PREPARATION OF LIQUOR BISMUTIII. 471 
but of the sort divided into four, six, and eight parts, so that the dose can be accurately 
measured from the bottle. They cost no more than the plain sort. 
6. An efficient dispenser should be provided. This would be best done, according to 
the British system, of encouraging the Hospital Sergeant to learn dispensing. On his 
proving himself efficient, he gets one shilling a day extra pay. The Hospital Sergeant 
is generally a trustworthy man, and for many reasons I have every reason to believe 
that he is by far the best sort of medical subordinate for the army. The time is come 
when the Medical College should devote its energies to educating men for practice 
amongst the natives of India, and not to giving a medical education to men whose real 
employment in the army is to be office-work, writing and copying the tedious and volu¬ 
minous reports of the Indian Medical Department. 
Were encouragement given by Government, Provincial Medical Schools might be 
instituted for the education of natives, with, I believe, very happy results. If in every 
large cantonment the medical officers were to give instruction to such natives as had 
attained a certain proficiency in English studies at the Government Schools, granting 
licences to those properly qualified, I believe that much good might be done. At the 
same time facilities might be afforded for procuring medicines from the Government 
Stores, on payment. We should not then have that hole-and-corner way in which 
natives can often alone get relief, necessitating the troublesome stock and expenditure 
book. Gratuitous relief to natives from dispensaries ought to be abolished. Before 
many years, it will become as great a nuisance as the hospital system is in England. 
The medical education of a number of intelligent natives, and their distribution in dis¬ 
tricts, would do much to attach the natives to the British rule. A certain small salary 
from Government for attendance on the indigent, and for vaccination, would secure the 
services of a qualified native doctor in every district, and he might attend, at a certain 
tariff, such well-to-do people as required his services. 
But for this to be possible, Government must act liberally to medical officers, which 
it seems very far from willing to do at present. 
The recent publication of the British Pharmacopoeia affords an excellent opportunity 
for reform in the Pharmaceutical department of the Madras army, and it is earnestly to 
be hoped that something will be done to insure an ample supply of good drugs and 
stores to regimental hospitals, and, at the same time, to put a stop to the waste now 
taking place .—Madras Quarterly Journal of Medical Science. 
REMARKS ON THE PREPARATION OE LIQUOR BISMUTIII. 
BY ALBERT E. EBERT. 
This subject was introduced by Mr. C. R. C. Tichborne, (Lond. Pharm. Journ., Jan. 
1864,) and was thoroughly investigated some months later by Mr. N. Gray Bartlett, who 
communicated the results of his examination to this Journal (Jan., 18o5). Since the 
appearance of the latter paper, an article was published by Mr. Thos. P. Blunt, (Lond. 
Pharm. Journ., May, 1865,) in which Mr. Bartlett s process was declared unsatisfactory, 
though at the same time a formula was submitted which, in all essential points, was but a 
reproduction of that of Mr. Bartlett. Subsequently, a rejoinder, by Mr. Tichborne, 
appeared (Lond. Pharm. Journ., June, 1865), reiterating his. former statements, which 
had been disputed, and suggesting another method of preparing liquor bjsmuthi. This 
consisted in dissolving crystallized ternitrate of bismutn in water, adding a due pro¬ 
portion of citric acid, and neutralizing the liquid with ammonia. These papers, instead 
of further elucidating the subject, have left it in such a state of uncertainty, that many 
may be deterred from attempting the preparation of liquor bismuthi. 
The large demand which has followed the introduction of this solution, and the evi¬ 
dences of favour with which it has been received, convince me that it is of too much 
value to be allowed to fall into discredit through fallacious formulas or the disputes of 
inventors. 
After a series of carefully-conducted experiments with the different processes, 1 have 
arrived at the following conclusions:— 
