Chapter XII: Section 3: This Act shall not take effect until the first day of July, (9)

Another immediate result of the law is the exclusion of damaged drugs. Heretofore no state of damage or decay, whether little or much, prevented an article, either manufactured or crude, being thrown into market and sold for whatever it purported to be, whether calomel half oxydyzed, iodide of potassium one-third deliquesced, rhubarb one-half rotten, senna in a similar or worse condition from being soaked with salt water—they each sold under their original names, and found their way into the bands of the buyers of _cheap goods_, either in that state or powdered or re-bottled, re-labelled, and done up good as new. The importer got his drawback of twenty-five, fifty, and seventy per cent. of duty. The insurance company sold the goods and paid the difference; bargain getters purchased; the physician prescribed; the apothecary dealt out, and the patient, suffering under the pains and ills of lingering disease, swallowed; all but the last got their pay, while the poor man who bore the unrighteous accumulation of the whole, cursed his physician for not understanding his complaint, and perchance turned his face to the wall and died. This is no fancy sketch, but true, every word of it, and more than once acted out in the dream of every-day life. {269}

Under the proper construction and administration of the law, all this will and is now mostly prevented. It must be evident that any article of medicine essentially damaged, is not fit to be given to the sick as a remedy. This is a very important point, and all examiners should be careful to enforce it strictly, regardless of the specious plea of interested insurance companies or individuals, for any other construction for their general or especial benefit or relief.

In few words then, may be summed up the immediate effects of this law: A purer and better class of chemicals and compound preparations, a material improvement in the quality of crude drugs imported, such as gums, barks, roots, leaves, and an almost entire exclusion of damaged and decayed drugs from our markets.

These results are, in themselves, sufficient to mark the law as one of great value, and to entitle it to a sure claim for perpetuity, and its provisions to a steady enforcement. But they are by no means all that it has accomplished. Its remote or secondary effects, which I propose to point out, are equally important, and they are found in the influence upon our home manufactures and trade.

It has often been claimed that the law was a tariff for protection to home adulteration, and while we shut out the evil in one way, we were equally exposed to it in the shape of home preparations; were this even true, it is no argument against the law for keeping out foreign adulteration, as it is very evident that if both are equally bad, no pure medicine can be had by those who require them, while if we are certain the foreign are pure, we have a choice between the pure and the sophisticated. But I am satisfied that the amount of home adulterations have been over estimated, and that under the effect of this law they are decreasing daily, and perhaps mainly because the demand is decreasing.

I have never believed, though it has been again and again asserted, that our medical gentleman to any great extent, who buy and use most largely of this class of goods, have desired {270} to buy and use inferior medicines, because they were cheap, and my own direct intercourse and observation, as a druggist for five years, aside from a six years’ experience in the profession, has satisfied me of the correctness of my views. I speak of the country at large. Wherever it has been the case, it has been the result of ignorance, as to the appearance and physical properties of drugs that has led them into this error, an error in which, from a like ignorance, they have been kept by their druggist, who has been imposed upon by the bland assurance of the importer or jobber, which led him to take all things of a like name as of the same quality. There are those who buy because cheap, and prescribe, and perchance hope for success in the use of such remedies, but they are not found among our medical gentlemen of education and character and entitled to the respect and confidence of the community at large. The flood of light thrown upon this subject of adulterations of medicines by the reports to Congress; by the report of Dr. Bailey, special examiner for the port of New York; reports to the American Medical Association, and by various other writers in our pharmaceutical and medical journals, through the newspapers of the day, and various other means to the people, has worked, and is working a revolution in the drug trade at large. By a desire and growing necessity for a proper education of pharmaceutists and druggists, a man is no longer considered competent to sell, dispose and deal out medicinal articles affecting the health, life and happiness of his fellow-beings, simply because he can calculate a per centage, or make a profit.

The reform in this department is, I know, but just beginning, though long needed, but it will progress, for public opinion demands, and will continue to demand it.

Physicians, professors of materia medica, and teachers of practical pharmacy and chemistry are feeling it, and the whole course of teaching upon this and kindred branches, has received more attention from both professor and pupil within the two past years, than ever before in the same length of time in the United States. From these combined sources will continue to {271} flow a light that must shine upon and enlighten that ignorance which was permitting men to tamper with the life and health of the community. This has also had the effect to create a demand for pure medicines. Rhubarb is no longer rhubarb unless the quality is such as to commend it to the unfortunate consumer, and calling a thing by a good name is no longer sufficient to redeem it from its lack of curative properties and consequent worthlessness.

Again, the endeavor to come up to the law’s standard for chemicals, the competition with the imported article, the increasing demand for good medicines, together with a commendable emulation among our chemists, has produced an improvement in this class of goods, sufficiently visible to refute all charges of home adulteration because protected from foreign competition; besides this, they are our fellow citizens, within reach of our complaints, with no intermediate dealer to shift the blame of impurity to the other side of the ocean, and thus wash his innocent hands at our cost. With this and the spirit of inquiry as to what we are selling, what we are buying, what we are administering, what we are swallowing with hopes of relief, that is abroad, no man can long escape detection, exposure and consequent loss of business, if engaged in the manufacture or sale of spurious goods.

These opinions are the result of the concurrent testimony of the different examiners, of various dealers in drugs throughout the country, from whom I had before and since my appointment to this commission been in receipt of information, and are fully borne out by my own extensive observation in almost every state in the union.

