28 G 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 8, 1870. 
salines until the salt mines of Stassfurt were opened; 
the Schoenebeck salt springs, near Magdeburg, producing 
the greater part of the supply for Germany. The me¬ 
thod of manufacture is similar to that followed in the se¬ 
paration of iodine. 
Upon opening the mines of Stassfurt, bromine was 
found in the mother-liquors in considerable quantities, 
and at present the principal part of the European pro¬ 
duct is derived from this source ; as much as 300 grains 
per gallon having been obtained from these mother- 
liquors. Although but two or three of the manufactories 
have economized this substance, the price of bromine has 
greatly decreased during the last five years. This de¬ 
crease has been hastened by the large production of bro¬ 
mine in the United States. 
Although the amount of bromides in the Saratoga 
waters is considerable, yet the comparatively limited flow 
of water there, and the large consumption of the waters 
for medicinal purposes, precludes the manufacture. But 
from the strong salines it is derived in large quantities. 
At Tarentum, Sligo and Natrona, in Western Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Pomeroy, Ohio and Kanawha, West Virginia, the 
manufacture of bromine has become of considerable im¬ 
portance. The production of 1870 will reach 125,000 
lb., a quantity probably in excess of the United States 
consumption. In 1867 the Stassfurt production of bro¬ 
mine was nearly 20,000 lb. 
The total production of iodine in Great Britain and 
France is about 200,000 lb. annually, and outside these 
two countries very little is produced. As the average 
production of iodine is about 10 lb. to the ton of kelp, 
and it requires 20 tons of wet weed to produce one ton 
of kelp, this total quantity represents the burning of 
400,000 toris of sea-weed. At the present price, the 
iodine produced is of more value than the alkaline salts, 
which were the original object of the industry. 
As previously stated, iodine is not produced in the 
United States. Since its use was first established there 
the price has fallen from $16'00 to about $5'00 per lb. 
At present, bromine is furnished for less than $1-50 
per lb. 
The chief consumption of bromine and iodine is for 
medicinal purposes in the form of iodides and bromides 
of potash, soda, or ammonium. A small proportion is 
consumed in photography. Bromine has been proposed 
as a discharge in calico printing, and during the late war 
was to some extent employed as a disinfectant. As yet, 
but a small proportion of the bromine of the saline 
mother-liquors is economized; but should manufac¬ 
turers turn their attention to this important substance, 
the consequent reduction in price would render its eco¬ 
nomical employment in other directions possible.— Amer. 
Chemist. 
MISTURA CRET7E. 
In the American Journal of Pharmacy, Mr. II. P. Rey¬ 
nolds, of Plainfield, New Jersey, recommends the follow¬ 
ing formula for mistura cretae, which, he says, will 
yield a mixture that does not ferment in the warmest 
weather:— 
P> Cretas Prazp., 
Pulv. Gum. Acac., 
Glycerinse (pur.), aa £j 
Aquae Cinnarcomi *xv 
Mix in the usual manner. 
.With the same object, Mr. W. Ranstead, of Mount 
Airy, Philadelphi, prepares a powder as follows:—■ 
Cretae Pi-mp. ^ss 
Pulv. Sacch. Alb., 
Pulv. Gum. Acac. aa 5ij 
Mix well by rubbing in a mortar, and keep well 
stopped from the air in a bottle. 
When the chalk mixture is needed he uses 5j of the 
powder with f^ss each of water and cinnamon water for 
each f^ required. 
It is also suggested by Mr. Reynolds that in the next 
revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia glycerine 
should be substituted for syrup and sugar in very many 
of the official preparations. He says, “ Glycerine prepa¬ 
rations, made by cold percolation direct from the crude 
drugs, may advantageously take the place of nearly all 
the present official syrups, possessing, if desired, the 
same density, better representing their respective bases, 
and being of a far more stable character. Of this I am 
satisfied by actual experiment.” 
Suicide by Poisoning. —On Tuesday, September 
17th, an inquest wms held by Dr. Lankester upon the 
body of Mr. Walter Killick, twenty-one years of age, 
lately a clerk in a mercantile house. It appeared that 
the decased having shown signs of mental aberration, 
his friends had taken steps to place him in a lunatic 
asylum. It is probable that he heard of this design, for 
he suddenly left his friends in the country, and came up 
to town. After partaking of refreshment at an hotel, 
he retired to rest. The next morning, as he made no 
appearance, his room was entered, and he was found 
lying on the bed quite dead. There were bottles about 
the room which had contained chloroform, beetle poison 
and laudanum. The laudanum, it was shown, was pur¬ 
chased at the shop of Mr. Mason, chemist, Old Street, 
St. Luke’s, Mr. Mason’s daughter, a girl only fourteen 
years of age, selling it. The deceased had represented 
that he was a surgeon, and wanted the poison to destroy 
a dog. The jury returned a verdict “ That the deceased 
committed suicide while in an unsound state of mind,” 
coupling with it a reflection upon Mr. Mason for per¬ 
mitting a child to vend poisons. 
Death under the Influence of Chloroform. —A 
few days since, a man thirty-four years of age received a 
severe wound on the finger from the kick of a horse. He 
was admitted into the Royal Free Hospital the following 
evening with symptoms of tetanus. The next day, it 
having been decided to amputate the finger, chloroform 
was administered on a piece of lint. After two or three 
inhalations the patient struggled violently, and shortly 
afterwards expired. At the inquest which was held, a 
verdict of “ Death from tetanus, accelerated by chloro¬ 
form,” was recorded. 
Poisoning by the Leaves of the Yew.— l'lm- 
parziale, of Florence, mentions the case of a girl who 
took a decoction of the leaves of the Taxus baccata to 
bring on catamenia. She repeated the dose every 
moxming for three days, but on the fourth she took an 
increased dose of eight ounces. Severe vomiting ensued, 
a medical man was called in, and the vomiting was en¬ 
couraged by the use of tepid water. In spite of eveiy 
effort, however, the patient died delirious, eight hours 
after taking the last dose of the decoction. Nothing of 
importance was revealed by a post-mortem examination. 
Poisoning by Locock’s Pulmonic Wafers.— 
It is reported that a child has recently been killed at 
Kilmarnock by swallowing some of Locock’s pulmonic 
wafers. Medical help was obtained, but it was of no 
avail, the child dying in twelve hours. The basis of 
these wafers is probably some form of opiate, but the 
public are not generally aware that they are so dange¬ 
rous as this case would seem to prove them to be.— 
Medical Times and Gazette. 
Adulterated Beeswax. —Dr. Hager has met with a 
substance, sold in the Continental market as beeswax, 
which consists of equal parts of beeswax, paraffin and 
Japan wax.— Pharm. Cent. Halle. 
Radway’s Ready Relief. —According to Dr. Hager, 
this nostrum is an alcoholic solution of camphor, oleo- 
resin of capsicum, and ammonia.— Pharm. Cent. Halle. 
