232 



Scientific Intelligence. 



[March, 



much respected friend Thomas Richardson, senior, of Bishop's- 

 Wearmouth, one of his executors, it is here inserted. 



" Take half a pound of opium sliced, three parts of good 

 verjuice, one and a half ounce of nutmeg, and half an ounce of 

 saffron. Boil them to a proper thickness ; then add a quarter of 

 a pound of sugar, and two spoonfuls of yeast. Set the whole 

 in a warm place near the fire for six or eight weeks, then place 

 it in the open air, until it become a syrup ; lastly, decant, filter, 

 bottle it up, adding a little sugar to each bottle. 



" The above ingredients, agreeably to the experiments of a 

 scientific friend, ought to yield, when properly made, about two 

 pints of the strained liquor ; one drop of which he calculated to 

 be equal to three drops of the tincture of opium, prepared ac- 

 cording to the London Pharmacopoeia ; and the effects of its 

 exhibition also tended to show that this was, perhaps, as accu- 

 rate an estimate as could be made. Probably this compound 

 might be equally well prepared by a simpler process ; and, per- 

 haps, some other vegetable acid and aromatic might answer as 

 good a purpose as the verjuice and nutmeg. The black drop is 

 a most excellent preparation of opium, and highly deserving a 

 place in our pharmacopoeias. From the quantity of acid in its 

 composition, it will often stay upon the stomach when other 

 preparations will not ; and in the hands of a judicious physician, 

 may, therefore, be usefully applied." 



IX. Meteorological Table. Extracted from the Register kept 

 at Kinfauns Castle, N. Britain. Lat. 56° 23' 30". Above 

 the level of the Sea 129 feet. 



BAROME-fER. 



Observations. Wind. 



Highest, April 6 .... NE . 

 Lowest, Dec. 18 .... S W . 



ANNUAL RESULTS. 



MORNING. 



Thermometer. 



Wind. 



30-57 June 25 N W . 



2840 Dec. 12 W . 



68« 

 22° 



