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AVALYSIS OF JAMES'S l»OWI»ER. 



XVII. 



Analysis of the English Medicine called James's Powder. 

 Communicated by Mr. C. L. Cadet, Apothecary*. 



James's pow- 

 der much used 

 in luly. 



The pow<icr 

 not to be pre- 

 pare! by Dr. 

 Pearson's re- 

 cipe 4 



Mr. Pully, of 

 Naples, has 

 analysed it 

 afresh. 



WaTm water 

 dissolved sul- 

 phate of pot- 

 ash, 



3 AMES'S powder is greatly in vogue both in England 

 and Italy. The English make a secret of it, and sell it for 

 its weight in goldf as a sovereign remedy in asthenic dis- 

 eases, and fevers attended with debility. Dr. Pearson, an 

 English chemist, informs us, that he has analysed it; and 

 that this powder is a triple salt composed of phosphate of 

 lime and oxide of antimony. Those chemists, who have at- 

 tempted to compose James's powder according to Dr. Pear- 

 son's recipe, have no doubt been astonished at their want of 

 success. They must suppose, that the English physician, 

 not to betray a secret from which his country profits, has 

 not disclosed the whole truth \\ ; and in fact James's powder 

 contains besides sulphate of potash and antimouiated pot- 

 ash. 



Mr. PuHy, a Neapolitan chemist, who has rendered great 

 services to the army of Italy as administrator of gunpowder 

 and saltpetre, writes me word, that he has just analysed this 

 powder, of which he procured from London a sufficient 

 quantity to subject it to a strict examination. The following 

 are the particulars of his experiments. 



Exp. h, I took, says Mr. Pully, some James's powder, 

 of which I weighed out 19 decigr. [ c 2y grs.] After infusing 

 a few minutes in a little warm distilled water, I filtered off 

 the water, and obtained from it by evaporation a salt, that 

 had all the characters of sulphate of potash. This salt, dis- 

 solved and treated with barytes, afforded a precipitate of 

 sulphate of barytes. 



* Annales de Chimie, vol. LV, 74. For Mr. Chenevix's paper on 

 James's Powder, See Journal, vol. I, p. 22. 



| The foreign venders appear to get a good profit on it, as the original 

 price here is not above a fourth of this. T. 



ji Dr. Pearson certainly concealed nothing in his analysis. T. 



Exp. 2. 



