ON  PREPARING  RED  OXIDE  OF  MERCURY  OINTMENT.  363 
"  The  amount  of  acidity  is  equal  only  to  that  in  the  cane-juice. 
The  color  of  the  dissolved  concrete  is  superior  to  that  of  the 
juice  left  after  the  first  crystallization  in  sugar  works,  and  the 
sugar  beetle,  we  believe,  does  not  appear. 
"  No  wonder  that  the  Governor  of  Antigua  should  have  said 
to  Mr.  Fryer,  at  a  large  public  and  enthusiastic  meeting,  6 1  be- 
lieve firmly  that  you  have  opened  a  new  era  of  prosperity  to  our 
colonies,  and  heartily  wish  you  abundant  success  in  the  course 
on  which  you  have  entered.' 
H  It  seems  true,  and  it  is  wonderful,  that  whilst  we  have  been 
complaining  so  long  in  our  sugar  colonies,  we,  and  the  rest  of 
the  world,  should  have  been  spoiling  one-third  of  our  sugar. 
Mr.  Fryer  estimates  the  increased  value  of  the  produce  treated 
by  his  system  to  be  equal  to  £4t  per  hogshead.  We  need  not 
give  a  description  of  the  evaporator,  which  consists  of  very  shal- 
low vessels  connected  in  series  and  the  use  of  heated  air." — 
Chemical  News,  London,  June  30,  1865. 
ON  A  BETTER  MODE  OF  PREPARING  RED  OXIDE  OF  MER- 
CURY OINTMENT  FOR  APPLICATION  IN  CERTAIN  CUTA- 
NEOUS DISEASES. 
By  Alex.  Balmanno  Squire,  M.  B.,  etc. 
Having  had  frequent  occasion  to  make  use  of  ointments  con- 
taining the  red  oxide  of  mercury  in  the  treatment  of  chronic 
disease  of  the  skin,  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  activity  of  that 
ingredient  might  be  greatly  increased  by  its  being  prepared  in 
a  different  manner  to  that  directed  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia. 
On  making  trial  of  my  new  preparation,  I  found  it  not  only 
more  pleasant  to  the  patient,  but  decidedly  more  efficient  as  a 
remedy. 
My  original  opinion  has  now  been  confirmed  by  a  pretty  exten- 
sive use  of  both  preparations,  and  as  a  revised  edition  of  the 
Pharmacopoeia  is  expected  shortly,  and  the  remedy  is  one  of 
extensive  use,  I  have  thought  the  subject  worthy  of  the  attention 
of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society. 
It  will  be  well,  in  the  first  place,  to  review  the  modes  in  which 
