10 
THE   PARIS  EXPOSITION. 
all  labelled  in  good  order,  the  rooms  where  operators  were  bottling  and 
putting  up  vials  and  packages,  and,  above  all,  rooms  for  storing  herbs, 
flowers,  leaves,  etc.  We  then  were  shown  through  the  cellars,  where 
various  heavy  and  crude  articles  were  kept ;  into  the  fire-proof  ether  and 
spirit  cellar,  where  combustible  liquids  are  stored  for  greater  security, 
and  into  that  where  mineral  preparations  were  deposited,  from  which  we 
ascended  and  crossed  the  court-yard  to  the  laboratory.  In  doing  so  we 
were  shown  the  apparatus  for  calomel  and  some  other  mercurials,  and 
that  for  reducing  iron  by  hydrogen.  The  latter  consisted  of  four  iron 
tubes,  about  four  inches  in  diameter,  open  at  both  ends,  which  were  sup- 
ported by  nine  inch  walls,  through  which  they  passed,  the  lateral  walls 
being  low,  so  as  to  make  it  easy  to  remove  the  fire  when  the  process  is 
finished.  The  process  was  not  in  operation,  and  we  did  not  learn  what 
was  the  source  of  the  hydrogen  employed,  but  we  presume  the  process  to 
be  nearly  identical  with  that  of  our  Pharmacopoeia.  In  the  first  story 
the  range  of  apartments  was  occupied  by  the  boilers  and  a  very  efficient 
steam  engine,  communicating  power  to  various  parts  of  the  building,  and 
heat  for  evaporation,  distillation,  dessication,  etc.,  in  numerous  forms  of 
apparatus  for  extracts,  syrups,  spirits,  ethers,  etc.  In  the  second  story 
we  passed  through  the  analytical  laboratory,  where  constant  experiment- 
al trials  and  testings  are  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  business  of 
the  concern.  Passing  on  we  came  to  the  apartment  devoted  to  the  pre- 
paration of  gelatin  capsules,  sugar-coated  pills,  dragees,  lozenges,  tablets, 
gum  drops,  etc.,  where  the  sperativeS  were  both  female  and  male  ;  empty 
capsules  are  arranged  on  trays  and  are  taken  up,  one  at  a  time,  and 
quickly  filled  from  a  glass  with  a  tubular  spout  and  replaced  on  the  tray 
ready  for  sealing.  The  lozenge  machine  is  very  perfect,  first  rolling  out 
the  mass  and  then  passing  it  under  rollers,  where  it  is  cut  into  lozenges 
and  stamped.  Gum  troches  are  moulded  in  starch  powder,  shallow  boxes 
of  which,  pressed  full  of  conical  cavities,  are  used  as  the  matrices,  the 
starch  repelling  the  stifle  mucilage  and  sugar  till  it  sets.  The  process  for 
sugar-coating  pills  is  that  used  here  in  our  pill  laboratories,  and  which  we 
derived  from  France.  Above  this  pharmaceutical  department  the  finer 
chemicals  and  preparations  are  put  up  and  stored.  At  the  top  range  of 
the  building  M.  Dorvault  introduced  us  to  the  museum  of  materia  medica 
and  chemicals,  and  finally  to  the  library,  where  the  members  of  the  As- 
sociation, for  it  is  a  joint  stock  company,  have  their  meetings.  The  im- 
possibility of  taking  notes  at  the  time,  and  the  many  other  engagements, 
prevented  a  record  being  kept  that  might  have  been  more  interesting. 
M.  Dorvault  is  a  man  of  medium  height,  well  proportioned,  and  proba- 
bly 45  years  of  age,  of  great  personal  neatness,  wearing  the  black  dress 
and  white  cravat  so  usual  with  the  principal  pharmaciens  of  Paris.  His 
manner  is  composed,  but  assured,  and  he  appears  to  be  a  perfect  master 
of  his  business  as  Director  of  the  large  establishment  over  which  he  pre- 
sides.   Since  our  visit  it  has  been  announced  that  the  celebrated  firm 
