768 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 23, 1872. 
Locality of atmosphere. 
Hydrochloric 
acid. 
Sulphuric 
acid. 
Blackpool. 
100 
100 
Didsbury. 
277 
320 
Buxton. 
247 
345 
London . 
320 
361 
St. Helen’s. 
516 
468 
Manchester. 
369 
549 
Metropolitan Railway . . . 
974 
1554 
Locality of atmosphere. 
Ammonia. 
Albuminoid 
ammonia. 
Indian. 
100 
100 
London . 
117 
116 
Metropolitan Railway . . 
138 
271 
Glasgow. 
159 
221 
A bedroom. 
194 
173 
Office at Manchester . . . 
235 
194 
A midden. 
644 
302 
By means of these air-washings a chemical climato¬ 
logy may he established. 
The author has determined the amount of oxygen and 
carbonic acid occurring in air under a variety of circum¬ 
stances ; the more characteristic results are as under:— 
"Where collected. 
Oxygen 
per cent. 
Carbonic acid 
per cedt. 
Top of hills, Scotland . . . 
20-980 
•0332 
London, parks and open places 
20-950 
•0394 
London (average of 68 analyses) 
20-885 
•0439 
Glasgow, open places . . . 
20-929 
•0461 
Glasgow, closer places . . . 
Metropolitan Railway tunnels. 
20-889 
•0539 
20-700 
•1452 
Theatres, worst parts . . . 
— 
•3200 
Mines (average of 339 analyses) 
— 
*7850 
When candles go out . . . 
18-500 
— 
— Journ. Chem. Society. 
MUCILAGE OP ACACIA. 
BY 11. BOTHER. 
Mucilage of gum arabic prepared by the U. S. officinal 
method is remarkable for its instability; only a few 
days, and under peculiar conditions a few hours, suffi¬ 
cing to render it sour, and consequently unfit for medici¬ 
nal use. Mucilage for medicinal purposes is an article of 
great utility to the pharmaceutist in the making of pills, 
emulsions and other mixtures with which gum is pre¬ 
scribed. For these purposes it is always far superior to 
the powdered gum. But on every occasion it should 
either be quite recently prepared or otherwise preserved 
from change. The moderately circumstantial and rather 
tedious operation of dissolving the gum when in the 
original pieces debars the possibility of an expeditious 
process for extemporaneous application. In view of 
these facts, the addition of the least objectionable pre¬ 
servative can only meet with approval.' Glycerine has 
been recommended and used for nearly everythinand 
there exists not the slightest doubt but that it enters 
largely into pharmaceutical productions. Now, while 
glycerine may be positively injurious in some cases, it 
has become actually indispensable for others. Too fre¬ 
quently it is introduced where there is no cause for its 
presence, and often where its influence would be bene¬ 
ficial the proportion -was not sufficient to be effective. 
The decomposition of mucilage of acacia when once 
begun cannot be checked or even retarded with glyce¬ 
rine, but can be prevented by a sufficiency of glycerine, 
if this be present before any change could supervene. 
This is only secured by mixing the glycerine with the- 
water before its addition to the gum. Next important- 
to the solvent is the manner in which the solution of the- 
gum is effected. This operation can be most promptly 
and thoroughly performed by placing the original pieces 
of the gum into an appropriately sized bottle, and add¬ 
ing the mixture of glycerine and water. The bottle is 
then securely corked, the whole well shaken, and the 
bottle laid down on its side in a horizontal position ; 
after ten or fifteen minutes the layer of agglutinated 
gum is moved into a vertical position by revolving the 
bottle; after the column has subsided, the bottle is fur¬ 
ther revolved in the same direction. Having thus 
moved the bottle three or four times during the interval 
of about twelve hours, complete solution has taken place. 
The mucilage is now well shaken and strained through 
muslin. The straining can be very rapidly done by 
placing a proportionately large sheet of moistened mus¬ 
lin over a funnel supported on a bottle; the funnel is 
then filled with the liquid, two opposite sides of the 
strainer folded together, and the ends twisted in opposite 
directions. When all the liquid has been forced out, a 
fresh portion is similarly treated until all has been 
strained. The proportion of the glycerine to be used is 
one in eight of the product. The following formula is 
in officinal proportions, only that eight ounces of water 
is replaced with an equal measure of glycerine; one 
fluid ounce contains three drachms of acacia and one- 
fluid drachm of glycerine:— 
Take of Acacia, in pieces, 24 troy ounces. 
Glycerine, 8 fluid ounces. 
Water, 2\ pints. 
Mix, and conduct the process as above directed. 
The Chicago Pharmacist. 
THE ORANGE. 
The orange is a native of China and India, and rs 
supposed to have been introduced into Italy in the four¬ 
teenth century. Gallesio states that oranges were brought 
by the Arabs from India by two routes—the sweet ones 
through Persia to Syria, and thence to the shores of 
Italy and the South of France; and the bitter, called in 
commerce Seville oranges, by Arabia, Egypt, and the 
North of Africa, to Spain. Thus, all the old orange 
groves at Seville, planted by the Moors, were the bitter- 
fruited variety; and the first sweet orange is stated to 
have been reared at Lisbon, and became commonly 
known as the Portugal or Lisbon orange. A traveller 
in Spain, writing of its orange groves, says, “ At Cor¬ 
dova, in the Court of Oranges of the old Moorish mosque, 
now the cathedral, the splendid avenues of orange-trees, 
all of them centuries old, were a most interesting sight. 
The lines of the orange-trees in the court corresponded 
with the lines of the pillars, 1096 in number, in the inte¬ 
rior.” He also mentions having visited the Alcazua, 
the most beautiful of Moorish palaces • “ Its garden is a 
marvel of beauty. The most striking thing, however, 
'was the celebrated orange-tree of vast dimensions, and 
said to be 600 years old. Its stem is split into several 
trunks, and covers the ground-space of a good-sized 
vat.” 
One thing remarkable in the citron family is that, 
although a tropical genus, it ripens its fruit in all 
countries in which it becomes naturalized only in the 
winter months: and from this peculiarity it has pro¬ 
bably been enabled to travel from India to the southern 
shores of Europe, and to find a congenial locality in the 
equable and temperate climate of the Azores, Cape of 
Good Hope and New South Wales. The varieties of 
the citron family thrive in great luxuriance in the open 
air in the districts around Sydney, Hunter’s River, and 
other suitable portions of the Colony of New South 
Wales, more especially in sheltered situations in the 
vicinity of the inland creeks or salt-water rivers (as'they 
are termed by the colonists), such as the Paramatta,. 
