Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Mar.,  1882.  j 
Editorial. 
143 
begin  with  than  to  allow  it  to  hydrate  as  pulv.  rhei  comp. ;  4,  that  the 
hydration  of  the  magnesia  is  the  principal  cause  of  the  non-miscibility  ; 
and  5,  that  rhubarbs  are  important  factors  in  producing  non-miscibility, 
but  less  so  than  magnesia. 
Mr.  Mackenzie  directed  attention  to  the  well-known  fact,  which  is  how- 
ever frequently  overlooked,  that  such  powders  are  easily  mixed  with  a 
very  small  quantity  of  water,  after  which  the  remainder  of  the  water  may 
be  added.  The  addition  of  a  small  proportion  of  ponderous  carbonate  of 
magnesium  had  been  found  very  advantageous. 
Mr.  Gilmour  also  spoke  of  syrup  of  protochloride  of  iron  recently  intro- 
duced in  Edinburgh  ;  it  contains  2  grains  of  the  salt  to  the  drachm  (see  also 
page  129). 
At  the  Pharmaceutical  meeting  held  February  1,  a  valuable  collection 
of  specimens  of  the  materia  medica  of  Madagascar  was  presented  by  Dr. 
Parker,  physician  to  the  queen  of  that  island,  and  was  commented  upon 
by  Mr.  Holmes,  Dr.  Parker  and  Mr.  Baker,  of  the  Royal  Herbarium,  Kew.^\ 
Many  of  the  specimens  were  from  species  hitherto  unknown,  and  a  num- 
ber  of  them  appear  to  be  deserving  of  further  investigation. 
A  paper  was  read  by  M.  Mitchell  Bird  on  the  amount  of  iodine  present 
in  codliver  oil.  5,000  grains  of  oil  were  saponified  with  alcoholic  solution 
of  potassa,  the  soap  was  incinerated  in  a  crucible,  the  residue  exhausted 
with  water,  the  filtrate  concentrated,  then  acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid, 
filtered  from  the  potassium  sulphate  and  the  liquid  mixed  with  a  few  drojDS 
of  potassium  nitrite  and  an  t^xcess  of  starch  liquor.  These  mixtures  were 
compared  with  solutions  of  potassium  iodide  of  known  strength,  treated 
with  the  reagents  indicated.  It  was  ascertained  that  10,000  parts  of  the 
oil  contained  the  following  amounts  of  iodine  calculated  as  potassium 
iodide :  pale  Norwegian  oil  '21  and  "18,  light  brown  Norwegian  '16,  pule 
Newfoundland  '12,  light  brown  Newfoundland  '14  parts.  The  amount  of 
iodine  yielded  was  in  inverse  proportion  to  their  sensitiveness  to  cold. 
While  all  samples  contained  iodine,  its  amount  was  not  at  all  approaching 
•05  per  cent.,  as  has  been  stated  by  some  authors. 
A  paper  on  iodine-yielding  algce^  by  James  Wheeler,  was  also  read  (see 
page  124). 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
Legislation  in  West  Vircunta.— The  objectionable  bill  before  the 
Liegislature  of  West  Virginia,  which  in  some  of  its  provisions  was  strenu- 
ously objected  to  by  the  Pharmaceutical  Association  of  that  State  (see  p. 
92  of  February  number),  was  defeated  in  the  Senate  on  Feb.  20,  it  being 
indefinitely  postponed  by  a  vote  of  16  to  6. 
Rai'id  Preparation  of  Mercuriae  Ointment.— An  old  druggist  of 
Philadelphia  writes  that  the  solution  of  this  question  is  a  small  quantity 
of  spermaceti  rubbed  up  in  a  warm  mortar  with  mercury,  when  the  glob- 
ules of  the  latter  will  disappear  in  less  than  five  minutes. 
