460  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {^epimbe^S' 
continually  finding  themselves  at  a  disadvantage  because  of  their  ignorance  of 
the  exact  bearing  of  some  statute  or  another  upon  their  business.  The  Poison- 
ous Substances  Bill,  recently  deceased,  naturally  came  under  review  in  the 
address,  Dr.  Symes  being  strongly  of  opinion  that  it  is  impracticable  for  a 
Government  department  "to  legislate  for  matters  which  really  belong  to  phar- 
macy." That  is  a  pretty  common  view  in  pharmaceutical  circles,  but  in  view 
of  the  probability  of  the  objectionable  measure  being  resuscitated  next  session, 
attention  cannot  too  often  be  directed  to  the  fact. 
The  metric  system  and  the  difficulties  attending  its  general  use  were  briefly 
referred  to,  and  pharmacists  urged  to  familiarize  themselves  with  the  system, 
so  that  they  may  help  to  forward  its  universal  adoption.  Allusion  was  also 
made  to  the  speeial  regulations  bearing  on  the  sale  of  calcium  carbide  and 
methylated  spirit,  the  restrictions  in  connection  with  the  latter  being  held  to 
be  unnecessarily  severe  and  tending  to  operate  in  restraint  of  trade.  Synthetic 
compounds  used  in  medicine  and  for  industrial  purposes  were  then  referred  to 
at  some  length,  after  which  attention  was  devoted  to  the  new  British  Pharma- 
copoeia. Dr.  Symes  reiterated  his  oft-repeated  objection  to  the  constitution  of 
the  British  Pharmacopoeia  Committee  of  the  General  Medical  Council,  protest- 
ing against  the  exclusion  of  pharmacists  from  that  body  when  the  bulk  of  the 
work  of  revision  must  of  necessity  be  done  by  pharmacists. 
THE  BASICITY  OF  QUININE. 
By  David  Howard  and  D.  Uoyd  Howard. 
The  authors  stated  that  everything  points  to  the  conclusion  that  in  the  alka- 
loid each  of  the  nitrogen  atoms  of  the  molecule  represents  a  basic  nucleus,  one 
of  which  is  much  more  powerful  than  the  other.  This  is  shown  by  the  action 
of  ethyl  or  methyl  iodide  or  bromide,  which  very  readily  give  a  monethyl  or 
monomethyl  base,  and  with  more  difficulty  a  diethyl  or  dimethyl  base.  The 
formation  of  quinine  salts  points  to  the  same  conclusion.  Sulphuric  acid  will 
form  three  definite  crystalline  salts  ;  one  molecule  combining  with  two  mole- 
cules of  quinine  to  form  the  ordinary  sulphate  of  quinine  of  commerce,  with 
one  molecule  to  form  the  "soluble  sulphate  "  of  commerce  ;  or  two  molecules 
of  acid  will  combine  with  one  molecule  of  quinine  to  form  the  little  known 
"tetrasulphate."  Similarly  the  monobasic  acids,  hydrochloric,  hydrobromic, 
and  hydriodic  form  definite  crystalline  salts  with  both  one  and  with  two  mole- 
cules of  acid  to  one  of  the  alkaloid. 
Whether  the  "soluble  sulphate  "  should  be  regarded  as  forming  a hydric sul- 
phate of  the  stronger  basic  nucleus  or  a  neutral  sulphate  of  the  "  diammonium  " 
must  be  a  matter  of  opinion  ;  but  the  tetrasulphate  and  the  acid  halogen  salts 
can  hardly  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  the  hydric  sulphate  or  the  haloid  salt 
of  the  fully  saturated  base. 
The  French  chemists  have  always  consistently  regarded  the  "soluble  sul- 
phate "  as  the  "  neutral  sulphate  "  and  the  sulphate  of  commerce  as  the  "  disul- 
phate,"  and  similarly  they  speak  of  the  soluble  hydrochlorate  as  the  "neutral  " 
salt  and  the  ordinary  hydrochlorate  as  "basic." 
The  nomenclature  frequently  leads  to  confusion.  A  disulphate  is  supposed 
to  be  identical  with  a  bisulphate  instead  of  being  a  basic  sulphate,  and  the  exact 
opposite  of  a  bisulphate. 
With  litmus  as  an  indicator  the  point  of  the  formation  of  the  older  official 
