442 Manufacture of Epsom Salts. 



and Co., that we might have the acid, specific gravity 1700, 

 in quantities of not less than 100 maunds, at 6 Rs. per maund, 

 for purposes of experiment. 



We accordingly tried a maund of the acid on the mag- 

 nesian limestone of Salem, an account of which mineral will 

 also be found, vol. 2, p. 284 of this Journal. The result yielded 

 144 lbs. of Epsom salts from 38 lbs. of the calcined rock. 



Taking the magnesite at Rs. 20 per ton, and the acid of 

 the above specific gravity at 6Rs. per maund, the Epsom salts 

 afforded, which are very pure, costs 13 shillings and 3 pence 

 per cwt. The imported salt from England costs, including 

 freight and charges, 24 shillings. Having reported this re- 

 sult to the Medical Board, it was not deemed expedient to go 

 on with the experiment to the extent proposed, with the view 

 to supply public service. We would therefore recommend the 

 subject to sulphuric acid manufacturers, as an useful way of 

 employing their superfluous acid. The consumption of 

 Epsom salts is becoming every year more general in propor- 

 tion to the spread of European medical knowledge, the native 

 sources and means of supply of all such articles, thus be- 

 come proportionably more and more important. 



There is however, another point of view in which this 

 question becomes important ; so long as we are depending 

 in India on supplies of medicine from Apothecaries' Hall, our 

 stock is liable to become exhausted. When the consumption 

 exceeds the anticipated expenditure, which it almost always 

 does, we are then obliged to make up the deficiency from such 

 articles as we can collect in the bazars, sometimes at exor- 

 bitant rates. The cheap production of the common articles of 

 medicine, such as Epsom salts, from the natural productions 

 of the country, would prevent this, and also be the best check 

 on the venders of adulterated drugs. Besides, it is the cheap 

 and bulky articles of medicine which it becomes us most 

 especially to prepare in India, since they are less worth 

 their freight and the room they take up on board ship, than 



