C. U. C. p. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



223 



The average cinchona wines have a 

 disagreeable habit of precipitating after 

 standing for several mbnths and we are 

 not prepared to state whether the recipe 

 just given will stand the test of time. 

 Incidentally an excellent though rather 

 intricate method of preparation of a 

 stable wine of cinchona is given in the 

 American Journal of Pharmacy for Oc- 

 tober, I goo, page 490. 



In giving the above recipe for a sup- 

 posed substitute for a proprietary arti- 

 cle, we are violating our custom of de- 

 clining to suggest recipes for imitations 

 of patent medicines, but in this case, the 

 query was made in good faith and is 

 answered accordingly. Only the other 

 day, a telephone query concerning a cer- 

 tain proprietary was answered by the 

 statement that a certain official prepara- 

 tion was "similar to, but not identical 

 with" the advertised preparation in ques- 

 tion. "We've tried that'' was the aston- 

 ishing response, "and we find that the 

 flavor of the official preparation is not 

 quite the same as Blank's mixture. 

 Could you suggest how to make the 

 flavor just like Blank's?" Our response 

 can well be imagined. 



Action of Acids on the Skin. — 

 B. F. M., New York, wishes us to set- 

 tle a dispute by telling the effect of 

 strong acids on the skin. 



Hydrochloric acid stains the skin some- 

 what yellow ; nitric acid turns the cuticle 

 brownish yellow, producing the well- 

 known xanthoproteic acid reaction ; sul- 

 phuric acid-well ; strong sulphuric acid 

 better be left off the skin as it will char 

 the tissue and what is worse is apt to 

 produce an open sore even when only 

 a few drops are applied. In short, 

 strong acids and cuticle are therapeuti- 

 cally incompatible. 



Names of Manufacturers. — We glad- 

 ly furnish our querists with information 

 concerning the manufacturers of goods 

 handled by the drug trade, but for 

 obvious reasons, such answers are not 

 published in this department. 



Meaning of "O. S."— A. C. L., New 

 York, telephoned us to find out what 

 "os" meant on a prescription direction. 

 Off hand our response was the "os" 

 meant mouth. However, we asked our 

 friend to repeat the prescription in full 

 and we received the following dictation, 

 along with the remark that the querist 

 thought it was an eye prescription. 



Mercuric Chloride Solution — 



I to 5000 I ounce. 



Signa : i gtt. O. S. every four hours. 



The entire prescription threw a new 

 light on the subject and it was plain to 

 see that the abbreviation was "O. S. 

 (oculus sinister) and not "os" (mouth). 

 This shows that telephone queries and 

 prescriptions by telephone are not always 

 safe. 



Etching Glass with Hydrofluoric 

 Acid. — H. H. B., New York, writes 

 that he understands that 55 per cent, 

 hydrofluoric acid solution is generally 

 used to etch glass, but he finds that it 

 is commercially more feasible to pur- 

 chase 52 per cent. acid. He wishes to 

 know if acid of that strength will do the 

 work. 



Reference to our technical library 

 shows that even 40 per cent, hydrofluoric 

 acid is suggested for glass etching; so 

 we think it safe to advise H. H. B. to 

 purchase the 52 per cent, acid instead 

 of trying to get the far more costly 55 

 per cent, variety. 