Without inquiring or pointing out the cause, the testimony to this effect, that the quality Of drugs in general has improved much within the two past years, is almost universal; and a style of drugs and chemicals, and of medicinal preparations, may now be found on sale in our great commercial emporiums, of a quality and purity never before found, certainly not in the United States, and I question if any wherelse. {272}

These are the results of my observations, both as to the remote and immediate, or special and general effects of the law. And I feel that the friends of the law have great reason to congratulate themselves and the community at large, upon the fullest realizations of their hopes as to the good accruing from this sanitary measure.

Those who were reaping an iniquitous harvest either through a desire to do evil for the purposes of gain (if any such there could have been), or through ignorance of the extent of such evil, must themselves feel that the law has worked no wrong to them even though it may have forced them into a different channel of trade. The only ones from whom we shall hear any complaints while the law is carefully and judiciously executed, or from whom we shall hear the plea for “unrestricted commerce,” and the potency of the great laws of trade as in themselves sufficient for the protection of life and health, are those whose prototypes aforetime cried out “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”

The value of their opinions may be measured by the sincerity of their professions, and the weight of their testimony calculated by the per centage of their gains.

I have pursued my enquiries among drug importers and jobbers, meeting both friends and enemies of the law, among retail apothecaries, professional men and their patients, and my conclusions are that no more popular act, stands upon our congressional record.

I have only to add my sincere wish, that it may long stand as a mark of the enlighted wisdom of the age and nation.

The above report is but the general report upon the working of the law.—It was, we understand, accompanied by a second private and detailed one, regarding the manner in which, at different localities, the law has been carried out.—EDITOR.

{273}

ON THE MANUFACTURE OF NITRATE OF POTASH (SALTPETRE.)

Previous to the middle of the seventeenth century, the chief part of the saltpetre consumed in this country was obtained from refuse animal matters, as is evident from the following edict, issued by James I., for the regulation of the “mynes of salt peter.”—“The King, taking into his consideration the most necessary and important use of gunpowder, as well for supply of his own royall navie, and the shippinge of his lovinge subjects, as otherwise for the strength, safety, and defence of his people and kingdoms, and how greate a blessinge it is of Almighty God to this realm, that it naturally yieldeth sufficient mynes of salt peter for making of gunpowder for defence of ittself, without anie necessitie to depend uppon the dangerous chargeable and casuall supply thereof from forraigne parts, hath sett downe certen orders and constitutions to be from henceforth inviolably kept and observed, for the better maynteyning of the breed and increase of salt peter, and the true making of gunpowder.

“Noe person doe from henceforth pave with stone or bricke, or floare with boarde, anie dove-house or dove-cote, or laie the same with lyme, sand, gravel, or other thing, whereby the growthe and increase of the myne of salt peter maie be hindered or ympaired, but shall suffer the floure or grounde thereof to lye open with goode and mellowe earth, apt to breede increase of the myne and salt peter, and so contynue and keep the same.

“That no innkeepers, or others that keep stables for travellers and passengers, doe use anie deceiptful meanes or devices whereby to destroy or hinder the growthe of salt peter in those stables. And that no stables at all be pitched, paved, or gravelled where the horse feete used to stand, but planked only, nor be paved, pitched, or gravelled before the plankes next the mangers, but that both places be kept and maynteyned with goode and mellowe earth, fitt and apt to breede and increase the myne of salt peter, and laide with nothinge which may hurte the same. {274}

“That all and every such person and persons as having had heretofore had anie dove-house, dove-cote, or stable (which were then good nurseries for the myne of salt peter) have sithence carried out the goode moulde from thence, and filled the place agayne with lyme, sand, gravel, rubbish, or other like stuff, or paved or floored the same, whereby the growthe of salt peter myne there hath been decayed and destroyed, shall and doe within three months next contryve to take up the pavements and boards agayne, and carrie out the said gravel, lyme, and offensive stuff from thence, and fill the place agayne with goode and mellowe earth fitt for the increase of salt peter, three foote deepe at the least, and so contynue and keepe the same for the breede of salt peter myne. No person, of anie degree whatsoever, was to denie or hinder the salt peter man workinge any earth; nor was anie constable to neglect or to forbeare to furnish him with convenient carriages necessarie for his worke; and every justice to whom the salt peter man should address himself for assistance was at his peril to fail to render it, that his majesties service might not suffer by his default. And no one was to give any gratuity or bribe to the salt peter man for forbearinge or sparinge of anie ground or place which may be digged or wrought for salt peter.”

To lessen the annoyance to the owners of these dove-cotes and stable beds of saltpetre, and to promote the comfort of the pigeons, the saltpetre man was “to dig and carrie away the earth in such convenient time of the daie, and work it in suche manner as maie give least disturbance and hurte to the pigeons, and encrease of their breede, and in the chief tyme of breeding, that it be not done above two howers in anie one daie, and that about the middest of the daie, when the pigeons use to be abroade. And shall in like seasonable tyme carrie in the saide earth after it shall be wrought, and spreade itt there, and make flatt the floure of the dove-house, and leave itt well and orderlie.”

In another proclamation, issued two years after this, it was ordered that whensoever anie ould building or house in London {275} within three miles, is to be pulled down and removed, notice is to be given at the king’s storehouse in Southwark, that the deputy may first take as much of the earth and rubbish as in his judgement and experience is fitted for salt peter for the King’s service.”

