466 
Pharmaceutical  Notes. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.,  1889. 
each  one  of  your  powders  is  of  the  proper  weight.  Owing  to  the 
fact  that  in  dividing,  say  twelve,  not  too  small  powders  by  weight  the 
last  one  will  usually  be  short  about  1  or  1J  grains,  the  writer  has 
been  in  the  habit  of  taking  this  shortage  into  account.  If  the  bulk 
of  the  powders  weighs,  for  instance,  1 80  grains,  and  has  to  be  divided 
into  twelve  powders,  the  writer  weighs  off  14 J  grains  instead  of  15 
grains,  and  finally  distributes  the  few  grains  left  in  the  mortar  by  the 
eye.  That  fraction  of  a  grain,  which  through  unequal  distribution 
one  or  the  other  powder  may  get  too  much  or  too  little,  is  of  no 
practical  account. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES. 
Abstracts  from  Theses. 
Unguentum  Hydrargyri. — Jacquemaire's  recommendation  (see  Am. 
Jour.  Phar.,  1888,  p.  344)  for  the  rapid  preparation  of  mercurial 
ointment  has  induced  D.  B.  Bowman,  Ph.  G.,  to  experiment  with  dif- 
ferent amalgams  in  comparison  with  the  process  of  the  present  phar- 
macopoeia, by  which  the  extinction  of  the  mercury  is  facilitated  by 
trituration  with  compound  tincture  of  benzoin  and  a  little  mercurial 
ointment.  Working  by  this  process  the  globules  of  mercury  became 
invisible  to  the  naked  eye  in  ten  minutes,  and  the  ointment  was  fin- 
ished in  thirty  minutes.  The  amalgams  were  prepared  in  the  propor- 
tion of  1000  mercury  to  1  K,  Na,  Zn,  Sn  or  Mg;  and  were  tritu- 
rated directly  with  the  fats  and,  in  separate  experiments  with  the 
tincture  and  ointment,  as  stated.  The  amalgams  with  K  or  ISTa  com- 
bined with  the  fats  with  difficulty  and  in  part  only,  the  mercury 
finally  separating  partly.  The  Sn  amalgam  combined  better  and  after 
an  hour's  trituration  showed  no  globules  visible  to  the  eye ;  while  the 
zinc  amalgam  was  not  completely  extinguished.  Using  Mg  amalgam 
the  ointment  was  finished  in  fifteen  minutes. 
On  triturating  the  amalgams  with  tincture  and  ointment,  as  directed 
by  the  U.  S.  P.,  the  ointment  was  finished,  using  Sn,  in  fifteen  minutes; 
while  the  globules  became  invisible  to  the  eye  in  ten  minutes  with  Zn ; 
in  fifteen  minutes  with  K ;  in  thirty  minutes  with  Mg,  and  in  two 
hours  with  Na. 
Pill  excipient. — A  useful  excipient  for  substances  which  are  very 
difficult  to  make  into  a  proper  pill  mass  is  prepared  by  John  Howard 
Witherow,  Ph.  G.,  by  dissolving  with  the  aid  of  a  gentle  heat  100 
