PROCESS  FOR  PREPARING  JAMES'  POWDER. 
53T 
sliglitlj  calcined  again.  But  should  the  first  charge,  after  being 
duly  heated,  prove  dark  colored  throughout,  it  cannot  be  im- 
proved and  may  be  rejected. 
Before  concluding  this  paper,  I  may  mention  some  facts  rela- 
tive to  James's  powder  which  were  communicated  to  me  a  great 
many  years  ago  by  a  very  old  gentleman  who  had  been  an 
apothecary  in  Dublin,  Mr.  William  Speer,  the  clever  inventor  of 
a  well-known  hydrometer  for  ascertaining  the  strength  of  ex- 
cisable spirituous  liquors.    It  was  as  follows  : — 
In  1758  Dr.  Anthony  Relhan,  a  Fellow  of  King  and  Queen's 
College  of  Physicians  in  Ireland,  practised  in  Dublin,  and  was 
one  of  the  physicians  of  Mercer's  Hospital.    The  Fellows  re- 
fused to  meet  him  on  account  of  his  employing  James's  powder 
in  his  practice,  although  the  decree  against  antimonials  by  the 
French  College  of  Physicians  had  been  long  before  repealed. 
In  consequence,  he  wrote  to  Dr.  James,  who  advised  him  to  go 
to  London  to  practice,  which  he  did.    Becoming  intimate  with 
Dr.  James,  the  latter,  during  several  interviews,  communicated 
the  process  practically  to  him,  his  patent-right  having  expired. 
In  1760,  Relhan  returned  to  Dublin,  and  being  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Ducros,  an  eminent  apothecary,  then  residing  in  William 
Street,  he  communicated  the  process  to  him  confidentially.  Du- 
cros prepared  the  powder  in  presence  of  Relhan,  and  it  was  re- 
peatedly administered  in  Mercer's  Hospital  and  other  places, 
with  exactly  the  efi'ects  of  James's  powder.    Mr.  Speer  w^as 
apprentice  to  Mr.  Ducros,  and  on  his  death  in  1768  succeeded 
to  his  business.    The  widow  gave  up  to  Mr.  Speer  a  MS.  book 
containing  the  account  of  the  Pulvis  Jacobi,  which  he  retained 
ever  after.    The  following  is  the  process  : — Take  one  pound 
of  hartshorn-shavings ;  boil  them  in  a  large  quantity  of  w^ater, 
and  dry  them  by  a  slow  fire.    Rub  them  to  a  fine  poAvder.  Then 
put  an  equal  weight  of  the  hartshorn  and  powdered  crude  anti- 
mony into  a  crucible,  and  set  it  on  a  moderate  fire,  stirring  it 
with  a  long  rod  of  iron  for  six  hours  or  as  long  as  it  smokes." 
I  have  repeated  the  above  process  several  times,  but  never 
could  produce  the  snow-white  powder  with  which  we  are  familiar  ; 
the  resulting  color  being  generally  that  of  Bath  brick  dust,  al- 
ready described,  but  on  a  few  occasions  paler.    Yet  the  state- 
