SALTS  OF  CONIA. 
61 
rates  and  ointments,  the  writer  uses  yellow  wax,  and  finds  it  to 
keep  much  better  than  when  made  with  white  wax,  though  there 
is  one  slight  objection  to  its  use,  which  is  the  change  of  color,  at 
least  in  the  surface,  from  yellow  to  white,  partly  from  a  partial 
decomposition  of  the  sub-acetate  of  lead  and  deposite  of  carbon- 
ate. Of  course  the  same  decomposition  occurs  with  the  use  of 
white  wax  in  this  cerate,  but  not  the  change  of  color. 
Samples  4,  5  and  6  will  show  to  some  extent  the  diiference  in 
the  use  of  yellow  and  bleached  wax  in  the  preparation  of  this 
cerate. 
In  conclusion,  the  writer  would  remark  that  he  conceives  that 
in  bleaching  wax  not  only  is  the  balsamic  or  preservative  princi- 
ple destroyed,  but  that  during  the  process  rancidification  is 
started  in  the  wax ;  and  that  as  old  vinegar  or  mother  "  super- 
induces the  acetous  fermentation  in  cider,  so  bleached  wax  ren- 
ders rancidification  more  certain  and  rapid  in  all  cerates  and 
ointments  in  which  it  is  used. 
— Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc. ^  1868. 
ON  THE  SALTS  OF  CONIA. 
By  George  C.  Close. 
Query  33d. — Conia  has  been  recommended  as  a  therapeutic  agent,  bnt 
is  liable  to  alteration  from  atmospheric  oxygen     As  the  salts  of  conia 
appear  to  be  permanent  and  are  odorless,  why  may  not  some  of  these  be 
substituted  for  the  alkaloid  ? 
The  assertion  in  the  query  that  the  salts  of  conia  appear  to 
be  permanent,  is  contrary,  I  believe,  to  the  authorities  on  the 
subject,  except  with  regard  to  the  muriate,  which  Prof.  Wertheim 
asserts  to  be  crystallizable  and  not  in  the  least  deliquescent. 
The  method  which  he  suggests  for  .  making  the  muriate  is  the 
combining  the  vapors  of  the  two  substances  directly.  This 
method,  to  be  successful,  would  require  a  larger  quantity  of  the 
conia  than  I  could  afford  to  use,  as  the  cost  is  eight  dollars  for 
what  purports  to  be  an  ounce  of  the  article. 
I  succeeded  in  making  a  crystallized  muriate  by  dissolving 
30  grs.  of  the  conia  in  2  fluidrachms  of  dilute  muriatic  acid, 
previously  diluted  again  with  its  bulk  of  water,  and  evaporating 
the  solution  by  means  of  a  water  bath. 
