560 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [January 7 , is?! 
one ” to order quinine in a mixture without adding a little 
ac. sulph. dil., “or other acids,” to dissolve it, excepting in 
the case of “inf. rosae c. quina ” or “'pills.” D. T. W. will 
he kind enough to remember that ho charged me with wish¬ 
ing to make the medical men appear more forgetful than 
they are, therefore I gave him the two prescriptions to in¬ 
spect, and those “not solitary cases.” 
Liverpool, Dec. 31$£, 1870. Chemicus. 
Lists of Drugs. 
Sir,—If any of your readers, especially among wholesale 
druggists, could furnish me with two or three stock-books ,— 
I mean manuscript-priced inventories of drugs,—dating from 
the early part of the present century, say 1800 to 1825, 
I should feel much indebted to them. I have some lists of the 
previous century. 
Clapham Common, S.W., Daniel Hanbury. 
4 th January. 
Dispensing Charges. 
Sir,—I had the following prescription brought me this 
afternoon to dispense. It was marked on the side thus:— 
R. Tinct. Camph. Comp., 2 
Syr. Scillte, ana 5 SS 1 
Acid. Sulph. Dil. 5hj 1 
Tinct. Digitalis 5j 1 
Aquae (jviss 5 
A tablespoonful thrice a day. 
As it was for a working man, I thought I would be very 
reasonable in my charge, and only asked Is. He told me he 
could get it made up in Newcastle for 5cl. I refused to make 
it for that money, so he paid the shilling, but most likely will 
go to the “cheap man” next time. 
Chester-le-Street, Dec. 28 th, 1870. A. P. S. 
Mag. Ferri et Quin. Sulph. 
Sir,—Mv intention in writing to your Journal was to oh- 
tain information, and certainly not to annoy Messrs. Hitch¬ 
cocks. In explanation I will state the facts. 
The porter of a chemist brought the prescription, and 
asked for the article, which he said he was told was kept hero 
(Apothecaries’ Hall, Blackfriars). Hence the mistake. I 
did not go to Bruton Street, nor did I send any one else; but 
the same prescription has been brought to me by another 
chemist, also with a request for the article, within the last 
few days. 
I am obliged to G. S. for the formula for the drug, which 
I am since informed was to be seen in a late number of the 
Lancet. 
December 31s£, 1870. E. B. 
Fox's Palatable Oils. —Messrs. Fox, in the letter that 
they have forwarded, express their opinion that the “Liver¬ 
pool Chemists’ Association has stepped beyond its province, 
and made remarks without regard to their accuracy and 
without a sufficient knowledge of the matter they ivere hand¬ 
ling.” They dispute the remarks made by the President at 
the meeting on the 8 th December, and add that, since they 
depend more particularly upon the medical profession to 
recommend their preparations, they had only sent to medical 
men the circulars stating what proportion of oil was con¬ 
tained in those preparations. They also state that they hold 
two patents for these preparations, and that they consider 
the decided separation of the oil from the other ingredients 
as a recommendation, inasmuch as it enables medical men to 
perceive with ease the actual amount of oil. They prefer 
that their preparations should be in this respect excluded 
from what is termed “ elegant ” pharmacy. 
Inquirer. —No. 
S. AT. (Dorchester).—Colenso’s Arithmetic. 
Nemo .—Consult the papers on Liquor Taraxaci, by Bentley 
(Pharm. Journ. 2 nd ser. i. 402) and Squire (Brande’s ‘Ma¬ 
teria Medica ’). The difference in the appearance of the spe¬ 
cimens is probably due to their having been prepared at 
different seasons of the year. We should prefer the darker 
for dispensing purposes. 
D. D .—We think our correspondent might perhaps obtain 
a better result by using a calico filter instead of a paper one. I 
“ Guaco.” —The iodine will be in a free state. The alkalies 
present arc not in a condition to combine with it. The plants 
mentioned contain sulphur. 
“ Find ex." —We do not think that formula; for proprietary 
medicines are to be obtained through the medium of the Notes 
and Queries columns. 
