CORK  AND  ITS  USES. 
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giving  a  deep  tint  to  half  a  pint  of  water.  The  quantity  of 
liq.  potassse  best  adapted  for  each  gum  resin  will  be  found  to 
be  as  follows  : — 
Aloes.       .  .1  part  to  15  liq.  potassae. 
.  1  «  4  " 
.1  «  10  « 
.1  «  10 
.  1  «  7  « 
.1  «10  « 
News  from  Year  Booh  of  Pharmacy, 
Ammoniacum 
Assafoetida 
Catechu 
Guaiacum  . 
Opium 
Chev 
COKK  AND  ITS  USES. 
By  John  E.  Jackson. 
Amongst  the  many  materials  or  productions  in  use  in  every- 
day life,  cork  may  certainly  take  a  position  in  the  foremost  rank. 
We  all  know  something  of  cork  ;  from  our  earliest  childhood  we 
have  been  familiar  with  it.  It  is  a  substance  that  has  retained 
all  its  ancient  uses,  as  well  as  its  importance  and  value,  from  its 
earliest  history  down  to  our  own  day.  Unlike  most  other  things, 
it  has  not,  even  in  this  age  of  application  and  invention,  found 
a  rival.  True  it  is  we  have  "corky  "  substances  in  abundance, 
produced  in  almost  every  country  ;  but  neither  the  productions 
of  nature  nor  the  productions  of  mechanical  skill  have  produced 
an  efficient  substitute  for  cork,  one  that  could  take  the  place  of 
this  valuable  bark,  or  even  go  side  by  side  with  it. 
Considering  the  great  quantity  of  cork  that  is  consumed  even 
in  this  country  alone,  as  well  as  the  great  amount  that  is  wasted, 
the  quantity  of  bark  annually  stripped  in  the  cork-forests  is  an 
operation  of  no  little  importance.  The  slight  value  many  indi- 
viduals place  upon  cork,  on  the  whole,  does  not  lead  us  in  the 
least  degree  to  estimate  its  real  importance,  which,  in  a  com- 
mercial point  of  view,  is  of  no  trifling  nature. 
There  must  needs  be  a  large  quantity  imported ;  for  amongst 
wine  merchants,  bottled-beer  merchants,  or  soda-water  makers, 
a  cork  is  never  used  a  second  time  ;  but  then  what  an  immense 
bulk  would  go  to  make  up  a  ton  of  cork,  and  yet  it  is  by  weight 
that  the  imports  are  estimated.    There  is  an  immense  consump- 
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