334 ON THE PURIFICATION OF CHLOROFORM. 
this density ; I could detect no foreign matter in my chloro- 
form ; and besides, every foreign matter that is likely to oc- 
cur lowers the density. I have no doubt that Dr. Wilson's 
specimens would have colored the acid and left a smell on 
the hand. 
I may add, for the maker, that, after distilling the mate- 
rials which yield chloroform, no distillation or rectification 
is needed. He has only to wash the heavy fluid with water 
till its volume no longer diminishes, and then to use the oil 
of vitriol as above, finishing with the oxide of manganese. 
Distillation with the acid is of no use, because no proper 
contact can take place, the chloroform distilling from the 
surface as it would from mercury. In testing by oil of vitriol, 
it is best to use some ounces of chloroform, and to shake it 
in a phial, because in a test-tube, the color produced, if not 
strong, may be overlooked. 
While I acquit the makers of chloroform, who have sold 
an impure drug, of all desire or intention to adulterate it, I 
feel it my duty to point out, that the system which permits 
any one to set up as a manufacturer of this or any other po- 
tent remedy, without let or hindrance, without any test of 
his qualifications, without, in short, enforcing a knowledge 
of chemistry and pharmacy as an essential condition, is a 
radically bad one ; and that our law, in relation to Druggists 
and Apothecaries, requires reformation. In fact, the evils 
naturally resulting from it are only neutralized, and that but 
in part, by the good feeling and principle of the leading 
manufacturers. 
To illustrate this, I may remark, that some of the makers 
of chloroform must have been very ignorant, even of what 
was known and published concerning its properties ; for, 
among the specimens I examined, are several of specific 
gravity below 1.4^0, which was long ago given as the 
standard, even so low as 1.347. 
That this neglect proceeded more from ignorance than 
from intention, is, I think, plain from the fact, that a speci- 
