40 
Pharmaceutical  Colleges,  etc. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharss^ 
t    Jan.  1, 1873. 
like  the  present,  and  within  certain  limits,  a  table  of  that  kind  with  the  graphics 
method  of  representing  fact  might  be  of  use. 
Professor  Redwood  called  attention  to  an  apparatus  which  had  been  placed 
in  the  room  for  the  inspection  of  the  members.  It  was  a  form  of  apparatus 
which  was  very  generally  used  by  pharmacists  in  Germany,  and  had  at  his  sug- 
gestion been  imported  by  Messrs.  Zimmermann  &  Co.,  of  the  City.  The  appa- 
ratus provided  in  a  small  compass  means  for  conducting  the  various  pharma- 
ceutical operations  of  boiling,  distilling,  infusing,  digesting,  etc. 
Mr.  Cooper  exhibited  a  specimen  of  effervescing  lozenges,  which, "he  said,  he 
had  been  some  years  endeavoring  to  produce!  He  was  in  hopes  that  by  means 
of  these  lozenges  certain  medicines  might  be  administered  in  a  more  pleasant 
way  than  by  the  present  methods. 
Professor  Redwood  remarked  that  Mr.  Cooper  seemed  to  have  made  an  im~ 
portant  step  in  the  direction  of  elegant  pharmacy. 
Mr.  Cooper  added  that  if  these  lozenges  had  been  produced  twenty  years 
ago,  homoeopathy  would  not  have  held  its  own. 
Mr.  Wootton  described  several  specimens  of  French  elegant  pharmacy,, 
which,  he  observed,  were  perhaps  not  very  important,  though  interesting  for 
the  excellent  manner  in  which  they  were  made.  Among  those  he  referred  es- 
pecially to  some  sulphovinate  of  soda  (prepared  as  described  in  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Journal  of  last  June.)  There  was  also  on  the  table  a  drop  measure,, 
which  he  said  was  the  neatest  thing  he  had  ever  seen,  and  was  mathematically 
correct.  The  section  of  the  tube  was  three  milligrams  in  diameter.  There  was 
also  a  table  showing  the  number  of  drops  to  the  gram  of  various  liquids,  vary- 
ing from  water  20  drops,  to  ether  98  drops  to  the  gram. 
Mr.  Williams  said  that  within  the  last  two  months  considerable  demand  had 
arisen  for  croton  chloral  hydrate,  which,  although  not  a  new  thing,  having  been, 
introduced  two  years  ago,  had  not  hitherto  been  much  used  in  medical  prac- 
tice in  this  country.  It  was  stated  to  be  of  great  value  in  nervous  diseases  af- 
fecting the  face.  It  was  made  by  passing  dry  chlorine  into  aldehyde,  but  the- 
first  experiments  failed  ;  it  was  found  to  be  a  very  difficult  body  to  manufac- 
ture, in  consequence  of  the  bad  quality  of  the  aldehyde.  That  prepared  by  the- 
process  usually  given  was  a  very  impure  body,  and,  in  fact,  quite  unfit  for  the 
purpose  of  making  croton  chloral.  He  had,  therefore,  brought  a  specimen  of 
what  he  believed  to  be  nearly  pure  aldehyde,  a  thing  he  had  never  seen  before, 
and  of  which  he  thought  few  in  the  room  had  any  knowledge.  It  was  a  power- 
tul  body,  and  probably  might  be  recommended  for  medicinal  use.  In  the  first 
place,  it  had  great  affinity  for  oxygen.  If  a  stoppered  bottle  were  half  filled 
with  it  and  left  for  a  short  time,  the  stopper  would  be  held  so  tight  that  there 
would  be  a  difficulty  in  removing  it,  for  the  whole  of  the  oxygen  left  in  that 
portion  of  the  bottle  was  absorbed  by  the  aldehyde.  They  knew  very  well  that 
the  spirits  of  nitre  was  a  very  favorite  remedy.  The  Edinburgh  Pharmacopoeia 
a  few  years  ago  ordered  spirits  of  nitre  to  be  made  with  nitrite  of  ethyl.  He 
believed  he  was  right  in  saying  that  that  preparation  did  not  give  satisfaction,, 
and  was  not  looked  upon  as  a  good  medicinal  article.  An  opinion  had  been 
held  that  aldehyde  played  an  important  part  in  the  medicinal  action  of  spirits 
of  nitre.  Medical  men  could  now  determine  for  themselves  whether  aldehyde- 
had  any  important  medicinal  action  or  not,  but  if  they  breathed  this  specimen^ 
