s 
150  Croton  Chloral  *g*fc 
TINCTURE  OF  PHOSPHORUS. 
This  has  lately  been  occasionally  prescribed  in  Great  Britain  and 
in  this  country.  The  editor  of  the  Pharm.  Journ.  and  Transactions, 
who  had  been  applied  to  for  its  formula,  says  in  the  issue  of  Feb.  21 : 
"  The  following  formula  given  by  Dr.  Ashburton  Thompson,  in  a 
paper  <  On  the  Use  of  Phosphorus  in  Neuralgia,'  published  in  the 
Practitioner  last  October,  is  probably  what  is  sought  by  our  corres- 
pondent : 
4  Phosphorus,        .  .  .1  grain. 
Absolute  Alcohol,      .  .  5  drachms. 
Glycerin,  .  .  1J  ounces. 
Spirit  of  Wine,         .  .  2  drachms. 
Spirit  of  Peppermint,      .  .      2  scruples. 
'  Let  the  phosphorus  be  dissolved  in  the  alcohol  with  a  little  heat : 
at  the  same  time  warm  the  spirit  and  glycerin  together.  Mix  the 
two  solutions  while  hot,  and  add  the  spirit  of  peppermint  on  cooling. 
One  drachm  of  this  mixture  contains  one-twelfth  of  a  grain  of  pure 
phosphorus.  These  ingredients  form  a  mixture  perfectly  bright  and 
clear,  possessing  almost  no  phosphoric  odor  or  taste,  and  of  a  high 
degree  of  stability,  even  under  exposure  to  light.  The  amount  of 
spirit  gives  it  a  burning  taste  which  may  be  sometimes  objected  to  ; 
but  if  the  patient  be  warned  of  this,  probably  no  further  remark  will 
be  made  about  it.  So  far  from  causing  offensive  eructations,  it  seems 
to  have  a  tendency  to  arrest  existing  flatulency.'  " — Pharm.  Journ. 
and  Trans.,  Feb.  21,  1874. 
CROTON  CHLORAL. 
By  Alfred  H.  Mason,  F.  C.  S. 
(Vice-President  of  the  Liverpool  Chemist's  Association.) 
A  new  remedy,  with  chloral  as  its  basis,  and  introduced  by  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  therapeutical  application  of  hydrate  of  chloral,  natu- 
rally commands  attention.  At  one  of  our  general  meetings  in  1872 
session,  I  exhibited  a  specimen  of  this,  then  new,  compound,  named 
bv  Professor  Liebreich  croton  chloral  hydrate. 
Within  the  last  few  months  this  medicine  has  commanded  much 
*  Read  at  the  evening  meeting  of  the  Liverpool  Chemist's  Association,  Feb. 
12,  1874. 
