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THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 8,1871 
I know some have a very heavy trade in these poisonous 
articles; the plan I have stated would not he suited so well 
to meet their wants as the appropriating of an entire room in 
which all poisons could be kept. 
Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the ad¬ 
visability of compulsory poison regulations, all seem to be 
agreed as to the propriety of adopting, individually, suitable 
arrangements for preventing accidents. I am, therefore, in¬ 
duced to trouble you with these remarks. 
A Country Chemist. 
Syrup op Phosphate op Iron. 
Sir,—With reference to the article on syr. ferri phosph. by 
Mr. Carteighe in this week’s Journal, I should like to make 
a few additional observations. 
It appears to me to be not so much a stronger acid in itself 
which is required, as a freshly prepared (or, perhaps, more 
strictly speaking I should say, freshly diluted) acid; and I 
was led to this opinion by noticing, that when the syrup 
began to deposit very soon after being made, it was just at 
such times as my stock of dilute acid was getting low, and, 
consequently, what there was of it was comparatively old. 
On first noticing this, the thought struck me,—why, this acid 
has deteriorated from repeatedly using and opening the 
bottle; but upon second thought, considering the stable 
nature of this acid, I could not fancy it to be so; and upon 
testing, it proved not to be, but to be as good as ever, with 
the simple exception, that I could not get a good syrup with it. 
Up to the time of my noticing this I had thought the fault 
was with the phosphate, and I had tried precipitating from 
hot and cold, concentrated and dilute solutions, with the 
acetate of soda, and without it; but all these plans made but 
a trifling difference in the product. However, after I had 
such good grounds for believing the acid to be at fault, I 
made the following trial:—I first diluted a quantity of acid 
to the proper strength, then with a portion of it made some 
of the syrup, which I found to keep well, and from time to 
time, as the acid got older, I made more syrup with portions 
of the same; and I found that as the age of the acid in¬ 
creased, so the liability of the syrup to spoil increased. Since 
then I have invariably made the dilute acid when wanted for 
making the syrup, and I have invariably obtained a satisfac¬ 
tory result; with ordinary precautions it will keep good six 
months, or even longer. I made a batch in September, 1870, 
which lasted me until the commencement of the present 
month, and the last bottle sent out w r as as good as the first; 
and I have by me now some dilute acid made last summer, 
which was used at the time of diluting for making syrup 
which kept well, and yet that acid will not now hold the 
phosphate in solution beyond an hour or two, the syrup be¬ 
ginning to turn cloudy almost directly the sugar is dissolved. 
Beyond this one thing I can find no difference between the 
old acid and the fresh. Can it be a molecular change ? The 
reaction with all tests is identical, and the neutralizing power 
with alkalies is the same. 
So far, therefore, my experience would go to support the 
formula proposed by Mr. Carteighe, and I scarcely like to find 
fault with so accomplished a pharmaceutist: but in one par¬ 
ticular it appears to me to be not quite what could be desired. 
In his formula there is 2 fl. oz. of limpid liquid to be mixed 
with 10 fl. oz. of syrup; this would make an unusually thin 
syrup, and might, I think, detract somewhat from its keep- 
ing quality. I think the following might be recommended 
as an amendment, which I have tried and found to answer 
well:— 
Phosphate of iron (freshly precipitated) . . 96 grs. 
Phosphoric acid, sp. gr. Do.7 fl. dr. 
Sugar.oz. 
Water (q. s. to form 12 fl. oz. syr.) . . . fl. oz. 
Mix the acid with the water, dissolve the phosphate, then 
add the sugar, shaking occasionally until dissolved, 
Alered Rose. 
Maida Hill, W., March 29th, 1871. 
Preservation op Sulphate op Iron. 
Sir,—I beg to make a correction of a statement promul¬ 
gated by me, and printed in the Pharmaceutical Journal 
for May, 1868, on the preservation of sulphate of iron. The 
method recommended was to place a small quantity of cam¬ 
phor in the vessel containing the sulphate. After having 
given this plan a fair trial (on a good sample of the sulphate), 
I was led to the conclusion that it answered the intention 
perfectly, presuming that the atmospheric oxygen was ex¬ 
cluded partially, at least, by means of the vapour of camphor. 
More recent experience, however, has shown me that 
camphor has not the smallest effect iu preventing oxidation 
of badly-made sulphate of iron, i. e. when crystallized from 
a solution containing much free sulphuric acid; while, on 
the other hand, a well-made salt, with hard, brilliant facets, 
appears to require nothing beyond a good stoppered bottle 
and a dry situation to keep it entirely free from oxidation. 
George Welborn. 
Obscure Prescriptions. 
Sir,—As an illustration of one of the numerous phases of a 
provincial druggist’s business, I send the following verbatim 
copy of a prescription lately brought to a druggist’s shop in 
the county of Lincoln to be compounded. It is probable 
that no other than an agricultural mind could have conceived 
such a medley of ingredients, or spelt them in a more in¬ 
tensely rural manner. 
2 dr. of fabach. 
2 dr. of piloche. 
2 dr. of bittirhapple. 
2 dr. of colomet. 
10 gr. of gold dust. 
2 dr. of mercury. 
Sprit of buckthorn sufficient for 60 pills. 
31s? March, 1871. G. W. 
One oe the Craet. 
Sir,—Perhaps the following inscription from a tombstone 
at Broad water, near Worthing, might interest some of your 
readers :—• 
IN 
MEMORY OE 
MRS. FRANCIS SMITH, 
DRUGGIST, 
OF WORTHING, 
WHO DIED 
july 4th, 1837. 
AGED 101 YEARS. 
An old customer of Mrs. Smith remembers going into the 
shop sixty years ago for something for the toothache, when 
the old lady observed, “ Now, my boy, the stuff I’m about to 
give you is as precious as gold, so there’s but very little for 
twopence; but it’s sure to d© your mother’s toothache good.” 
I regret the name of the specific has not been preserved. 
J. Burt. 
M. F. S. —Most of the information you ask for is usually 
obtained at school, and may be found in any biographical 
dictionary. We are obliged for your suggestion, but do not 
think our readers would generally appreciate such articles as 
you indicate. 
H .—The cloudiness and deposit you speak of probably 
arise from impurity of the water used in making the lemonade. 
The change has been noticed by Dr. Heisch in his paper ou 
“ Organic Matter in Water,” an abstract of which will be 
found in No. 1, p. 13, of the present series. 
A. W. V. —No blame could have been attached to the dis¬ 
penser for using either of the mint waters, as both are officinal: 
we should, however, have used aq. menth. pip., as being the 
one commonly prescribed. 
“ Vinum ” will find a letter on the subject in No. 26, p. 
519. 
“ Parenchyma .”—The work mentioned is published by 
Messrs. Macmillan, price 4s. 6c?. 
“Henley.”— No. 2. 
J. W. —We believe an apparatus similar to the one men¬ 
tioned, of foreign manufacture, was introduced to the trade 
by Messrs. Gilbertson, of Ludgate Hill. 
“ Indoctus ” has omitted to send his name. 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from 
Mr. F. JohnsoD, Mr. M. C. Cooke, Mr. C. R. C. Tichborne, 
Mr. F. M. Rimmington, Mr. J. W. Jackson, Mr. Hustwick, 
Mr. J. Winser, M. F. S., J. S., N., “Delta,” “Inquirer,” 
“Aqua Pura,” “ Somerset,” “ Student.” 