Soon after, we find that this enactment which caused much complaint, was repealed. “The manufacture of salt peter,” says the king, “had hitherto produced much trouble and grievance to the lieges, by occasioning the digging up the floors of their dove-cotes, dwelling-houses, and out-houses, and had also occasioned great charge to the salt peter men for removing their liquors, tubbes, and other instruments, and carrying them from place to place, but now, divers compounds of salt peter can be extracted by other methods, for which Sir John Brooke and Thomas Russell, Esq., have received letters patent.

“To encourage so laudable a project, all our loving subjects,” continues his majesty, “inhabiting within every city, town, or village, after notice given to them respectively, shall carefully and constantly keep and preserve in some convenient vessels or receptacles fit for that purpose, all the urine of man during the whole year, and all the stale of beasts which they can save and gather together whilst their beasts are in their stables and stalls, and that they be careful to use the best means of gathering together and preserving the urine and stale, without any mixture of water or other thing put therein. Which our commandment and royal pleasure being so easy to be observed, and so necessary for the public service of us and our people, that if any person be remiss thereof, we shall esteem all such persons contemptuous and ill affected both to our person and state, and are resolved to proceed to the punishment of that offender with that severity we may.”

Sir John agreed to remove the liquid accumulations from the houses once in every twenty-four hours in summer time, and every forty-eight hours in winter time.

About the year 1670, the importation of saltpetre from the East Indies (where it is obtained as a natural product, being {276} disengaged by a kind of efflorescence from the surface of the soil) had so increased as to affect the home manufacture, which has since gradually declined and become extinct. The manufacture of saltpetre from sources of the kind above mentioned, is not followed in this country at the present day, and it will be unnecessary to indicate here the process employed in France, Sweden, Germany, and other countries for obtaining it by the decomposition of animal refuse, the more especially as full accounts are given in Knapp’s _Technology_, Ure’s _Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures_, and other standard chemical works; we shall therefore confine our attention to an account of the processes which have been proposed for obtaining nitrate of potash by the decomposition of nitrate of soda and other sources.

The first of these processes is that of adding nitrate of lime to a solution of sulphate of potash; sulphate of lime is precipitated, and nitrate of potash obtained in solution, which, on evaporation yields crystals of that salt.

Mr. Hill’s method of manufacturing nitrate of potash is by decomposing nitrate of soda by means of muriate of potash. For this purpose the nitrate of soda is put into a suitable vessel, made of wrought or cast iron, and dissolved in as much water as is required, and then the equivalent quantity of muriate of potash is added; decomposition ensues, with the formation of nitrate of potash and muriate of soda; the greater portion of the latter is separated during evaporation, as it is equally soluble at all temperatures. The nitrate crystallizes on the cooling of the solution. Specimens of this nitre were shown at the Great Industrial Exhibition.

Mr. Rotch’s processes for converting nitrate of soda into nitrate of potash are as follows:―

_First process with American potashes, (caustic)._—In a suitable round-bottomed iron boiler, he dissolves 2000 lbs. of the ashes in 1000 quarts of water, and then applies heat for three hours, at the end of which time the solution ought to be of a density of 45° Baumè, (sp. gr. 1.453). In a similar boiler he dissolves 1300 lbs. of nitrate of soda in 1200 quarts of water, {277} applying the heat as before, until the solution becomes of the density of 45° Baumé. Both solutions are then allowed to stand for twelve hours to cool and settle. They should be heated to from 175° to 200° Fah., and then both poured into a third vessel or crystallizing pan, when the double decomposition will take place, and the crystals of nitrate of potash be deposited, this first deposition giving from 700 to 900 lbs. of good merchantable saltpetre.

Care must be taken not to let the heat fall below 85°, at which the crystals form; and the better and more regularly the heat is kept up, the speedier will be the deposition of the crystals. The mother-liquor should then be poured off, and the crystals collected and thrown into the centrifugal drying machines, where they may be washed with weak mother-liquors. The portion of nitrate of potash that is left in the mother-liquor may be obtained by crystallization as before.

_Second process with carbonate of potash (Pearlash)._—The pearlash is dissolved in water, and the solution brought to a density of 40° Baumé (sp. gr. 1.384). This will cause whatever sulphate of potash may be contained in it to be deposited. The solution should then be left to stand for five or six days, after which it should be poured off, and diluted with water, until its density becomes 15° Baumé (sp. gr. 1,116). Caustic lime should then be added in the proportion of one-fourth of the weight of the original quantity of carbonate employed. It should then be poured off from the carbonate of lime formed, heated and mixed with the solution of nitrate of soda, as above described. The precise proportions that the caustic alkali should bear to the nitrate of soda, are forty-eight parts of the former to eighty-six parts of the latter. The materials to be used should be tested, so as to enable the just proportions to be arranged according to the formula just given. The patentee states that by this means a nitre is produced which is equal to the Bengal saltpetre, after the latter has gone through the expensive process of refining.

A Stockholm manufacturer says:—“On dissolving nitrate of {278} soda in excess of caustic potash solution, and evaporating to 28° or 32° Baumé (sp. gr. 1.241 or 1.285), the chief part of the saltpetre crystallizes, contaminated by the magnesia which is precipitated, and a small quantity of carbonate of lime. In order to obtain the whole of the saltpetre, the solution must be concentrated to 45° or 50° Baumé (sp. gr. 1.453 or 1.530). Here however, a difficulty arises; the cast iron crystallizing vessels are not impermeable to the liquor, which, whatever the thickness of the vessels, oozes through them, thus occasioning great loss. The saltpetre which still remains in solution after crystallization in the caustic solution at 30° Baumé (sp. gr. 1.263), cannot be collected, and if it be employed in the manufacture of soap, this will be found to contain so large a proportion of saltpetre, that it deliquesces and falls to pieces in a few days.”

