12 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES  OF  TRAVEL. 
chiefly  carried  on  in  the  basement,  the  apparatus  used  by  the 
last  generation  is  still  employed,  and  the  products  issuing  from 
the  old  macerating  pans,  water  baths,  stills,  screw  presses,  &c, 
are  good  illustrations  of  the  superiority  of  skill  in  manipulation 
over  completeness  and  perfection  in  apparatus.  Charcoal,  and 
the  bituminous  coal  so  abundant  in  England,  constitute  the 
fuel,  and  the  heat  is,  for  the  most  part,  applied  directly, — not 
by  the  intervention  of  steam. 
In  convenient  drying  closets  adjacent  to  the  sources  of  heat, 
and  pervaded  by  a  hot  atmosphere,  I  saw  opium  being  dried  for 
powdering  ;  colchicum,  which  is  also  a  leading  article,  was  being 
sliced  and  dried  for  its  various  uses.  It  is  not  the  custom  of 
this  house  to  make  the  wine  of  the  fresh  corm,  as  is  done  by 
some  ;  they  believe  that  it  is  a  more  uniform  and  perfect  pre- 
paration when  the  corm  has  been  sliced  and  properly  dried.  The 
end  slices  and  skins  of  the  corm  are  not  rejected  in  making  this 
or  the  other  preparations.  The  tinctures  and  wines  are  kept  in 
the  basement  in  stone  barrels,  and  drawn  off  by  stop  cocks  to 
fill  the  shop  bottles.  Phosphorus  is  kept  in  a  closet  under  the 
cellar,  and  the  essential  oils  and  acids  in  appropriate  vaults. 
Large  quantities  of  cod  liver  oil  were  also  stowed  away  in  jars  ; 
this  valuable  article  is  one  of  the  important  manufactures  of  this 
establishment.  It  is  made  from  the  livers,  which  are  readily  ob- 
tained in  the  London  market,  by  placing  them  in  a  large 'iron 
pan  over  a  coal  fire,  and  heating  to  about  180p  F.,  stirring 
constantly.  The  oil  which  exudes  is  strained  and  put  into  the 
jars  above  referred  to,  and  into  bottles  of  various  sizes,  for  sale ; 
it  is  not  perfectly  clear,  nor  of  so  very  bright  a  color  as  some  I 
have  seen,  but  enjoys  great  popularity  in  London  as  a  reliable 
article. 
A  very  superior  article  of  distilled  cinnamon  water  is  used  in 
their  dispensing ;  the  flavor  is  remarkably  fine,  from  its  being 
distilled  directly  from  the  true  cinnamon  bark,  a  drug,  of  which, 
by  the  bye,  we  saw  many  thousands  of  pounds  on  storage  in  the 
great  spice  rooms  at  the  London  docks.  Aqua  Sambuci  is 
another  distilled  water  very  much  prescribed  and  especially 
adapted  to  collyria.  In  passing  through  the  store  rooms,  our 
attention  was  arrested  by  original  packages  of  Jamaica  sarsapa- 
rilla,  which  is  the  kind  used  exclusively  by  this  house  in  their 
