66 
COLD WATER AS A SOLVENT OF DRUGS. 
rially changed. To guard against these changes and to preserve 
the solubility of the extractive matter, I introduced in 1818, the 
form of Liquor, or inspissated cold infusion, evaporating the cold 
infusion at a temperature not exceeding 160°, to the specific gravity 
of 1200, and afterwards, to preserve this liquid extract from de- 
composition, adding to it as much rectified spirit as will reduce 
the specific gravity to 1100. 
These liquors, of which I have prepared about twenty kinds, 
have been largely employed for many years, and the constant de- 
mand for them may be offered as evidence of the satisfaction they 
have given, of which satisfaction I have also received from all 
quarters the most ample assurance. 
Believing then confidentally that cold water is capable of pro- 
ducing the most elegant and useful preparations of vegetable sub- 
stances, I am very anxious to impress on you the conviction to 
which I have been led by the constant superintendence of the ope- 
rations of the laboratory, conducted under my own eye, and most- 
ly by my own hands. 
Should this form of medicine hereafter be adopted into the 
Pharmacopoeia, it will be found that though the process is ex- 
tremely simple, much care and attention are necessary to produce 
the proper result. Above all, the evaporation should be conduct- 
ed at a temperature not exceeding 160, and continued until the 
specific gravity reaches 1200, in order to secure the same uniform- 
ity in the result, which is obtained by reducing the extract to pilu- 
lar consistence. The evaporation of the infusions to a definite 
quantity would have a very different result ; for one sample of a 
drug will often yield to water two or three times as much as ano- 
ther. — Phar. Journal and Trans. Sept. 1, 1850. 
ON THE INCOMPATIBILITIES OF IODINE AND IODIDE OF 
POTASSIUM. 
By M. Dorvault. 
M. Dorvault believes that an enumeration of the chief sub- 
stances with which iodine is compatible may be of service. Among 
the metalloids, chlorine, bromine, sulphur, and phosphorus, and 
