THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
SEPTEMBER,    1  8  5  8. 
ON  THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  QUINIA  SALTS  BY  THE  ACETATES, 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Mr.  J.  (he  lias  not  given  his  full  name)  in  the  Archiv  der 
Pharmacie,  1858,  April,  40,  has  drawn  the  attention  of  pharma- 
ceutists to  the  waste  of  quinia  which,  particularly  the  remainder 
of  pill  masses,  adheres  to  the  mortar  and  pestle,  and  he  suggests 
the  propriety  of  washing  these  instruments  with  a  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid  for  the  purpose  of  regaining  the  sulphate  of  quinia. 
To  arrive  at  this  end,  he  recommends  to  mix  these  filtered 
washings  with  an  equal  volume  of  a  concentrated  solution  of 
acetate  of  soda,  and,  after  standing  over  night,  separate  the 
crystals,  which  he  alleges  are  sulphate  of  quinia  ;  the  mother 
liquor,  he  remarks,  has  still  a  strongly  bitter  taste ;  he  rejects 
the  employment  of  acetate  of  potassa,  because  he  fears  to  ob- 
tain the  quinine  salt  mixed  with  sulphate  of  potassa. 
In  the  Am.  Journ.  of  Pharm.,  1855,  97,  I  have  made  some 
remarks  on  the  incompatibility  of  sulphate  of  quinia  with  the 
acetates,  and  declared  the  crystals  formed  in  a  mixture  of  the 
two  salts  to  be  the  acetate  of  quinia.  I  have  stated  there  how 
I  satisfied  myself  about  the  absence  of  metallic  bases,  but 
omitted  to  mention  that  I  had  tested  the  crystals  obtained  by 
means  of  acetate  of  potassa,  and  found  them  to  produce  no  pre- 
cipitate with  chloride  of  barium,  consequently  free  of  sulphuric 
acid.  In  my  collection  of  chemicals  I  have  a  specimen  marked 
"  Acetate  of  Quinia,"  which,  according  to  my  notes,  is  a  mixture 
of  the  decompositions  of  sulphate  of  quinia  with  acetate  of  am- 
monia and  acetate  of  magnesia.  On  reading  the  paper  quoted 
above,  curiosity  prompted  me  to  test  this  specimen  for  sulphuric 
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