“A method employed in the Russian manufactories is first to dissolve the fine pearlash, and the nitrate of soda in the relative proportions of water required for their mutual decomposition, or rather with an excess of potash in such a quantity of water that the resulting product remains dissolved at 50° Reaumur. The solution is then allowed to settle, whereby the carbonates of lime and magnesia are deposited, after which the liquor is run off into wooden crystallizing vessels. As soon as the temperature is lower than 50° Reaumur, the principal part of the nitrate of potash crystallizes. The crystallization must now be very attentively watched, for as soon as the soda begins also to crystallize, the mother-liquors should be run off into other vessels, where a small quantity of nitrate of potash will crystallize, though the principal part will be soda. The nitrate of potash and the soda must then be purified by new crystallizations. The salts formed from the mother-liquors must be redissolved with the nitrate of potash or the soda, according to which of the two most predominates.”

Messrs. Crane and Jullion patented in 1848 the following method of manufacturing the nitrates of potash and soda:—The oxides of nitrogen evolved in the process of manufacturing oxalic acid, are mixed with oxygen gas or atmospheric air, and {279} made to pass slowly through a chamber or other apparatus containing an alkali placed on trays (similar to the lime in a dry lime purifier), the mixed gases combine with the alkali, forming a nitrate of potash or soda, whichever alkali may have been employed.

De Sussex’s process for the manufacture of nitrate of potash is as follows:—A solution is made of 166 pounds of nitrate of lead, and another of 76 pounds of chloride of potassium. The two solutions are then mixed, when double decomposition takes place, chloride of lead being precipitated, and nitrate of potash obtained in solution. In order to avoid the presence of lead in the nitrate of potash, a small portion of caustic or carbonated lime or magnesia is added, by which means any portion of the chloride of lead remaining in solution is precipitated. The solution of nitrate of potash is then evaporated and crystallized.

Nitrate of soda is obtained in the same way, by substituting sixty-six pounds of chloride of sodium for the chloride of potassium above mentioned.—_Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, July 1, 1852._

ON TINCTURE OF OPIUM.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Antwerp has employed a commission composed of its members to determine the best menstruum for the preparation of tincture of opium. It has arrived at the following results:―

1. Good opium gives, when treated with water, less extract than bad or adulterated.

2. By warm digestion, a stronger solution is obtained than by cold infusion.

3. Alcohol must be preferred to wine in the preparation of tincture of opium.

4. Narcotine, although alone insoluble in water, becomes partially extracted with the other ingredients of opium. When it is advisable to avoid the removal of narcotine, proceed {280} as follows:—Treat carefully prepared aqueous extract of opium with, boiling alcohol; this dissolves out the narcotine and morphine, from which solution, when cold, the narcotine separates.

After the precipitation, whatever ingredients are necessary to form the tincture are to be added to the alcoholic solution.

By this opportunity, the commission recommend another process by which morphine may be more readily separated from narcotine. One part of the opium is to be treated with four parts of alcohol. After the alcohol has been separated by filtration, the residue is again to be macerated with three parts of alcohol. The resulting tinctures, after being mixed, are to be set aside for twenty-four hours to allow the narcotine to separate; afterwards the morphine is to be precipitated with ammonia. To remove the last traces of morphine, the fluid, from which the precipitated morphine has been filtered, is to be kept in a warm place for two days, a little water having been previously added, when a fresh quantity of morphine will fall down. By this method, 1/12 of the weight of the opium employed, can be obtained as morphine.—_Annals of Pharmacy and Practical Chemistry._

PREPARATION OF PROPYLAMINE FROM ERGOTINE.

BY DR. F. L. WINCKLER.

The readers of the _New Repertory for Pharmacy_, part i., p. 22 already know that I have been for some time occupied with the investigation of ergot, and that I obtained, by the distillation of ergotine with potash, besides ammonia, a substance having a very unpleasant odor, which conducted itself as a volatile alkali, and possessed a narcotic and highly diuretic property. This confirmation of a result which I had obtained some years before, induced me to continue my experiments, and I have now arrived at the conviction that the volatile alkali {281} which is extracted from ergotine by distillation with potash is propylamine (N H‗{2} C‗{6} H‗{7}, or N H‗{3} C‗{6} H‗{6}) consequently the same which, according to the most recent experiments, is proved to be the product of decomposition of narcotine by potash, and the ingredient of herring-pickle. The smell itself made me imagine, long before I was acquainted with Wertheim’s experiments, that herring-pickle must likewise contain propylamine, and my experiments have fully confirmed this supposition, for in distilling herring-pickle with potash I obtained the same propylamine as that extracted from a concentrated aqueous solution of ergotine. The properties in which they agree are the following:―

1. Propylamine saturates acids completely, and thus forms salts soluble in water, and for the most part in spirit of wine, with the exception of sulphate of propylamine, which does not dissolve in the latter. Beautiful white crystals may, however, be produced from the concentrated aqueous solution by the admixture of alcohol of eighty per cent. of strength. The salts of propylamine dissolved in water and treated with tannic acid produce a white (flocculent) precipitate; with chloride of mercury likewise, a white but pulverulent precipitate; with nitrate of silver a white (flocculent) precipitate; and with chloride of platinum a yellow precipitate (a crystalline powder). The salts of propylamine have a strong odor of fresh ergot, much less of herring-pickle, and are easily decomposed by potash.

