274 
Original Communications. 
cure them fresh from the Confectioners, when wanted for pre- 
parations. 
The author gives his mode of preserving dates, jujubes, and 
almonds ; the two first are not in use here ; the latter, from 
the liability to a demand for almond emulsion is kept by most 
country apothecaries, to whom the following information may 
be interesting. 
" In the month of October, 1828, I took about 20 lbs. of 
sweet almonds of the season, which I exposed for eight or 
ten days over a baker's oven to a temperature of 25 or 30° C, 
and when they were very dry and brittle I enclosed them yet 
warm, in six bottles of two quarts each, very clean and dry. 
I corked and sealed them carefully, and laid them upon shelves 
on a ground floor, seven or eight feet above the soil. Each 
following year I opened one of these bottles, and found the al- 
monds as good, and as sound, as on the day when they were 
put up. I generally however, dry them well, and enclose them 
at the commencement of winter in large glass bottles with tin 
covers, and repeat the dessication upon the approach of hot 
weather. Almonds thus taken care of, easily keep two or 
three years without change." 
Tamarinds should be preserved in a thick, well boiled sy- 
rup, then put away in jars, well corked, and tied over with 
bladder. Their condition should be examined from time to 
time, and the syrup replenished, as evaporation may render 
necessary. Mr. M. says: — 
" Cantharides from their high price and active qualities, 
should be perfectly dried, both before and after pulverization, 
and distributed in glass vessels, well corked, and in size pro- 
portioned to the consumption." 
He also says that it is useless to preserve them entire, and 
that they should be dried, particularly after pulverization, so 
that any moisture absorbed during that process, might not 
injure them afterwards. The same remarks are applicable to 
powdered squill. 
Lozenges, if not perfectly dried, before putting away, are 
apt to moisten, and adhere together, but if previously well 
