vation whith the author makes in the 
preface: “Iam sorry to be under the 
necessity of saying that, though I have 
with great pains endeavoured to estab- 
lish a regular practice of this useful 
branch of surgery at St. ‘Thomas’s hos- 
pital, I could never prevail. This may 
be owing to the many objects of study 
which present themselves to the pupils 
during the short time of their residence 
in London, and which prevent them from 
attending so much t6 this part of sur- 
gery, as I earnestly wish they would. 
An operation is more often admired, than 
acure by any other means, as it is at 
once splendid and lucrative. Iam there- 
fore obliged to limit the hospital prac- 
tice to particular cases, which I attend 
mus Aromaticus Antiquorum. 
lishment. _ 
WITH a great display of oriental 
erudition, and along motto in the Per- 
sian character on the title page, which 
we are not able to translate, this pam- 
phlet gives but little real formation on 
_ the two articles of pharmacy which the 
- author professes to describe. 
The Bit Nobenappears to be one of the 
commonest salts in India, and has been 
employed from time immemorial by the 
Natives, as a sovereign remedy for a vast 
number of complaints. Its external ap- 
pearance is in brown irregular lumps; ,to 
the taste it is salt and sulphureous. All 
that the author knows, or chooses to tell 
about its chemical properties, is included 
in the following imperfect account: 
«© When dry, the salt has scarcely any per- 
ceptible smell, but when moistened, it emits 
a strong sulphureous fostid odour. It dis- 
solves readily in a stnall proportion of water, 
forming a solution of agreenish colour, which 
has been found, by experiments, to possess 
all the properties of the Harrowgate or Aix- 
la-Chapelle waters. The solution emits a 
strong sulphureous smell, resembling bilge: 
watery, rotten eggs, or the foulest gun.scour- 
ings, which goes o by exposure to the air. 
The solution soon deposits a little black sedi- 
ment, which has been found by the applica- 
tion of the magnet to be oxid of iron. On 
the addition of a little vitriolic, muriatic, or 
nitric acid, the greenish colour is instantly 
destroyed. ‘The vitriolic acid causes a slight 
efleryescence, while the nitric acid produces 
a milky 4ppearance without any effervescence 
whatever. Caustic potash restored the co- 
Jour which had ‘been destroyed by the mutri- 
HENDERSON'S DISSERTATION ON THE BEIT NOBEN, &c. 
793 
to myself, because I can so seldom pre- 
vail on a young student to take the ne- 
cessary pains which are required to be- 
come an able electrician.” 
If it ise real fact, that not a single 
young man can be found in this school 
of medical art, sufficiently skilled in the 
easiest part of electricity, to be trusted 
with applying it medically, we need not 
wonder at the apathy and reluctance 
to try the most promising experiments, 
which we so often find to stand in the 
way of improvement. When the age for 
education is passed, the most frequent re- 
source of ignorance is then an affected 
contempt for the branch of knowledge 
where the deficiency is felt, or an equally 
affected dread of all innovation. 
Art. LIT. 4 Dissertation on the Bit Noben, or Fatid Salt of the Hindoos, the Sal Indus 
| Antiquorum, commonly known in Hindestan by the Name of Khalla Neemuck; with Re- 
marks on the Cherayta of the Hindoos, the Kusseb Uzzereereh of the Arabians, the Cala- 
By Joun Hennerson, of the Bengal Medical Estab- 
atic and nitric acids ; but, on adding it to the 
solution which contained the vitriolic acid, 
instead of a green it caused a brownish ap- 
pearance, with an evident precipitation. A 
small quantity of extract of lead, poured into 
a fresh solution of the salt, caused a very co- 
pious precipitate. A silver spoon, laid over 
it, became discoloured in a short time. By 
exposure to the air, the greenish tint and 
foetid smell gradually disappear, and the li- 
quor becomes as clear as the purest water ; 
and when this has taken place, on pouring 
out the liquor, the inside of the vessel is 
found to be lined with a film of sulphur.— 
A quantity of clear solution was evaporated 
in a china plate, by the heat of the sun, 
which left a number of cubical crystals, 
which, from the taste and other circum- 
stances, appeared to be very pure muriate of 
soda, the neutral salt that predominates in the 
mineral waters of Aix-la-Chapelle, Harrow- 
gate, Moffat, and indeed of almost all sul- 
phurated springs.” 
After this the author concludes that 
the Bit Noben dissolved in water; would 
be a valuable and cheap substitute for 
these celebrated waters. 
** Here, then, we have the neutral salt 
that impregnates these waters, and the sul- 
phur in union with hydrogen, on which the 
efficacy of both the hot and cold sulphurated 
waters are in a great measure allowed to de- 
pend; and, what surprises the chemist, is the 
sulphurated hydrogen mostly wncombined. 
From the easy solution of the salt in waier, 
and the sulp'ty,ated hydrogen being in such’ 
abundance, a water of anydegree of strength, 
either of the gaseous or saline impregnation, 
may be prepared; the super sulphuyaied hot 
