EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
475 
hard soaps, the free alkali and glycerine are separated by adding 
common salt to the gelatinous mass first produced, when the 
soap, being insoluble in the saline solution thus formed, rises to 
the surface. This process, however, cannot be applied in mak- 
ing soft soap, as the potash of the soap would be replaced by 
soda, and thus the soft soap converted into hard soap. The 
separation of the soap may also be effected by concentrating the 
alkaline liquor itself, as it is found to be insoluble in strong 
caustic alkali, and this method is applicable to the preparation of 
potash soap. 
In consequence of the difficulty of completely separating the 
free potash, soft soap is generally strongly alkaline, and this is 
especially the case when it is made in small quantities. 
Pharmaceutical Journal , June 1851. 
THE VETERINARIAN, AUGUST 1, 1851. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat. — C icero. 
Influenza yet being rife among our horses in and about 
the metropolis, we would add a few observations to what we 
have already said on the subject. Although almost any disease, 
we believe, may for a time, from causes apparent or non-appa- 
rent, assume an epidemic or influenzal type, we have but one, 
we seem to acknowledge as veritably deserving the name of in- 
fluenza among horses ; but that one ever has been to us, and 
still, we must confess, continues to be, a puzzler. The more we 
see of it, the more complex and inexplicable it appears to us. Not 
that any very novel phenomena present themselves for notice as 
the disease occurs year after year ; but that the same phenomena, 
modified as they are in variety, alternation, and intensity, tend 
rather more to confound us in regard to their cause and nature 
than to cast any additional light upon the disease they denote. 
It is true, by the simple treatment we are in the habit of apply- 
ing to the disease, and sometimes by no medical treatment at 
all, that success has generally in the end proved the upshot of 
the case of it ; but it is likewise true that, every now and then, 
a case — we d 0 not say of influenza, but a case which in the 
