264 
DECOMPOSITION  OF  IODIDE  OP  MERCURY. 
popular  demand  being  far  below  the  possibilities  of  the  case,  we 
can  no  more  blame  the  deficiency  upon  the  manufacturer  or  upon 
the  pharmaceutist  than  upon  the  physicians  or  consumers  them- 
selves. 
It  is  the  misfortune  of  almost  every  good  thing  to  be  damaged 
by  our  zealous  advocates,  and  it  happens  that,  owing  to  the  ex- 
istence of  the  sect  of  so-called  Eclectic  physicians,  who  seem  to 
have  founded  their  system  of  practice  upon  the  narrow  idea  that 
a  medicine  must  be  of  vegetable  origin^  and  even  that  it  must 
have  grown  on  American  soil,  to  merit  their  approval,  the  true 
importance  of  many  of  our  indigenous  remedies  has  gained 
ground  but  slowly.  The  empirical  processes  of  the  Eclectic 
manufacturers,  by  which  the  attempt  is  made  to  reduce  all  the 
indigenous  remedies  to  a  uniform  form  of  preparation,  unwar- 
ranted by  a  scientific  appreciation  of  their  varied  composition, 
has  also  stood  much  in  the  way  of  their  reputation.  Many  of 
the  so-called  concentrated  remedies  are  far  from  representing 
the  drugs  from  which  they  were  obtained  ;  and  any  estimate  of 
the  therapeutic  value  of  those  drugs  founded  upon  experiments 
with  the  Eclectic  resinoid  principles  obtained  from  them,  is  lia- 
ble to  mislead  in  regard  to  their  real  use  and  adaptations. 
We  believe  that  with  scientific  pharmaceutists  mainly  rests 
the  work  of  bringing  the  numerous  American  drugs  which  are 
readily  obtainable,  and  many  of  foreign  origin  which  are  capa- 
ble of  easy  propagation  on  our  own  soil,  to  a  fair  trial  upon 
their  merits ;  and  we  would  suggest  that  every  eifort  in  this  direc- 
tion is  not  only  a  good  business  move,  but  tends  directly  to  pro- 
mote the  prosperity  and  independence  of  our  own  country,  and 
to  diffuse  its  rich  and  useful  productions  throughout  the  world. 
— Am.  Drug  Circular, 
ON  THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  IODIDE  OF  MERCURY. 
By  H.  Rose  * 
Iodide  of  mercury  is  very  easily  decomposed  by  cyanide  of 
potassium.  To  estimate  the  mercury  in  the  iodide  the  following 
process  may  be  adopted.  The  cyanide  of  potassium  is  first  rub- 
bed in  a  mortar  with  twice  its  weight  of  quicklime.  A  little 
carbonate  of  magnesia  is  then  placed  in  a  tube  closed  at  one  end ; 
*Poggendorff  s  Annalen,  bd.  cxviii.,  s.  165  ;  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Chi- 
mique,  January,  1864,  p.  25. 
