582  Reaction  of  Orange  Flower  Water.    { %^l8^ann~ 
the  above  process  and  the  American  consists  in  the  addition,  by  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  of  half  an  ounce  of  acetic  acid  to  each' 
16  ounces  of  liquor,  thus  rendering,  in  my  opinion,  an  otherwise  good 
preparation  nauseus  and  unpalatable,  as  well  as  presenting  a  difficulty 
as  to  the  desirability  and  wisdom  of  introducing  acid  into  the  stomachs 
of  patients.  These  are  points  which,  at  certain  times,  it  is  most  neces- 
sary for  the  physician  to  consider  and  the  pharmacist  to  determine. — 
Phar.  your,  and  Trans.  [Lond.],  Sept.  14. 
A  REACTION  OF  ORANGE  FLOWER  WATER. 
By  R.  Reynolds,  F.C.S.,  and  C.  H.  Bothamley. 
Read  at  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference . 
A  few  months  since,  the  following  prescription  was  presented,  and 
was  duly  dispensed  : 
R     Bismuth,  alb.,  .  .  .  .  3iss. 
Acid,  nitro-mur.,  dih,         .  .  .  3'iss. 
Tinct.  gentian,  co.,     ....  ^ss. 
Sp.  chloroformi,    ....  3iss. 
Aqua  aurantii,  .  .  .ad  ^viii. 
Misce. 
The  patient  complained  that  the  mixture,  including  the  deposit,  had! 
a  pinkish  hue,  which  was  not  the  case  to  such  a  degree  when  the  same 
medicine  had  been  dispensed  elsewhere. 
Some  experiments  showed  that  the  coloration  was  due  to  a  reaction 
between  the  orange  flower  water  and  nitro-hydrochloric  acid.  Although 
we  believe  that  few  pharmacists  have  had  this  reaction  brought  under 
their  notice,  the  fact  is  already  recorded  in  Hanbury  and  Fluckiger's- 
4C  Pharmacographia  "  where  it  is  said  of  orange  flower  water,  "Acidu- 
lated with  nitric  acid,  it  acquires  a  pinkish  hue  more  or  less  intense, 
which  disappears  on  saturation  by  an  alkali." 
The  literature  of  the  question  is  contained  in  its  most  complete  form- 
in  Gmelin's  "  Handbook  of  Chemistry,"  vol.  xiv,  page  386.  Here 
we  find  the  following  statements  under  the  head  of  Oil  of  Neroli,  viz.,,. 
When  orange  flowers  are  distilled  with  water,  "  the  oil  which  passes 
over  is  a  mixture  of  two  oils,  one  easily  soluble  in  water  and  fragrant^ 
the  other  sparingly  soluble,  of  less  agreeable  odor  ;  the  latter  floats 
upon  the  watery  distillate  and  is  easily  separated  (Soubeiran).  Orange 
