334 
PREPARATION  OF  PHYSOSTIGMIN. 
druggist  to  3,505  of  the  population.  If  the  same  proportions 
exist  throughout  the  country,  we  should  thus  get  5,700  as  the 
number  of  chemists  and  druggists  for  England  and  Wales.  We 
may  put  them  at  6,000,  and  then  we  should  have  equal  numbers 
of  principals  and  assistants  or  apprentices,  of  20  years  of  age 
and  upwards.  • 
Referring  back  to  the  census  returns  of  1851,  we  find  that  the 
total  number  of  chemists  and  druggists,  including  apprentices 
and  assistants,  was  then  14,039,  of  whom  3,193  were  under 
20  years  of  age,  leaving  10,8 16  of  and  above  that  age.  The 
increase  in  the  number  of  chemists  in  the  10  years  from  1851 
to  180 1,  taking  those  of  20  years  of  age  and  upwards,  has  been 
at  the  rate  of  17  per  cent.,  while  the  increase  in  the  population 
has  been  at  the  rate  of  only  12  per  cent.  This  is  worthy  of 
remark,  especially  as  it  appears  that  little  or  no  increase  has 
taken  place  in  the  clas3  of  medical  practitioners.  According 
to  the  returns,  physicians,  surgeons,  and  other  medical  men, 
including  slu  lents  and  assistants,  were  19,190  in  1851,  and  they 
were  only  19,548  in  1861. — American  Druggist's  Circular, 
June,  1861, 
PBEPARATION  OF  PHYSOSTIGMIN. 
By  Jobst  &  Hesse. 
J.  Jobst  and  O.  Hesse,  in  a  paper  on  "  The  Calabar  Bean/' 
in  the  Annalen  der  Chemie  una1  Pharm.,  describe  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  powerfully  poisonous  principle,  (which  they  have 
found  only  in  the  cotyledons  of  the  bean,)  from  the  strong  alco- 
holic extract,  as  follows  : 
"  The  extract  is  dissolved  in  a  little  cold  water,  and  calcined 
magnesia  is  added  until  its  acid  reaction  disappears,  and  a 
brown  color  is  produced.  The  liquid  is  then  evaporated  by 
gentle  warmth,  nearly  to  dryness,  when  the  residue,  still  moist, 
is  placed  upon  white  filtering  paper,  and  agitated  in  a  suitable 
vessel  with  ether,  until  the  brown  color  of  the  paper  entirely 
vanishes,  and  the  ethereal  liquid  ceases  to  yield  the  alkaloid 
with  acids.  The  collected  ethereal  solutions  are  then  filtered 
and  agitated  with  a  few  drops  of  very  dilute  sulphuric  acid, 
whereupon  they  separate  into  two  liquids,  the  upper  one  of 
