XXIII
PHARMACY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
"The advance in every section of chemistry during this century
(the 19th), and especially during the latter half of it, has literally
been by leaps and bounds. Although practically a creation of our
own time, no branch has been more fruitful in result, in suggestion,
or in possibility, than that of organic analysis."
(Sir Thomas E. Thorpe:—"Essays in Historical Chemistry," 1894.)
Three great achievements characterise the pharmacy of the nineteenth century, namely, the discovery of alkaloids in its early years, of anæsthetics in the middle period, and of synthetic organic products in its later years.
ALKALOIDS.
The alkaloids extracted from vegetables are the ideal quintessences which the alchemical pharmacists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries sought so eagerly to obtain. Their characteristic property is that they are basic, that is, that definite salts can be formed from them by combination with acids. They all contain nitrogen, and have an alkaline reaction.
Of all the popular vegetable drugs opium was the one more than any other tortured to yield up its essence.
