April 8, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
819 
colour; and as appearances are great aids to strong faith, we 
will add a formula for a cerate having the requisite colour, 
and ensuring simplicity and dispatch in its preparation:— 
Take of Tincture of Marigold flowers (saturated) 1 part. 
Lard (fresh), 8 parts. 
Heat on a water-bath until all the spirit is dispersed, and a 
uniform preparation is obtained.— Pharmacist. 
SUGARED CALAMUS, OR CANDIED SWEET-FLAG 
ROOT. 
Take of Calamus Root (cut in small pieces), 1 part. 
Macerate in 4 parts of water twelve hours. 
Add sugar (crushed), 12 parts, 
And with constant stirring dry it perfectly, by the aid of a 
gentle heat.— Pharmacist. 
SPECIES LAXANTES SAINT-GERMAIN—SAINT- 
GERMAIN LAXATIVE POWDER. 
Take of Senna leaves, previously exhausted with strong 
Alcohol, and dried, 16 parts. 
Elder flowers, 10 parts. 
Fennel seed, 
Anise seed, of each, 5 parts. 
•Cut and well bruise them, mix together, and when dispensing 
add 40 grains of Bitartrate of Potash to each ounce of species. 
— Pharmacist. _ 
CASTILLION’S POWDER. 
Take of Tragacanth, 
Sago, 
Salep, 
Sugar, of each, in very fine powder, 4 parts. 
Carbonate of Lime (precipitated), 1 part. 
Cochineal, q. s. to colour. 
Mix them thoroughly, and pass through a fine sieve.— Phar¬ 
macist. 
BLACK CURRANT LOZENGES. 
Take of Black Currants, dried, a sufficient quantity; add 
a small quantity of water, and soften by heating 
in a water-bath until reduced to a soft, pulpy mass, 
pass this through a hair sieve, and evaporate to 
the consistence of a paste. 
Take of this Black Currant paste, 
White Sugar, in fine powder, of each 1 pound. 
Gum Arabic, in fine powder, 2 ounces. 
Citric Acid, in fine powder, \ ounce. 
Mix, and make into a mass with Raspberry Syrup, q. s., and 
divide into lozenges of 10 grains each.— Pharmacist. 
[215.]—HAIR DYE.—“ Peta” would be glad if any one 
will oblige with reliable and not too expensive recipes for 
black, dark brown, and light brown hair dyes, without using 
ammonite hydrosulph. 
[216.]—SHOW COLOURS FOR LAMPS.—Can any of 
your readers supply me with the formulae for good red and 
green show colours for lamps? They must neither fade nor 
freeze.—C. S. 
[217.]—POMADE.—Can any reader oblige me with a 
form for Sardinian or Zouave pomade for fixing the mous¬ 
tache ?— Delta. 
[218.]— INKS FOR DIES .—“ Inquirer" would be glad 
to be furnished with recipes for black and coloured inks to use 
with dies or stamps. 
[219.]—DISPENSING.—I received the following pre¬ 
scription to dispense last week:— 
R. Liq. Ammon. Acet. ^iv 
Spt. Camph. §ss 
Aquae Destill, ^iiiss. 
M. ft. Lotio. 
To be applied to the face frequently. Upon adding the 
spt. camph. to the liq. ammon. acet. and aqua, there was 
d copious separation of camphor, by the addition of a little 
tinctura myrrhae the camphor was taken up and the lotion 
became turbid. 
Can any of your readers inform me if I am justified in 
either adding the tinctura myrrhae to, or straining the cam¬ 
phor from, the lotion ?—B. H. H. 
fiflrmpttate. 
*** No notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily 
for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. 
Previous Sewage, or Animal Contamination in 
Potable Waters. 
Sir,—In your last number, Mr. Charles Ekin states, in an 
article on the estimation of nitrates in potable waters, that 
“according to the reports of the Registrar- General, Professor 
Frankland regards the amount of nitrates in a water as neces¬ 
sarily the result of the oxidation of sewage matter; and from 
the nitrates present he actually calculates how great the 
previous sewage contamination lias been. 
Permit me to say that I do not entertain, or express in my 
reports to the Registrar-General or elsewhere, any such view 
regarding the presence of nitrates in water. Mr. Ekin will 
find, on referring to my reports to the Registrar-General, 
that he has misquoted the heading of one of the columns in 
the analytical table, the words being, “ Previous Sewage or 
Animal Contamination (Estimated).'’ Even if it be admitted 
(but the evidence adduced by Mr. Ekin on this point is by 
no means conclusive) that the nitrates in certain oolitic waters 
are derived from the oxidation of fossil animal remains, my 
definition of their origin would still be perfectly accurate. 
Ployal College of Chemistry, E. Feankland. 
March 31s£, 1871. 
Storage of Poisons. 
Sir,—In looking over the correspondence in your columns 
on the storage of poisons regulations, it has struck me that the 
following would be a good way of putting the whole question. 
In the management of our railways, two systems of signal¬ 
ling were, and, I believe, still are, in use,—one a “ positive,” 
the other a “negative.” Under the former, the way is 
always considered safe unless a positive signal of danger is 
raised. Under the latter, the danger-signal is kept raised, 
and the way considered unsafe until it is lowered. 
Now it seems to me that in enforcing the storage of poisons 
regulations, the Pharmaceutical Council (acting as directors) 
would be adopting the first of these systems. The officials, 
i.e. the apprentices, assistants and working principals would 
consider themselves quite safe in discharging their duties, 
until a danger-signal in the shape of a red triangular label, 
or “ some other distinctive mark” were raised; when they 
would be expected immediately to pull up and look well that 
their way was clear before proceeding. 
On the other hand, by allowing individual responsibility to 
rest upon every person in the trade, I consider the second 
system would be put into operation. The danger-signal 
would constantly be against us, only to be lowered when we 
were off duty. 
As the railway companies, after putting the positive system 
to a practical test, have almost unanimously abandoned it in 
favour of the negative, I think the Pharmaceutical Council 
would do well to profit by their experience, and not make 
“physic-taking” a more dangerous experiment than railway 
travelling. 
Leeds, March 29th, 1871. S. T. 
Poison Cupboards. 
Sir,—What sort of cupboard would it take to hold half a 
ton of arsenic? is a question asked in a recent Journal. 
Having just planned with a friend something of this descrip¬ 
tion, it may be useful to state what was done. In one of the 
warehouses is a sort of counter, 8 feet long, some old jars 
and boxes have to be cleared away from under it, it is then 
boarded up at each end; about 20 inches of boarding nailed 
up also at each end in front, and a couple of doors hung m 
the centre ; the doors not locked but fastened with a spring- 
catch. This will hold a ton of arsenic, if need be; at all 
events it has room for two casks and a half, containing 7 or 8 
cwt. in the whole, and for a box of other poison packages. 
A cupboard can easily be made wherever there is a blank 
wall by putting up a shelf of about 2 feet wide, and then 
carrying out my plan. For jars, etc. in warehouse, a cup¬ 
board is at once "had by putting a couple of doors in front of 
the shelves. 
