.Am.  Jour.  ?lia  ni. ) 
Aug.,  1881.  [ 
Practical  Notes  from  Foreign  Sources. 
403 
•corked  it  well  and  put  it  away.  This  residue  changed  rapidly,  and 
became  very  dark.  Wondering  whether  it  had  been  changed  an}^  for 
the  better,  I  went  to  the  bottle  a  few  days  ago  and  found  that  it  had 
been  completely  restored.  So  you  see  the  change  affected  corked  and 
uncorked  bottles  alike. 
The  only  reason  that  I  can  now  assign  for  this  peculiar  restoration 
of  color  is  the  presence  of  electricity  from  our  recent  storms ;  for  this 
is  apparently  the  only  new  factor  that  has  entered  to  change  the  exter- 
nal conditions  since  the  experiments  were  arranged  in  the  order  of  their 
preservation.  In  supposing  the  restoration  of  Color  to  be  owing  to 
electrical  influence,  I  am  well  aware  that  it  is  opposing  an  opinion 
advanced  by  Mr.  Hancock  (see  Proceed.  American  Pharmaceut.  Asso., 
1876,  p.  665)  that  the  decomposition  of  Syr.  Ferri  lodidi  is  somewhat 
accelerated  by  the  ozone  from  "  a  good  deal  of  electricity  in  the  atmos- 
phere'^ ;  yet  I  am  forced  to  the  above  conclusion  by  the  facts  furnished 
by  my  entirely  unlooked-for  experiment.  Perhaps,  when  summer 
days  are  past,  and  the  Storm  King''  has  retired  with  his  lightning- 
flash  and  thunder-clap  to  other  climes  than  ours,  I  may  again  be  per- 
mitted to  resume  experiments,  which  he  so  unexpectedly  and  uncere- 
.moniously  brought  to  naught. 
.Philadelphia,  July  18,  1881. 
PRACTICAL  NOTES  FROM  FOREIGN  SOURCES. 
By  the  Editor. 
Dry  Narcotic  Extracts,  rendered  pulverizable  by  dextrin,  have  fre- 
quently been  found  to  attract  moisture.  A  correspondent  in  Phar. 
Zeitung,"  May  7,  p.  276,  states  that  this  difficulty  arises  in  conse- 
quence of  insufficient  exsiccation.  The  extract  is  mixed  with  dextrin 
sufficient  to  form  a  firm  pill-mass  which  is  rolled  out  into  thin  cylin- 
ders, and  these,  protected  against  dust,  are  kept  in  tin  vessels  upon  the 
stove,  in  a  place  where  the  heat  never  rises  above  60 °C.  In  a  few 
weeks  the  cylinders  are  powdered  and  the  powder  placed  in  a  porcelain 
dish,  kept  again  for  several  weeks  in  the  warm  place,  when  th§  weight 
:is  augmented  to  twice  the  weight  of  the  extract  used  by  the  addition 
of  well-dried  dextrin.  Thus  prepared,  the  extracts  will  keep  perfectly 
dry  in  the  ordinary  shop  bottles.  H.  Schweikert  agrees  with  the 
above,  but  objects  to  the  long  exposure  of  the  extracts ;  by  the  aid  of 
a  steam-bath  the  extracts  are  thoroughly  dried  in  a  few  hours. 