2. The concentrated aqueous solution being mixed with a fourth of its volume of tincture of iodine, a considerable dark yellowish-brown sediment is precipitated, and the supernatant fluid appears dark brownish-red. But in a very short time this sediment diminishes considerably, the fluid gradually changes color, so that in about twelve hours’ time there will be left but very little orange-colored sediment, whilst the fluid itself will appear almost colorless. Immediately after the addition of iodine the very disagreeable odor of propylamine disappears, and the mixture acquires the odor of iodine.

3. When the neutral aqueous solution of sulphate of {282} propylamine is evaporated in a water-bath it exhales a very disagreeable odor of herring, the solution becomes very acid, has only a weak odor of ergot, and all the re-actions cease. If this concentrated solution be digested with caustic lime in a still, there comes over, without the aid of artificial heat, almost pure propylamine, which has the odor of an ammoniacal liquid, and produces all the re-actions of pure propylamine.

Now the propylamine of ergot presents the very same results, and it is on this account that until lately, it has always been mistaken for ammonia. I am convinced that it constitutes the odorous principle of urine, perspiration, and in the blood, and is often the cause of the odor which we observe in the action of alkaline leys upon nitrogenous compounds. Propylamine belongs to the organic bases, and may be considered as the adjunct [_Paarling_] of ammonia. I think I am justified in concluding, from the results of my experiments, that propylamine, _combined with an acid_, pre-exists in ergot as well as in herring-pickle, and is not produced by the potash, as is the case with narcotine. I have previously demonstrated the presence of formic acid in ergot, and it is with that acid that the propylamine seems to be united. I have not yet made any experiments with herring-pickle.

It will now be difficult to determine whether the medicinal activity of ergot depends on propylamine or not, for the neutral salts of propylamine dissolved in water are easily absorbed, and I hope to be able to induce physicians to make pharmacological and therapeutical experiments.

I have reasons to suppose that propylamine is likewise an ingredient of cod-liver oil, and being easily combined with iodine, it may soon be ascertained by practical application whether it ought not to be considered as the bearer (_träger_) of iodine. I propose to begin the necessary experiments in this respect as soon as my apparatus is entirely free from the odor of propylamine, in order to avoid all error.

Finally, I had the idea of trying an experiment with regard to propylamine upon my own urine, which I made after a {283} supper consisting of roast veal, potato-salad, and a glass of water, and which was neither acid nor alkaline. I poured three ounces of the urine, fresh made and still quite warm, upon four ounces of burned lime, and submitted it to distillation. The distilled product had indeed the odor of pure propylamine, and re-acted strongly alkaline; but acted in a remarkable manner on tincture of iodine in the same way as liquid ammonia. After having neutralized it with sulphuric acid, the liquid showed when tested with tannic acid and nitrate of silver, an unmistakable proportion of propylamine. Might this be formed out of the urea? My experiment confirms, at all events, the opinion stated above; the beginning is made, and I may now pass from experiment to scientific deductions.

_Remarks by Dr. Buchner_:—My friend, Dr. Winckler, in communicating the above paper, very agreeably surprised me by transmitting at the same time specimens of his preparation of propylamine, and that too in quantities varying from one to two drachms, for which I hereby beg to express to him publicly my best thanks. I received from him, namely:―

1. The rough product of distillation of herring-pickle.

2. The aqueous solution of the sulphate produced from it.

3. The pure crystallized, and by spirit of wine, precipitated sulphate of propylamine.

4. The concentrated solution of pure propylamine.

5. The aqueous solution of the sulphate prepared with No. 4.

Hitherto I have only experimented with the preparations No. 2, 4 and 5, in order to verify and complete the statements of the above paper. All these solutions are quite colorless and clear, like water; they diffuse already at some distance a strong odor of herring; but the pure aqueous propylamine, when smelt at closely, has a pungent odor, very similar to that of liquid ammonia, which, however, at a distance, assumes, as it has been said, the smell of herring. This odor is so peculiarly characteristic, that I do not doubt, that even in water-closets, in consequence of fermentation, propylamine is developed, particularly as woollen clothes easily acquire there the odor of {284} herring. All the conditions at least necessary for the formation of propylamine ammonia, and carbo-hydrogen, are to be found in water-closets. In a small close room its odor becomes insupportable, and affects strongly the head. Dr. Winckler, had therefore, good reasons to warn me against it. A young chemist, upon whose hand I dropped a very minute quantity of aqueous propylamine, for the purpose of ascertaining its taste, notwithstanding that he had been walking after that a considerable distance, and had been exposed to the air, smelt still, after some hours, so strongly of herring, that happening to to enter a company, he was spoken to about it by several persons. I mention this merely as a caution. The taste of pure aqueous propylamine is pungently alkaline, and hardly distinguishable from that of caustic ammonia.

The chemical re-actions of propylamine are well explained by Winckler. Turmeric paper turns brown with it, but being exposed to the air, in which propylamine quickly evaporates, it resumes again its primitive yellow color.

