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THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 22, 1871- ' 
attainments of your numerous correspondents on the poison 
question will soon be turned to account in the publication ot 
interesting facts respecting experimental and practical phar¬ 
macy? A perusal of the pages of the Pharmaceutical 
Journal for the last twelve months leads me to the opinion, 
that for most matters of interest in connection with our trade 
we are indebted to American sources. 
Leominster, July 18£/i, 1871. M. J. Ellwood. 
Poison Bottles. 
Sir,—Me have been endeavouring to improvise a ‘poison ’ 
bottle, instead of asking a practical bottle-maker to construct 
one for us. 
Maw’s guards or Baildon’s india-rubber caps, though dis¬ 
tinctive enough, have this great disadvantage, they require 
both hands of the dispenser, not only for their removal, but also 
for their readjustment. When one is busy, or on a market- 
day when customers are eager to catch a train, one cannot 
take time to refasten those safeguards. Such mechanical 
difficulties put in the way of the dispenser require more time 
than he can well afford. 
The great desideratum is some simple. contrivance which 
would permit us to measure liquor arsenicalis with as much 
facility as liquor bismuthi. I have long been of the opinion 
that an effective poison bottle could be made on the bayonet- 
catch or some such principle, to be locked or unlocked by 
giving the stopper half a turn, and this could be performed 
without bringing either bottle or measure to the counter. 
The difficulties in the construction of such a bottle might 
easily be overcome by a practical bottle-maker. These bottles 
would, of course require to be longer in the neck than those 
in ordinary use, as the ground portion of both stopper and 
bottle would be lower than the catch. The projections on 
the stopper would correspond with the notches in neck of 
bottle, and these be so arranged that the stopper (on its in¬ 
sertion) could not go “home” till it was locked by giving 
the half turn. Some such contrivance would throw a me¬ 
chanical obstacle in the way of an absent-minded or careless 
dispenser, and be equally adapted for narrow-mouthed or wide¬ 
mouthed bottles. Scotus. 
Sir,—The safety-guard for bottles containing poison, sug¬ 
gested by your correspondent Mr. J. It. Summers, is very 
similar to the one I exhibited at the Liverpool Conference; 
but as mine possesses one peculiarity, which in practice would 
be found of importance, perhaps you will allow me space for 
a brief description. If there is simply an india-rubber band 
across the stopper, when once slipped off, it will be found 
difficult to be laid hold of again to replace in position; for 
this purpose a projecting knob is required to rest on the top 
of the stopper, which may be made in the following manner : 
—Take a f-inck brass paper fastener and bend back the two 
prongs in the form of hooks, on which mustjbehung the sides 
of an india-rubber ring, about an inch diameter; the hooks 
are then to be pressed together and the two loops tied round 
the neck of the bottle; or a second ring, about ^-inch diameter, 
may be tied to the loops and passed over the neck of the 
bottle. I have had them in use, for a long time, and am 
quite satisfied with their convenience and efficiency. 
For the purpose of further distinguishing at a glance the 
articles belonging to the two parts of the “ poison schedule,” 
I make use of a red and also a green circular label, on which 
is a black cross, with the words “poison schedule,” part]one 
or part two, as the case may be; the colour indicating at 
once whether the article requires registration or a poison 
label only. 
Liverpool, July 13 th, 1871. George Barbee. 
Overdoses. 
Sir,—By a very simple arrangement, overdoses in pre¬ 
scriptions might easily be detected. 
I would suggest that chemists should have written on 
every bottle the full B.P. dose of the drug contained therein. 
For instance, after the name extractum ergot® liquidum 
should be written 30 minims; after hydrargyri perchloridum 
gr. |, and so on. By this means it would be impossible for 
an overdose to go unobserved, and in many instances time 
would be saved as the dispenser would not have to refer to the 
Pharmacopceia when doubtful of the dose. Of course, all 
preparations “not official” should be treated in the same 
way, as many of them being seldom used the dose would not 
be so familiar. 
Lemon and Lime Juice. 