J. F. (Cromer).—The following is the formula for a syrup 
of lactate of iron proposed by M. Cap:—• 
R. Lactate of Iron, 1 drm. 
White Sugar, 12^ oz. 
Boiling Distilled Water, 6^ fl. oz. 
Rub the salt to powder with half an ounce of the sugar, and 
dissolve the mixture quickly in the boiling water. Pour the 
solution into a matrass placed on a sand-bath, and add to it 
the rest of the sugar in small pieces. When the sugar is dis¬ 
solved, filter the syrup, and as soon as cold transfer it to well- 
stoppered bottles. This syrup has a very light amber colour, 
and contains about four grains of the salt to the fluid ounce. 
Dose from two to four fluid drachms. 
J. T. Greenwood (Louth).—Distil a known quantity with 
caustic lime and as much water as may be necessary, collect¬ 
ing the distillate bv careful condensation; then determine the 
ammonia by titration with a standard acid, or by adding a 
slight excess of hydrochloric acid, and evaporating to dryness, 
so as to weigh the chloride of ammonium. 
John Gregory (Stockton-on-Tees).—Theindications afforded 
by the tests you refer to are scarcely to be relied upon unless 
the operator has a large empirical familiarity with the results 
produced under various conditions. Probably the oil referred 
to was mixed with some substance that resinified on exposure 
to the atmosphere. This admixture might bo accidental or 
otherwise, and in either case the presence of a very small 
amount of such substance might be sufficient to give rise to 
the rose tint observed,—so that this result could not alone bo 
relied upon as indicating inferiority or adulteration of the 
sample in question. 
“ Anxietas.” —We have given full consideration to your 
suggestion, but we do not regard this Journal as the proper 
medium for giving such educational aid as that referred to. 
Moreover, the plan proposed is so admirably carried out in 
another journal, that we should be in no small degree poach¬ 
ing upon its preserves, if we were to adopt the same course. 
At the same time, weave much obliged for the suggestion, and 
will take this opportunity of saying that we should be very 
glad if members of the trade would more generally commu¬ 
nicate their opinions and wishes in regard to such matters as 
it is the province of this Journal to deal with. In many cases 
that would be a means of rendering good service to the gene¬ 
ral interests of pharmacy and of our Societ}'. 
“ Inquirer —We cannot furnish you with the address 
asked for. 
“ Veritas." —We are unable to give the information con¬ 
cerning the proprietary medicine referred to. 
A Student (Harwich).—See Pharm. Journ. o. s. Vol. XII. 
for full information on the subject. 
TV. A. Thirlby .—In order to promote oxidation and facili¬ 
tate solution of the iron. 
C. J. Cann (Greenwich).—Prussiate of potash is exempt 
from being included in the words “cyanide of potassium and 
all metallic cyanides,” partly because it is not a cyanide but 
a ferrocyanide, chiefly, however, because it is, as a matter of 
fact, not a poisonous substance. 
J. D. Leslie (Sheffield) who expresses his dissent from our 
Answers to Correspondents in No. 19 and 20, will find in the 
foregoing answer a solution of his difficulty. 
G. Wellborn. —(1.) See Ure’s ‘Dictionary,’ art. “Yeast, 
Artificial.” (2.) The rise of temperature, in the one case, and 
the fall of temperature in the other, are due respectively to 
the facts that heat is evolved in the one case, while it is 
rendered latent in the other. In the former case there is 
reason to believe that something like chemical combination 
takes place, resulting in the production of a hydn ted salt, 
while in the latter case the change is merely physical, or the 
heat rendered latent in the liquefaction of the salt exceeds in 
amount any heat that may be evolved as a result of chemical 
combination between the salt and water. 
S. D .—Hooper’s ‘ Medical Dictionary’ and Maync’s ‘Me¬ 
dical Vocabulary ’ (Churchills). 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from 
Mr. A. II. Hale (Ramsgate), Mr. H. B. Brady (Newcastle), 
Mr. C. R. C. Tichborne (Dublin), P. L. Simmonds, A Stranger, 
“A. P. S.,” “M. P. S.” 
