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THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
MAT,  1880. 
ETHYL  BROMIDE. 
By  Lawrence  Wolff,  M.  D. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  April  20. 
Progressive  medicine  has  again  confronted  the  pharmacist  in  this 
substance  with  a  new  remedial  agent,  which  promises  fair  to  stand  the 
test  of  time  much  better  than  the  host  of  new  remedies  which  are  almost 
daily  pressed  into  the  ranks  of  our  therapeutic  allies,  and  it  is  therefore 
I  think  it  merits  closer  investigation,  in  order  that  it  be  offered  to 
the  medical  profession  in  its  highest  possible  perfection. 
In  view  that  already  our  literature  shows  a  great  deal  of  research 
and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  production  of  this  new  agent,  I  do  not 
claim  to  here  propose  radical  innovations,  but  merely  desire  to  call 
attention  to  such  modifications  as  will  assist  in  obtaining  it  in  its  pure 
state  at  the  lowest  possible  price* 
Ethyl  bromide,  the  hydrobromic  ether  of  older  chemists,  discovered 
by  SeruUas  in  1827,  shortly  after  the  discovery  of  bromine  itself, 
received  but  little  attention  as  a  therapeutic  agent  until  Dr.  Nunnelly, 
of  Leeds,  England,  called  attention  to  it  as  a  useful  anaesthetic  in  1865. 
Rabuteau,  of  Paris,  again  created  considerable  interest  by  his  experi- 
ments with  it  on  the  lower  animals  in  1876,  but  the  credit  of  bringing 
it  out  prominently  and,  as  it  now  seems,  permanently,  is  due  to  Dr. 
Lawrence  Turnbull  and  the  hearty  co-operation,  persevering  efforts 
and  experiments  of  Dr.  R,  J.  Levis,  both  of  this  city.  The  latter  has 
already  used  it  in  hundreds  of  cases,  and  as  yet  no  untoward  accident 
has  occurred  at  his  hands. 
Its  early  preparation  by  the  discoverer  was  based  upon  the  action  of 
phosphorus  on  bromine  in  presence  of  alcohol,  which  Personne,  in 
186 1,  modified  by  substituting  amorphous  phosphorus  instead,  and 
which  was  subsequently  more  rationally  conducted  by  Prof.  Remington* 
The  process  of  De  Vrij,  by  decomposing  potassic  bromide  with  sul- 
phuric acid  in  presence  of  alcohol,  was  an  improvement  which  was 
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