GLASGOW CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
591 
own apprentice days, but of course insisting upon implicit obedience from all under them, 
as they are responsible to their employers, that all goes on with the same correctness in 
their absence as when they are present; and my experience as an assistant was, that all 
under me generally acted harmoniously because they were not tyrannized over,—a practice 
sometimes indulged in by ignorant young men, who imagine that such a course adds to 
their importance. After some remarks on the importance to assistants choosing proper 
companions, and attending to their moral and religious improvement, and congratulating 
the Association on its prosperous condition, and the large turn-out at their annual reunion^ 
Mr. Ainslie concluded a long and instructive address amidst great applause, 
A vote of thanks, proposed by Mr. Moffat, to the Chairman, was cordially awarded, 
after which the Hall was cleared for the assembly which then took place. 
GLASGOW CHEMISTS AND DEUGGISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
At the usual fortnightly meeting of this Association, held on the evening of the 2Sth 
of February, Alexander Kinninmont, Esq., President, in the chair, the following paper 
on Singleton’s Golden Eye Ointment was read by Mr. William Jardine :— 
“During the discussion on Citrine Ointment at our last meeting, the Chairman 
remarked that according to Christison the colleges intended, in preparing the formula 
for that ointment, that it should, as nearly as possible, resemble Singleton’s Golden 
Ointment. He also expressed his surprise that the various dispensatories should differ 
so much on the composition of this ointment, when a few simple experiments would 
suffice to settle the matter, and offered to present me with a pot of it that I might 
endeavour to discover what it really contained. 
“ Christison, as we have seen, considers it to be citrine ointment. Another authority 
represents it to be red precipitate ointment, containing a drachm to the ounce, while 
another asserts that it is an ointment of orpiment. 
“In colour it resembles citrate of red precipitate ointment, and its smell is that of a 
cooked fat of some description or other. It has been suggested that the fat which forms 
the basis of this ointment might be boiled butter, but it is not that. Boiled butter has a 
peculiar smell altogether different from the fat in question. This fat is very soluble 
in ether, indicating that it contains little or no stearine, so that it cannot be either lard 
or tallow. It may be either dripping or marrow, or it may be, as the Chairman has sug¬ 
gested, goose grease. It is most probably the latter. 
“Having weighed it carefully, I digested the ointment in ether. Allowing it to stand 
for some time, a powder fell to the bottom of the tube, forming two distinctly marked 
layers, both of an orange-red colour, the upper one, however, being of a lighter shade 
than the lower. They were ultimately found to be the same substance, the upper layer 
being more finely divided than the lower. Pouring off the ethereal solution of the fat, 
and washing the powder well with ether, I then digested it in dilute hydrochloric acid. 
I might have treated the powder with nitric acid, which would have dissolved the oxide 
of mercury, and oxidized the sulphuret of arsenic, if present, into arsenic and sulphuric 
acids, retaining it in solution also,- The presence of mercury and arsenic could then 
have been determined by the proper reagents. This would have been the better way to 
proceed had I been sure of the presence of arsenic. By using hydrochloric acid, its 
absence was determined at once, as the powder was immediately and completely dis¬ 
solved. It now only remained forme to determine that it was really red oxide of mercury. 
By adding a few drops of solution of iodide of potassium to a small portion of the liquid 
the characteristic scarlet precipitate of red iodide of mercury was produced. Ammonia 
added to another portion produced a white precipitate of amido-chloride of mercury; and 
the salt obtained by evaporating another portion of the liquid to dryness, on being heated 
in a test tube with carbonate of potash, produced decided globules of mercury, which 
condensed on the sides of the tube: of course this was decisive. I also tested for lead, 
but found none. I did not attempt a quantitative analysis, nor, as the result proved, was 
it at all necessary. The ointment contained in the pot weighed exactly a drachm; the fat 
recovered from the ethereal solution and the washing weighed 56 grains; so that it is 
simply red precipitate ointment of the strength of 30 grains to the ounce, prepared with 
a peculiar fat, say goose fat. It is exceedingly well made, the powder being very finely 
divided.” 
