Am.  jour.  Pharm.  i       Early  History  of  Percolation.  io 
January,  19 19.    }  J  J     J  -t-y 
MM.  Boutron  and  Robiquet8  during  a  chemical  investigation  of 
mustard  seeds  discovered  a  case  of  true  displacement  which  they 
report  as  follows : 
"...  we  took  the  flour  of  white  mustard  from  which  the  greater 
part  of  the  fixed  oil  had  been  extracted  by  pressure  and  we  intro- 
duced it  into  a  large  and  long  tube  constricted  at  one  end  and  closed 
by  a  glass  stopper  at  the  other.  This  tube  was  filled  with  ether  and 
closed  immediately.  This  tube  was  adjusted  so  that  the  ether  could 
flow  only  very  slowly.  This  menstruum  acted  upon  the  oil  with  a 
sort  of  repulsive  force,  it  chased  it,  so  to  speak,  before  it,  in  such 
a  way  that  that  which  first  flowed  out  was  the  oil  nearly  pure  and 
which  scarcely  smelled  of  ether." 
Robiquet  later  (1834) 9  claimed  to  have  observed  the  same  phe- 
nomenon while  investigating  the  oil  of  bitter  almonds.  His  original 
memoir  was  read10  before  the  Academie  des  Sciences  and  an  ab- 
stract of  it  published  in  the  Journal  de  Pharmacie.  This  abstract 
does  not  mention  the  displacement.  A  thorough  search  of  con- 
temporary journals  failed  to  reveal  any  trace  of  the  original  memoir 
in  its  entirety. 
On  May  2,  1833,  the  first  of  the  classical  papers  of  MM. 
Boullay,  pere  et  fils,  was  read  before  the  Societe  de  Pharmacie.11 
It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Boullays  give  full  credit  to  Dubelloy,  Real, 
and  MM.  Boutron  and  Robiquet  for  their  prior  work.  After  show- 
ing the  uselessness  and  inconvenience  of  the  column  of  Real  they 
insist  upon  the  importance  of  the  principle  of  displacement : 
"  Lorsqu'une  poudre  saturee  d'eau,  mais  incapable  de  former 
pate  avec  elle,  est  placee  dans  un  recipient  analogue  a  celui  du  filtre- 
presse  de  M.  Real,  si  Ton  fait  agir  sur  elle  le  colonne  d'eau,  cette  eau 
traverse  la  poudre  en  chassant  completement  devant  elle  le  liqueur 
qui  la  mouille,  et  la  remplace  sans  s'y  meler." 
Further  investigation  resulted  in  a  second  memoir12  in  which 
they  especially  considered  the  pharmacy  of  cinchona.  The  drug, 
in  fine  powder,  was  moistened,  allowed  to  swell,  packed  and  per- 
colated with  water.  The  percolate  was  collected  in  five  fractions, — 
volume  not  stated, — and  the  weight  of  dry  extract  from  each  re- 
8  Jour,  de  Pharm.,  vol.  17,  p.  279,  1831. 
9  Jour,  de  Pharm.,  vol.  20,  p.  79,  1834. 
10  Ibid.,  vol.  17,  p.  144,  1831. 
11  Jour,  de  Pharm.,  vol.  19,  p.  281,  1833. 
12  Jour,  de  Pharm.,  vol.  19,  p.  393,  1833. 