Sir,—I think your remarks on my letter are hardly to the 
point, as they do not satisfactorily meet the question at issue. 
My communication was in reply to your paper asking for a 
substitute for lemon- and lime-juice, and I there stated what 
I had done, as also the reason which induced me to try the- 
citrate of potash. 
As far as my opinions on the matter are concerned perhaps • 
some of them are not correct, and I am quite willing to- 
withdraw my charge against lemon-juice and rum, which, 
perhaps, may be thought by some persons to be a very nice 
mixture, and taken with pleasure by sailors for the sake of 
the rum it contains; but still this does not at all settle the 
question as to the value of citrate of potash. 
My reason for stating that citric acid was useless was due' 
to the fact that the acid is not used as a substitute for lemon- 
juice, and also that various fruits and fresh vegetables are- 
equally useful as lemon-juice, although none of them may 
contain citric acid. The same may also be said of fresh meat.. 
The question then really seems to be, whether the value of 
these various bodies, as 1 stated in my letter, may not be due- 
to the potash they contain in combination with an organic 
acid, either citric, tartaric, malic, etc., as the case may be. 
I cannot see that any amount of laboratory work will.: 
settle the question; and after all it can only be solved by 
careful experiments at sea during a lengthened voyage. As 
far as I am able, I have attempted to find an answer to your 
query, and, as I stated in my former letter, must now leave 
it to others to determine by careful experiments whether the 
remedy I propose has any value or not. 
Robert Palmer. 
“ Chemicus .”—It is supposed to facilitate the oxidation of' 
the iron, and so increase the amount dissolved. Many ex¬ 
cellent operators, however, do not find any advantage in this- 
process over the old one of complete immersion. 
B. S. —A certain amount of basic chloride is formed during 
fusion. This is decomposed by water into oxide and soluble- 
chloride. 
A. P. S. —You will find a formula for Composition Powder - 
in the first volume of this series, p. 457, and for podophyl¬ 
lum pills in the present number. 
“Hoy” —1. Mayne’s ‘MedicalVocabulary’ (Churchills).— 
2. Piesse’s ‘Art of Perfumery ’ (Longmans). 
C. D. C .—Perhaps the occurrence Avas owing to an ac¬ 
cidental scratch, or the glass may have been imperfectly an¬ 
nealed. We cannot account for it in any other way. 
“ Alumen .”—See a paper on the “Detection of Alum iru 
Bread,” read before] the Glasgow Chemists and Druggists’ 
Association by Dr. Carter Moffat, Vol. I. p. 595. 
B. G. Mumbrciy .—We suppose that there must have been 
some informality in the petition against the Pharmacy Act 
Amendment Bill, which you inform us was presented by Mr.. 
Peek on behalf of the inhabitants of Richmond on Monday 
last, since its presentation is not recorded in the votes and 
proceedings of the House of Commons. 
G. P. Cocking. —The letter sent for insertion in last week’s 
issue reached us about six hours after the Journal had been 
printed. 
S. W. N. —Tarragon vinegar is made by digesting the fresh, 
plant in vinegar or dilute acetic acid. We are not aware • 
of any substitute for the plant. 
W. U. B .—Mix the powder Avith sufficient sulphuric acid 
to convert two-thirds of the lime into sulphate. 
B. J.Beal .—We decline to advertise the practice referred i 
to in your letter; and though we regret that any member of ' 
the Pharmaceutical Society should lend himself to such a 
proceeding, we can at present only hope that the business of 
a pharmacist will ultimately be regarded in such a light by 
all those engaged in it as to prevent the adoption of such a 
course by any one belonging to the trade. 
“Beta.” —We regard the case referred to in your letter as 
one of the sale of an article of drysaltery, and we think it 
should not be regarded as competition with qualified pliar- ■ 
macists. 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from. 
Mr. A. Deck, Mr. T. H. Hustwick, Mr. R. Bannister, Mr. J„ 
Inglis, Mr. F. Crace Calvert, “Alumen,” “Aqua Destil— 
lata.” 
L. T. Ashwell. 
