132 
Pharmaceutical  Colleges,  etc. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharw. 
t   Marfehl,  1872. 
Professor  Redwood  said  Mr.  Greenish  had  just  referred  to  one  evidence 
which  certainly  went  to  show  that  the  tincture  made  with  the  strong  spirit  had 
retained  the  cinnamon  oil  longer  than  the  other,  for  the  flavor  of  cinnamon  still 
remained.  What  they  would  have  to  look  for  would  undoubtedly  be  oil  of  cin- 
namon in  the  one  case,  and  einnamic  acid  in  the  other.  As  the  oil  of  cinnamon 
disappeard,  the  einnamic  acid  would  be  produced.  But,  it  was  not  easy  to  judge 
of  the  proportion  of  an  essential  oil  in  a  strong  solution  of  it,  by  the  taste  or 
smell  He  had  recently  had  evidence  of  this  in  the  investigation  of  a  subject 
allied  to  that  before  the  meeting,  and  which  he  had  intended  alluding  to  in  con- 
nection with  the  President's  paper  submitted  to  them  at  the  previous  meeting. 
One  of  the  subjects  referred  to  in  that  paper  was  syrup  of  tolu  ;  and  it  was  stated 
that  in  making  that  preparation  the  tolu  did  not  become  completely  exhausted 
of  the  constituents  which  gave  the  peculiar  character  to  the  syrup.  That  was  a 
subject  of  some  importance  to  the  pharmaceutist,  and  one,  moreover,  to  which  he 
had  directed  his  attention,  independently  of  its  being  brought  forward  in  the 
paper.  He  had  been  requested  to  examine  a  specimen  of  balsam  of  tolu  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  it  was  genuine  or  not.  He  found  clearly  that  it 
consisted  of  the  resinous  matter  of  the  balsam  of  tolu  answering  to  the  reactions 
wThich  that  resin  would  give,  but  it  was  deficient  in  some  of  the  most  important 
constituents  of  good  balsam  of  tolu.  namely,  einnamic  acid  and  the  peculiar  oily 
matter  which  gave  to  balsam  of  tolu  much  of  its  peculiar  flavor.  He  concluded 
that  it  was  balsam  of  tolu  which  had  been  used  for  making  syrup,  or  for  some 
similar  purpose.  In  compliance  with  a  suggestion  made  by  Mr.  H anbury,  he 
had  used  some  of  this  partially-exhausted  balsam  for  making  syrup  of  tolu  ac- 
cording to  1 1) e  Pharmacopoeia,  and  compared  the  product  with  some  syrup 
made  with  perfectly  good* and  genuine  balsam.  Now.  taking  the  syrups  in  the 
form  in  which  he  had  produced  them,  he  did  not  find  it  very  easy  to  distinguish 
the  one  from  the  other  ;  but,  if  half  an  ounce  of  each  of  those  syrups  were  put 
into  a  bottle  and  diluted  with  eight  or  ten  times  its  volume  of  water,  there 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  distinguishing  between  them, — one  solution  being  poor 
and  vapid  compared  with  the  other  He  should  test  the  tinctures  in  a  some- 
what similar  way.  In  examining  the  balsams,  of  course  he  should  go  to  the 
quantitative  determination  of  the  proportions  of  einnamic  acid  in  them,  as  there 
appeared  a  probability  that  exhausted  balsam  of  tolu  might  find  its  way  into 
commerce.  It  was  quite  clear  that  something  more  was  required  than  was  at 
present  given  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  for  the  purpose  of  indicating  what  balsam 
of  tolu  ought  to  be.  In  the  first  volume  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  Pro- 
fessor Soubeiran,  of  Paris,  reported  the  results  of  experiments  he  had  made  in 
consequence  of  a  statement  that  the  same  balsam  of  tolu  might  be  used  two  or 
three  times  for  making  syrup  without  any  deterioration  in  the  quality  of  the 
product.  Soubeiran  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  taking  account  of  the  pro- 
portion of  balsam  of  tolu  which  was  ordered,  it  could  be  used  twice  without  de- 
terioration in  the  product,  but  not  more  than  twice.  The  proportion  then  or- 
dered in  the  Paris  Codex  was  one  part  of  balsam  to  four  parts  of  water  It 
was  evident  from  the  experiments  of  Soubeiran  that  a  smaller  proportion  would 
yield  a  syrup  equally  good,  and  the  proportion  in  the  Paris  Codex  has  there- 
fore been  altered  to  one  part  of  balsam  to  ten  of  water.  The  proportion  pre- 
scribed in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  is  even  less,  being  one  to  about  thirteen, 
while  in  Russia  the  proportion  remains  atone  to  four.  Having  reference  to  the 
quality  of  this  syrup,  we  could  neither  diminish  the  proportion  of  balsam  or- 
dered in  our  Pharmacopoeia  nor  use  exhausted  balsam  without  injury  to  the 
product.  There  was  a  vast  difference  between  syrup  of  tolu  prepared  accord- 
ing to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  that  which  had  been  occasionally  recommended, 
which  was  produced  by  putting  tincture  of  tolu  into  ordinary  syrup.  Syrup  of 
tolu,  made  according  to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  was  one  of  the  most  elegant,  agree- 
able and  successful  of  our  officinal  syrups.  It  contained  a  considerable  quanti- 
ty of  einnamic  acid,  while  it  derived  the  flavor  of  the  balsam  from  the  oily  and 
resinous  matter.    On  every  ground  it  was  important  to  maintain  the  character 
* 
