74 
SULPHUR.ET OF ARSENICUM AS A DEPILATORY. 
Conine is a very alterable substance and resinifies by the action of 
the air; the ordinary product of its oxydation is butyric acid, which 
is obtained from it in various ways, — by boiling a solution of the 
chloroplatinaie, by acting upon it w r ith an excess of bromine and 
evaporating in the product in vacuo, by chromic and nitric acids, 
etc. According to M. Gerhardt the reaction will be as follows 
C 8 H 15 N + 2H 2 + 2 = 2C 4 H 8 5 + NH 3 . 
Mr. Blyth supposes a simultaneous formation of carbonic acid 
which his formula demands. — American Journal of Science and 
Arts, Sept. 1850. 
ON THE USE OF SULPHURET OF ARSENICUM AS A DEPILATORY. 
By M. Felix Boudet. 
The numerous cases of poisoning in which arsenic has been used 
caused the legislature, in 1845 and 1846, to impose certain restric- 
tions upon the sale of this substance. In the latter year, a royal or- 
donnance interdicted under severe penalties, 
1st. The sale of arsenic and its compounds for other purposes 
than its use in medicine, unless in combination with other sub- 
stances. 
2d. The sale and use of arsenic and its compounds for the steep- 
ing of grain, the embalming of bodies, and the destruction of in- 
sects. 
In consequence of these wise measures, the retail sale of arseni- 
ous acid has been suppressed, and this terrible poison, which not 
long since was in the hands of every agriculturist, is no longer en- 
trusted to such hands. Science has bestow T ed a great benefit in 
depriving the perpetrators of crime of this formidable weapon. But 
there are other arsenical products almost equal in power to ar- 
senious acid, which are still in use, such as the sulphurets of ar- 
senic. 
One of these, under the name of orpin, is used in ^a particular 
process for preparing sheep-skins. This is not orpiment, as its 
name would seem to indicate, but artificial or false realgar, which, 
according to Guibourt, contains one-and-a-half per cent, of arseni- 
ous acid, and is a tolerably active poison. 
The other, under the name of yellow sulphuret of arsenic, enters 
