Am,ocui8^arm'}     British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  523 
uniformity  of  our  official  preparations  is  leading  medical  men  to  those 
large  houses  in  America  and  Germany,  as  well  as  in  England,  who  guaran- 
tee that  their  compounds  are  of  a  definite  strength,"  it  is  desirable  that  the 
mischief  should  be  at  once  brought  under  the  notice  of  the  medical  body 
that  at  present  entirely  controls  the  formulae  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  It  is 
impossible,  however,  just  now  to  do  justice  to  the  many  points  that  are 
worthy  of  discussion  in  this  most  interesting  address,  but  we  shall  probably 
refer  to  them  when  the  address  is  published  in  extenso.  Meanwhile,  we  en- 
tirely endorse  the  opinion,  that  "if  pharmacy  is  to  hold  its  own,  each  phar- 
macist must  be  in  the  future  the  guarantor  of  the  purity  of  the  medicines 
he  dispenses,  not  the  mere  distributor." 
The  estimation  of  small  quantities  of  salicylic  acid  in  wines,  etc.,  was  the  subject 
of  the  next  paper,  which  was  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Ince.  The  method  preferred  by 
the  author  is  to  distil  the  liquid  after  ascidulating  it  with  sulphuric  acid, 
reject  the  first  portion  passing  over,  then  treat  a  definite  quantity  of  the 
subsequent  distillate  with  a  10  per  cent,  solution  of  mercuric  nitrate  in 
nitric  acid  or  ferric  chloride,  and  compare  the  liquid  colorimetrically  with 
solution  of  salicylic  acid  of  known  strength  treated  with  the  same  reagent. 
The  author  states  that  he  has  found  distillation  in  a  current  of  steam  "a 
satisfactory  method  of  extracting  a  definite  quantity  of  the  acid  from  a 
definite  volume  of  wine  or  similar  bod}7." 
Testing  and  purification  of  hydrochlorate  of  cocaine. — Mr.  John  Williams  next 
attempted  to  deal  with  a  difficulty  presented  by  this  now  widely  used  alka- 
loid. The  purification  process  recommended  by  the  author  depends  upon 
the  almost  absolute  insolubility  of  hydrochlorate  of  cocaine  in  ether,  in 
which  cocaine  itself  is  freely  soluble,  and  the  fact  that  most  if  not  all  of  the 
impurities  appear  to  be  soluble  in  ether  even  when  converted  into  hydro- 
chlorate. The  cocaine  hydrochlorate  to  be  examined  is  dissolved  in  the 
smallest  quantity  possible  of  absolute  alcohol,  and  to  this  solution  is  added 
about  six  times  its  volume  of  pure  ether;  after  shaking  several  times  the 
mixture  is  allowed  to  stand  a  few  minutes  and  the  crystalline  precipitate  is 
then  thrown  on  a  calico  filter,  squeezed,  spread  on  blotting  paper  and 
allowed  to  dry.  The  cocaine  hydrochlorate  thus  purified  is  said  to  be  much 
improved  and  free  from  the  mousy  odor  so  often  complained  of.  In  the 
discussion  that  followed  the  reading  of  the  paper  Mr.  Christy  referred  to  the 
fact  that  a  considerable  quantity  of  crude  cocaine  now  received  in  this 
country  from  South  America  pays  a  visit  to  Germany  for  purification,  and 
said  that  the  publication  of  Mr.  Williams'  paper  would  appear  to  render 
this  unnecessary  in  future.  The  question  was  also  raised  as  to  the  preser- 
vation of  cocaine  in  solution,  and  Dr.  Tichborne  stated  that  a  slightly  acid 
solution  of  salicylate  of  cocaine  would  keep  good  for  twelve  months. 
Synthetical  compounds. — Mr.  Helbing  next  read  a  paper  entitled  Pharma- 
ceutical Notes  on  some  Synthetical  Compounds  recently  introduced  into 
Medicine.  The  paper  was  mainly  a  compilation  of  statements  which  have 
already  been  published  in  this  Journal  concerning  the  numerous  organic 
compounds  with  which  continental  physicians  and  chemists  have  recently 
inundated  the  materia  medica.    It  contained  also  some  useful  information 