Sulphate of propylamine (No. 3,) appears in small splendid white prisms, exposed to the air it evolves a distinct smell of herring, and has a pungent saline taste, like sulphate of ammonia; it is entirely neutral, and when moistened with water, it does not alter the color either of blue or red litmus-paper, or of turmeric-paper.

We have in solutions of silver and iodine, which are not precipitated by ammonia, very appropriate re-agents for distinguishing propylamine from ammonia. Propylamine, however, treated with sulphate of silver, gave me not a white, but a yellowish-brown precipitate; and this result suggested to me the idea, that formiate of propylamine might be present. This precipitate was easily and perfectly dissolved in caustic liquid ammonia. With an aqueous solution of iodine I acquired at one time, according to the quantitative proportion a brown, and at another time a beautiful yellow precipitate, which dissolved in an excess of iodide of potassium. I usually employ an aqueous solution of iodine in iodide of potassium {285} instead of the tincture of iodine made with spirit of wine. The precipitate produced by iodide of potassium is, as I have just stated, either brown or yellow, provided that no excess of iodide of potassium be employed.—_Buchner’s Neues Repertorium_, Bd. 1.

EDITORIAL.

We had intended once more to call the attention of our readers to the approaching meeting of the National Convention, but have been anticipated by one of our colleagues in the communication which is subjoined, giving an account of both its origin and its objects. It is to be hoped that, as the convention will probably assume a permanent organization, its proceedings will take on a scientific character. Independent of the subjects which pharmacy, every where, presents, such a body would be a fit one to assist in ascertaining and developing the resources of our indigenous materia medica. Our country is rich in medicinal articles, but the properties of many of them are but imperfectly known, and comparatively little attention has been paid to their pharmaceutical preparation. Inquiries of this kind, carried on with the aid of physicians, particularly of those attached to hospitals, could not fail to produce important results, and they seem peculiarly adapted to the wants of the community and to the position of the convention.

THE NATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL CONVENTION.

The second meeting of Pharmaceutists, the first as a National Convention, to which the Convention of Delegates from the several Colleges of Pharmacy, held in New York last October, may be considered the preliminary movement, will take place in Philadelphia, on Wednesday the 6th of October ensuing. The convention of last fall was held chiefly for the purpose of considering the important subject of standards of quality and purity which imported drugs ought to possess in order to regulate and render uniform the character required of them by the government Inspectors, at the various ports of entry in the United States. Unofficially and officially the duty of affixing standards for imported drugs was, with propriety, assigned to the Colleges of Pharmacy. For this object they were called in convention for that time only, and permanent organization was not then anticipated. But on the meeting of the Colleges, and their united action upon the one subject of such general importance, it was a natural consequence that a spontaneous and general feeling should arise in favor of the establishment of a National Pharmaceutical Organization, with an Annual Convention for the {286} advancement of science and for the promotion of intercourse and good will among pharmaceutists generally. Accordingly the preamble and resolutions brought forward by the committee, subsequent to their report on the special business of that convention and its action upon it, were received with hearty favor. We think it would be well to recapitulate them:

“WHEREAS, The advancement of the true interests of the great body of Pharmacutical practitioners in all sections of our country is a subject worthy of earnest consideration; and whereas Pharmaceutists, in their intercourse among themselves, with physicians and the public, should be governed by a code of ethics calculated to elevate the standard and improve the practice of their art; and whereas, the means of a regular pharmaceutical education should be offered to the rising Pharmaceutists by the establishment of Schools of Pharmacy in suitable locations; and whereas, it is greatly to be desired that the united action of the profession should be directed to the accomplishment of these objects; therefore,

_Resolved_, That in the opinion of this Convention, much good will result from a more extended intercourse between the Pharmaceutists of the several sections of the Union, by which their customs and practice may be assimilated; that Pharmaceutists would promote their individual interests and advance their professional standing by forming associations for mutual protection, and the education of their assistants, when such associations have become sufficiently matured; and that, in view of these important ends, it is further

_Resolved_, That a Convention be called, consisting of three delegates each from incorporated and unincorporated Pharmaceutical Societies, to meet at Philadelphia, on the first Wednesday in October, 1852, when all the importent questions bearing on the profession may be considered, and measures adopted for the organization of a National Association, to meet every year.

In accordance with these resolutions, it was resolved that the President of the Convention be requested to transmit an invitation to the authorized bodies, at least three months previous to the time of meeting, desiring such bodies to acquaint him with the names of the delegates they may appoint.

On motion, it was resolved that the New York Delegation be appointed a Committee to lay the proceedings of this Convention before the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and afterwards have them published in pamphlet form.

Dr. Philbrick of Boston, offered the following preamble and resolution, which were adopted:

WHEREAS, To secure the full benefits of the prohibition of sophisticated drugs and chemicals from abroad, it is necessary to prevent home adulteration; therefore,

_Resolved_, That this Convention recommend to the several Colleges to adopt such measures as in their respective states may be best calculated to secure that object.

On motion of Mr. Colcord of Boston, it was

_Resolved_, That a committee of three be appointed by this Convention to act as a Standing Committee to collect and receive such information as may be valuable, {287} and memorials and suggestions from any Medical and Pharmaceutical Associations, to be presented at the next Convention.

The President appointed G. D. Coggeshall of New York, S. M. Colcord of Boston, and W. Procter, Jr., of Philadelphia, as the Committee.

A vote of thanks to the officers was passed, and then the Convention adjourned, to meet in Philadelphia, on the first Wednesday in October, 1852.”

