122 
Chemical  Notes. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      March,  1889, 
cured  another  sample  from  them  and  subjected  the  same  to  another 
analysis,  with  the  following  result : 
Calcium  Sulphate   79  00 
Water  ,   2070 
Oxide   030 
Thus  showing  the  so-called  "  English  Heavy  Calcined  Magnesia "  to 
be  nothing  more  nor  less  than  hydrated  Plaster  of  Paris. 
As  the  article  comes  upon  the  market  through  a  reputable  house, 
who  have  since  written  us  that  "  they  did  not  offer  it  as  a  C.  P.  arti- 
cle/' we  feel  that  the  general  trade  should  be  warned  of  the  fraud 
through  the  medium  of  your  journal,  and  a  warning  given  against  the 
eternal  running  after  "  cheap  "  drugs,  so  much  in  vogue  in  these  days 
of  <f  cutters,"  and  the  placing  of  such  goods  in  stock  without  first 
making  the  most  critical  examination.  This  so-called  "Heavy  Mag- 
nesia "  is  very  handsome,  and  therefore  well  calculated  to  deceive  the 
Unwary.  Respectfully,  &c, 
•  Keasbey  &  Mattison. 
CHEMICAL  NOTES. 
Abstracts  from  Theses. 
Liquor  Ferri  chloridi. — Albert  E.  Oerter  prepared,  experimentally, 
five  solutions,  following  strictly  the  directions  of  the  pharmacopoeia, 
varying  the  process  in  experiment  II  by  leaving  the  acid  and  iron  in 
contact  for  48  hours,  then  placing  the  flask  in  a  sand  bath,  connect- 
ing the  flask  with  a  Liebig's  condenser  and  returning  the  acid  distill- 
ate into  the  flask.  In  each  of  the  experiments  45  grams  of  iron 
were  used,  consisting  of  card  teeth  in  I  and  II,  reduced  iron  in  III, 
and  iron  clippings,  sold  for  preparing  solutions  of  iron,  in  IV  and  V. 
The  iron  left  undissolved  was  rapidly  washed  and  at  once  dried,  when 
it  weighed,  respectively,  4*6,  4*5,  4  5,  4*0  and  5*0  gm.  After  oxida- 
tion the  iron  solutions  were  clear  with  the  exception  of  III  from 
which  a  substance  had  to  be  filtered  which  was  insoluble  in  water 
and  boiling  nitric  acid.  The  specific  gravity  of  each  solution  was 
taken  and  the  amount  of  ferric  oxide  determined  from  10  gm. 
Three  commercial  samples  of  solution  of  ferric  chloride  were  exam- 
ined in  the  same  manner,  the  results  being  as  follows  : 
Sample.  I.       II.      III.     IV.     V.       VI.     VII.  VIII. 
Spec,  grav  1*386   1'386    1-344   1*411    1  4G5    1-407   1*328  1-374 
Fe203  1*73     1-73     T56     1*85     1*84     T84     V65     1*70  gm. 
