90 
EDITORIAL. 
in a drying room, constructed for the purpose where a temperature of about 
115° Fahr. is maintained. Most of the roots are dried in this way, after 
being sliced. 
The Society have three double presses in constant operation, and occa- 
sionally use two others. Each of these is capable of pressing 100 lbs. 
daily, although of some kinds of material which require but little time "to 
set," three times this quantity can be packed. 
We were shown into the evaporating room where the vacuum apparatus 
is stationed. This consists of a globular copper vessel supported on cast 
iron columns attached to the floor, about the size of an ordinary sugar va- 
cuum pan. The bottom is jacketted for applying steam heat, whilst 
there is an interior false top extending from the sides up nearly to the man- 
hole at top, which prevents the vapor which may condense on the interior 
of the proper top from falling back into the bowl of the evaporator. They 
at present, have no steam engine, but use a peculiar arrangement for ex- 
hausting the air from the pan, which consists in attaching the condensing 
vessel to a vertical tube 30 or 40 feet high, in which a column of water is 
constantly and rapidly descending, the effect of which is to produce a 
constant suction, of sufficient force to keep the evaporater sufficiently ex- 
hausted. As the apparatus was not in operation during our visit, we had 
no opportunity of observing the condition of the barometer guage. The wa- 
ter used for this purpose is derived from a small dam fed by mountain 
springs in the higher portion of their demesne. 
In our last communication we stated, what we believed to be true, that 
the " Society " had adopted the vacuum pan in their extract manufacture 
to compete with their neighbors Messrs. Tilden, who, we believe, preceded 
them in its employment, not intending to infer that they would not have adopt- 
ed it, had the idea been suggested in any other way, as appears to have been 
understood by Mr. Fowler and his friends, who feel themselves called upon 
to " deny the insinuation that no other motive was sufficient to induce the 
improvement ; as not a member of our community had the least knowledge 
that medical extracts had ever been manufactured in America by that pro- 
cess at the time our apparatus was built. We knew that the imported ex- 
tracts were generally esteemed as superior to many if not all the American, 
and feeling desirous of having our articles right, we adopted the vacuum pan 
as a necessary item by the recommendation of several members of the New 
York College of Pharmacy, whom we consulted on the occasion." 
Mr. Fowler informs us that the amount of extracts manufactured at their 
establishment annually was about six or eight thousand pounds, but since 
their improvements in apparatus and manipulations, this amount has been 
greatly increased, and the quality improved. Extract of taraxacum is in 
the greatest demand, their product in this article amounting the past year 
to 3700 pounds. Ccnium, hyoscyamus, and belladonna class next. They 
do not cultivate conium, but collect that of spontaneous growth, believing 
it to be more active. Belladonna and hyoscyamus, especially the latter, re- 