We hope that the considerations embraced in the preamble and resolutions of the committee will engage the thoughtful and earnest attention of every apothecary every where throughout the United States, who has a just sense of the proper dignity of his profession and an honest desire for its advancement, and that all will feel the importance of a general gathering at the approaching convention,—one that shall comprise a full representation of remote as well as adjacent districts of our extended country. In the words of the resolution, “three delegates, each, from incorporated and unincorporated pharmaceutical societies,” are invited, but a feeling has been increasingly manifested since the last convention, to solicit representation from all districts, small as well as large, that in places where but few apothecaries are located—too few as they may think for efficient organization,—they should yet feel their individual responsibility, and be encouraged to depute one or more of their number to represent them. All, who come in the right spirit of regard for the cause, may be sure of being welcome.—A National Pharmaceutical Association will undoubtedly be organized on a similar plan to that of the medical profession, and in it individuals may be admitted to membership that are acceptable as worthy practioners of their art.

The convention will have many subjects of general interest to discuss and to arrange for future consideration. Prominent amongst these will be, a Code of Ethics which should govern pharmaceutists in the performance of their duties, and in their intercourse with each other and with physicians; the importance of general conformity in practice with the United States Pharmacopœia; the suppression of _home_ as well as the exclusion of _foreign_ adulteration; and the driving out of quackery into its own mean company. That all these ends can at once be attained is scarcely to be hoped for; but we trust the convention will be composed of men who appreciate the distinctness of the honorable practice of our profession from all malpractice and quackery, and who are fully disposed to mark the division clearly and broadly; so that persons governed by such opposite principles may take their separate places, and be esteemed accordingly.

We are authorized by Dr. Guthrie, who, since the Convention of 1851, has removed to Memphis, Tennessee, to request that the names of delegates may be reported to Prof. William Procter, Philadelphia,—a convenient arrangement, as Mr. Procter is one of the delegates to the next Convention, residing in the city where it is to be held.

We would also invite the attention of Pharmaceutists to the resolution introduced by Mr. Colcord, of Boston, and hope that any suggestions they may wish to offer, will be presented at an early day to one of the committee appointed, to rceive them.

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POISONING BY ADULTERATED CIDER.

A number of cases of lead poisoning, two of which terminated fatally, have lately occurred at Paris, which have been traced to the use of cider, clarified by a mixture of acetate of lead and carbonate of potassa. The history of this matter shows the efficacy of the French law regarding the use of poisonous substances, and the rigor with which it is enforced:―

Several manufacturers, were accused of having sold cider adulterated and containing substances injurious to health; others in addition to this, of having caused various internal injuries to different individuals, and one M. Henon, further of having thus caused the death of two individuals.

One of the witnesses testified, that he had purchased cider at the establishment of the defendant, that some days after drinking it he had been attacked with colic, and constant tremblings; by the advice of his physician, he sent a quantity of the suspected cider to the prefect of police for analysis. A number of other witnesses who had been poisoned, made statements to the same effect.

M. Chevallier deposed, that he had received a letter from the prefect of the police, enclosing one from the physician of the plaintiff, who stated that a number of his patients had been rendered ill by the use of this cider; that he had, in consequence of this, inspected the various establishments in which the manufacture of cider was carried on, and that he has ascertained the presence of lead in the cider obtained at establishments of the accused.

Several physicians testified, that the symptoms under which their patients (the witnesses) had labored, were due to lead poisoning.

M. Dubail, a _Pharmacien_, testified that he had furnished M. Henon, (one of the accused), with a mixture of acetate of lead and carbonate of potassa, which M. H. stated, that by the advice of one of his clerks, he intended to use in the clarification of cider. That he had cautioned M. H. regarding its employment, and had furnished him with a re-agent for the purpose of detecting any lead which might not be precipitated in the cider thus clarified.

The trial was commenced on the 9th of May, continued upon the 11th, and judgment rendered on the 18th.

Henon, the use of whose cider had caused two deaths, was condemned to 18 months imprisonment and to pay a fine of 800 francs; a second, to 8 months imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs; a third, to 6 months imprisonment and 500 francs; while a fourth party, accused only of selling adulterated cider, but to the employment of which no injury had been traced, was imprisoned 3 months and fined 100 francs. M. Henon was condemned to pay 24,050 francs in addition as damages; another of the accused, the sum of 1500 francs.

Truly, if the Prince President has been rather free in the employment of lead in the streets of Paris, the government takes good care that its citizens shall not be poisoned by it with impunity.

ERRATUM.—In the July No. page 224, article announcing delegates to the Convention for 1852, fourth line, for Monday read _Wednesday_.

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NEW YORK

JOURNAL OF PHARMACY.

OCTOBER, 1852.

UNITED STATES CUSTOMS.

NEW YORK, September 25, 1852.

MR. GEORGE D. COGGESHALL.

_Dear Sir_,—Your kind and courteous favor of the 16th instant, on behalf of the Publishing Committee of the New York Journal of Pharmacy, asking “information respecting the character of imported drugs and medicines coming under my supervision; and also, information in reference to the general working and effect of the drug law of 1848,” has been before me for several days, waiting such response, in the shape of a full and lengthy communication in detail, as it was my wish to furnish; but pressing and increasing official duties compel me, from want of time (not material), to forego that pleasure and confine myself to a brief statement of facts and data, which, together with some general observations, I am in hopes may, nevertheless, be found interesting to your readers.

