856 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 20, 1872 
Itos Hitir 
*** Tn order to facilitate reference, correspondents are 
requested to mark their answers in each case with the title 
and number of the query referred to. 
No notice can be taken of anonymous communications. 
All queries or answers should be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer. 
[312.]—INCENSE.—Try Exodus xxx. 34; or the 
following from Ure’s ‘Dictionary of the Arts’ :— 
Santal Wood in powder, 1 lb. 
Vitivert, 2 ozs. 
Cascarilla Bark, \ lh. 
Gum Benzoin, ^ lb. 
Grain Musk, oz. 
Powdered Nitre, 21 oz. Henbane Dwining. 
[314]. PINIv OINTMENT.—“ Sunderland ” wishes 
to know of a good receipt for Pink Ointment, not the 
Ung. Hyd. Ox. Rub., B.P. 
THE PREPARATION OF PURE ZINC BY 
ELECTROLYSIS.—M. Y. Meyers reports (‘ Comptes 
Rendus,’ lxxiv. 198) that being in want of pure zinc for 
the production of hydrogen, he succeeded in obtaining 
it easily and in an absolutely pure state, by the decom¬ 
position of an ammoniacal solution of sulphate of zinc 
by a galvanic current. The positive electrode used con¬ 
sisted of a plate of zinc and the negative of a copper 
wire in the form of a T. Upon passing a current from 
two Bunsen elements through the liquid, the cojipcr is 
soon covered by a layer of zinc, and a tree of crystals of 
zinc is formed at the extremities of the wire. The 
crystals, after removal, should be washed with a dilute 
solution of ammonia. 
POTIO RIVIERI.—In the American Journal of Phar¬ 
macy, Mr. Louis Cohen gives the following formula for 
a preparation frequently prescribed by German physi¬ 
cians in the United States under the above title : — 
Potass. Carb. depur. 5j 
Acid. Citric, gr. lij 
Aqum *ij. 
Misce. 
GUM SYRUP.—In order to obviate the inconvenience 
attending the frequent preparation of gum-water re¬ 
quired for prescriptions, Mr. Donde recommends the use 
of a gum-syrup made as follows :_ 
Gum Arabic, in coarse powder, 2 lb. 
Rain Water, 2 4 lb. 
Simple Syrup, 6 lb. 
Macerate, the gum in water, shaking it occasionally for 
six or eight hours, until completely dissolved ; then 
strain. I his gives 3| fluid pounds of mucilage. Con¬ 
centrate the syrup to 35° Bme. [sp. gr. 1*321] ; remove 
from the fire, and let it cool to 60° C. or 70° G, and add 
the .mucilage. It yields 8 fluid pounds of syrup, con¬ 
taining one-fourth its weight of gum. If 1^ ounce of 
this syrup be mixed with 6| ounces of water, a clear so¬ 
lution is produced, containing 3 drachms of gum.— 
American Journal of Pharmacy. 
CARROTINE FOR COLOURING BUTTER.— 
A writer in Dingier's Polytechnischos Journal (cc. 83) 
recommends carrotine, the colouring matter of carrots, 
obtained by exhausting the dried and pulverized roots 
with bisulphide of carbon, as better adapted for co¬ 
louring butter than anatto, tho carrotine being tasteless 
and scentless. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Elements of Chemistry : Theoretical and Practical. 
By William Allen Miller, M.D., D.C.L., LL.D.; 
revised by Herbert McLeod, F.C.S. Part I. Che¬ 
mical Physics. Fifth edition, with additions. London: 
Longmans. 1S72. 
How to Cook. By T. L. Nichols, M.D. London • 
Longmans. 1872. 
CoOTsjpticRte. 
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. 
Election of Council. 
Sir,—In reply to Mr. Mayhew, I have no change of views 
to report since last year, when I took an active part in defeat¬ 
ing the proposed compulsory regulations. I am as strongly 
opposed now as then, to any interference with the details of 
business not absolutely necessitated by considerations of 
public safety ; and on this point it will be remembered there 
was literally no case,—I doubt whether even recommendations 
were necessary except as a sort of peace-offering. 
If Acts of Parliament are written in the common language 
of the people, I do not see how the Pharmacy Act, 1868, 
imposes upon us any statutory compulsory obligation to- 
frame regulations, which as a body corporate we do not 
deem necessary. 
I am not insensible of the honour of a seat in the Council, 
but certainly do not covet the distinction. I reluctantly 
accepted nomination on general principles, at the urgent 
request of our local association, but 1 agree with Mr. 
Schacht that the well-being of the Pharmaceutical Society 
requires that so far as the expression of opinion on the part 
of the members can determine the matter of the compulsory 
regulations, it may be disposed of at the coming election. 
James Baynes. 
Hull, April 15 th, 1872. 
Sir,—Finding there is a generally expressed wish that those 
who have been nominated for the Council of the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society should make known their opinions on one or 
two pharmaceutical topics, I will, witli your permission, do- 
so as briefly as possible. 
I am strongly opposed to compulsory regulations, believing 
a man can conduct his own business with greater satisfaction 
to himself, and safety to the public, by carrying out his own 
system rather than being forced by law to adopt the novelties 
of others ; and my objections to legislative interference have 
been strengthened seeing that not one of the 120 gentlemen 
who signed Mi*. Sandford’s circular have replied to the letter 
of Mr. Proctor, of August, 1871, asking for information. 
I am in favour of grants for education to the provinces, as 
I look to education as the true protector of the public. 
The difference between pharmaceutical chemist, and member 
of the Pharmaceutical Society, and chemist and druggist by 
examination of the Pharmaceutical Society, seems so slight 
to me in the public mind, that I should be glad to see the 
whole of the outstanding chemists and druggists by gome 
wise means brought into the Pharmaceutical Society, so as to 
form a strong and united body with identical interests, con¬ 
sidering this would tend to prevent reckless and hasty legisla¬ 
tion by the few to the detriment of the many. 
Those friends who urged me to allow myself to be nomi¬ 
nated for the coming election of Council of the Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Society, knew my views at the time of asking me, but 
knowing full well that changes have passed over men’s minds 
on these subjects in a few weeks, I wish to record that if 
my brother pharmacists consider me worthy of a seat on their 
Council Board, holding these opinions; if I change them I 
shall deem it only a common act of honesty to retire at once, 
rather than continue to sit on the Council Board to oppose 
the views of those friends who placed me there. 
W. W. Ukwick. 
60, St. George’s Road , Pimlico, London. 
April 16 th, 1872. 
Mistakes in Dispensing and Prescribing. 
Sir,—In reference to the deplorable case of poisoning by 
misadventure, for which a chemist’s assistant was tried for 
manslaughter at Devon, as reported in the Pharmaceutical 
Journal, March 23rd, it might not be out of place to ask 
your readers if they have ever met with the term Sal. Morph, 
as applied to the salts of morphia. I have never met with 
it, and as you justly remark, such a term is not used, although 
Sol. Morph, (solution) is verj* common. A similar case of 
poisoning by which a colonel lost his life in consequence of 
