3 . The Pharmacopoeia process for 
spirit of nitre was founded upon the assumption that nitrite of soda would yield 
N0 3 , and produce pure nitrous ether in solution in spirit. Even if it did this, 
it remained to be proved that a pure solution of nitrous ether was equivalent to 
the old “sweet spirit of nitre.” He thought they should be cautious in such 
a case how they were led away by the notion of having a pure product. There 
were many substances used in medicine, in the arts, and as articles of diet, which 
owed their excellence to what some might call their impurities, that is, to the 
presence of bodies that could not be clearly defined. They were not simple, 
definable bodies, but still they had their virtues and excellences.. The old 
u sweet spirit of nitre ” he considered to be one of these. It was a complex 
body in which nitrous ether was only one ingredient, and there were others on 
which its useful and agreeable qualities might depend. He might refer to an¬ 
other similar preparation in the case of the so-called chloric ether. This was 
originally produced by a process in which a solution of chloroform with other 
allied bodies was produced, and that preparation obtained considerable repute. 
It was miscible with water without any separation. But then the real nature 
of its composition was not known, excepting that it consisted principally of a 
solution of chloroform, and accordingly a process was adopted for its prepara¬ 
tion by merely dissolving chloroform in spirit of wine. He had no hesitation 
in saying that this product was greatly inferior to the original. He could easily, 
if necessary, quote other instances of a similar description, and he doubted 
whether mere solution of nitrous ether in spirit would form the best sweet 
spirit of nitre. 
The Chairman asked if the old Edinburgh process for spirit of nitre was 
not the best ? 