As an evidence of the beneficial effects of the wise sanitary measure, in the success of which, we have all taken so much interest, I am pleased to say that the character and quality of the more important articles of drugs, medicines and chemical preparations, connected with medicine at present presented for entry from abroad, is greatly improved, and of a far higher standard of strength and purity than formerly; notwithstanding, as will be seen, I still have occasion to apply the “veto power”—a labor of love, which must, of necessity, be {290} performed in order to arrest the unhallowed strides of deception and fraud which will ever be practised, to a greater or less extent, as long as we have those among us, engaged in any department of the drug trade, who, to put money in their purse, would endanger, if not sacrifice the lives of their fellow men. The law in question has now been in operation at this port something more than four years; and, with the exception of some eleven months, the duties and responsibilities of its administration have devolved upon me. On the 21st day of April, 1849, I made a report to the New York Academy of Medicine, on the practical operation of this law, and stated therein the more important articles of drugs and medicines, with the quantities annexed, rejected by me up to that date; but as that report is doubtless familiar to most of your readers, I have not deemed it necessary to repeat them here. The following are the more important articles, with the quantities annexed, that I have since rejected and condemned as not of the requisite strength and purity to be safely and properly used for medicinal purposes, viz:―

Senna, 31,838 lbs. Jalap root, 37,121 lbs. Rhubarb root, 5,782 lbs. Sarsaparilla, 65,374 lbs. Mezereon bark, 1,353 lbs. Opium, 3,164 lbs. Kino, 230 lbs. Scammony, 1,483 lbs. Aloes, 12,375 lbs. Squills, 1,626 lbs. Spurious Peruvian bark, 304,135 lbs. Spanish Saffron, 360 lbs. Ergot, 475 lbs. Chamomile flowers, 1,896 lbs. Assafœtida, 3,700 lbs. Worm seed, 230 lbs. Colchicum seed, 2,246 lbs. {291} Valerian root, 650 lbs. Guaiacum, 9,300 lbs. Cream of Tartar, 7,673 lbs. Magnesia (carb.), 2,867 lbs. Magnesia (calc’d.), 1,560 lbs. Althea root, 1,117 lbs. Liquorice root, 9,430 lbs. Bistort root, 140 lbs. Gentian root, 7,572 lbs. Gentian root, in powder, 430 lbs. Lavender flowers, 3,042 lbs. Poppy flowers, 190 lbs. Hellebore root (white), 460 lbs. Pareira Brava root, 730 lbs. Cantharides, 1,276 lbs. Creosote, 140 ozs. Bromine, 430 ozs. Sulphate of Quinine, 3,200 ozs. Iodine, 6,864 ozs. Hydriodate of Potass, 3,720 ozs.

Making altogether some five hundred and twenty thousand pounds, to say nothing of various articles in small quantities rejected from time to time, which I have not considered of sufficient importance to note down. This, together with the ninety thousand pounds previously rejected, as stated in an early report above alluded to, makes some six hundred and ten thousand pounds of various articles of drugs and medicines condemned by me as unfit for medicinal purposes since the law took effect at this port. What articles and in what quantities, were rejected during the eleven months that I was absent from the office, I am not advised, neither am I at this time able to say what has been done under the requirements of this act at the other ports of entry. I hope, however, that the special examiners can give a good account of their stewardship, and that they will not hesitate to do so, whenever the information is desirable as a means of pushing on the column of medical and pharmaceutical reform. {292}

It will be seen by the above statement, that by far the largest quantity of any one article rejected, is that of spurious Peruvian bark, or as it is generally known in commerce, Carthagena and Maracaibo bark; and that too, as a general thing of the poorest and most worthless quality. The best of this bark affords on analysis only an exceedingly small percentage of quinine, not unfrequently, but a mere trace; while, at the same time, it yields as high as two, and occasionally with choice samples, two and a half per cent of a _peculiar_ alkaloid which has been named _quinidine_, in contra-distinction to quinine, cinchonine, and aricine, (the three alkaloids heretofore obtained from the different varieties of the cinchona tribe of plants,) from which it differs essentially in several respects.

What _is quinidine, medicinally understood_? How does _sulphate_ of quinidine _compare with sulphate of quinine_ (from which it is very difficult to distinguish it by the naked eye,) medicinally, as a remedial agent in cases where the use of the latter salt is particularly indicated? These are important questions, and the subject is one very properly at the present time calling for prompt, patient, and persevering investigation by all those whose mission it is to prepare, dispense or prescribe the most efficient means wherewith to combat disease; the more so for the reason, that I have detected in most of the sulphate of quinine lately imported from abroad, more or less of this non-officinal, and (in my opinion) as compared with quinine, non-efficient substance yclept quinidine; a fact readily accounted for, when it is known that for the last year or two immense quantities of the bark in question, good, bad, and indifferent, have been exported from New Grenada, (as well as much from this port that had been rejected) and purchased by foreign manufacturing chemists, for the purpose, as I have reason to believe, of mixing it with the _true_ bark in the manufacture of sulphate of quinine; hence the hybrid salt now too frequently presented to entry; a practice that, if not speedily abandoned, will ruin as far as this country is concerned, the formerly well deserved reputation of more than one of the {293} foreign manufacturers of sulphate of quinine I could name. The argument maintained by some of them that the article is used in their hospitals and found equal to pure quinine, will not answer on this side of the water; it smacks too much of the almighty dollar, even as I must believe (until further advised) at the expense of truth.