State of Pharmacy in France. 247 



mercure, follows calomel. The directions are to mix together 

 48 parts of sulfate acide de mercure non lave, with 48 of com- 

 mon salt, and 45 of black oxide of manganese. 



These directions are extremely improper, and what purpose 

 the oxide of manganese is to answer, it is impossible to conjec- 

 ture, for the framers of the code acknowledge that the mercury 

 is already in the state of peroxide, by the very appellation which 

 they bestow upon the sulphate of mercury, viz., sous-sulfate de 

 mercure peroxide. Added to this, in preparing muriatic acid, 

 they direct equal quantities of common Salt and sulphuric acid ; 

 and in this preparation they order equal weights of common salt 

 and subsulphate of mercury ; they must therefore, if they 

 thought on the subject, either have been aware that they 

 were ordering too much in one instance, or too little in the 

 other, and the fact is, that they have committed both these 

 errors ; in preparing muriatic acid, the sulphuric acid is one- 

 sixth in excess, and in preparing corrosive sublimate, it is at 

 least, one half deficient. The remaining preparations of mer- 

 cury do not require particular mention. 



Antimony like mercury, is in most pharmacopoeias a fruitful 

 source of absurdity and error, and the code has not escaped the 

 general infection. 



The first preparation is " antimoine, appele autrefois regule 

 d'antimoine." It is obtained from the sulphuret by means 

 of tartar and nitre ; the mode is very expensive, and the pro- 

 duct is perhaps but little purer than the metal, as it is com- 

 monly met with. Indeed the preparation of copper or iron 

 from their ores, would appear to be quite as useful as that of 

 antimony. 



The next medicine is " oxide blanc d'antimoine prepare par 

 I'interm^de de nitre." This useless preparation, which to the 

 credit of most pharmacopoeias is rejected, is thought, and per- 

 haps with reason, to be no disgrace to the code. Experience 

 has long proved that peroxide of antimony is nearly inert. The 

 next preparation is a more powerful one, it is submuriate of 

 antimony ; the process for preparing it is the simple one of 

 decomposing the muriate by water, but the formation of the 



