240  Calomel  in  Japan. 
ashes,  a  wooden  back  is  put  in  above  the  table,  as  shown  in  the 
Figures.  There  is  also  a  wooden  hood  and  flue  above  the  stoke-hole 
to  carry  off  any  smoke ;  this  is  not  shown  in  the  Figures,  but  is 
similar  to  those  put  up  in  England  and  elsewhere  over  the  working 
doors  of  furnaces  to  protect  the  workman  from  arsenic,  sulphur,  or 
other  noxious  fumes.  The  heating  is  so  well  effected  that  the  pots, 
two  feet  above  the  burning  logs,  are  made  sufficiently  hot,  barely 
red-hot  at  the  bottom,  and  yet  the  wooden  frame  on  the  outside  of 
the  furnace  is  not  charred,  and  the  workroom  is  not  unpleasantly 
warm. 
About  three  bundles,  or  40  pounds,  of  wood  serve  for  one  firings 
and  it  is  remarkable  to  see  so  little  fuel  working  so  many  pots. 
Of  the  Working. — A  compost  of  burnt  mitsnchi  with  about  a  fourth 
of  its  weight  of  bay-salt  is  made  up  with  bittern  into  lumps  the  size 
of  large  chestnuts. 
The  furnace  being  hot  enough,  the  mitsuchi  surface  of  the  table  is 
once  for  all  freely  wetted  by  a  watering-pot,  perhaps  half  a  gallon 
of  water  being  used,  all  of  which  is  absorbed ;  a  lump  or  two  of 
compost  is  dropped,  by  tongs  or  by  hand,  into  each  pot  in  rapid 
succession,  a  very  small  spoonful  of  mercury  poured  into  each  pot, 
the  total  charge  for  the  60  pots  b  eing  somewhat  less  than  one  pound 
avoirdupois  (more  exactly  five-sixths  of  a  pound),  and  a  clay  cup, 
bottom  up,  placed  over  each  pot  and  adjusted  by  gently  pressing 
and  turning  it  round  slightly.  The  cup  is  thus  made  to  fit  neatly 
on  the  earthen  top  without  adhering  to  it  in  the  least.  The  cups 
are  thick  and  unglazed,  but  become  very  smooth  inside  by  use. 
They  have  an  inside  diameter  at  the  mouth  of  six  inches  and  a  depth 
of  three  inches. 
Thus  arranged,  the  pots  and  cups  are  left  for  three  hours,  and 
during  the  latter  part  of  this  time  the  furnace  is  cooling.  When 
cool  enough  each  cup  is  lifted  in  turn,  and  with  two  turns  of  a 
feather,  the  keifun  or  calomel,  which  fills  it  in  the  form  of  a  spark- 
ling network  of  delicate  crystalline  scales,  is  transferred  to  a  sheet 
of  paper  held  under  it,  and  the  cup,  mouth  downwards,  placed  on  a 
shelf ,  of  the  furnace  ready  for  use  in  the  next  operation. 
The  calomel,  it  will  thus  be  seen,  forms  no  adherent  cake  in  the 
cup,  but  particles  only  loosely  hanging  together.  So  obtained,  it  is 
ready  for  the  market,  needing  only  to  be  packed  in  small  wooden 
boxes  for  sale. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
i         May,  1894. 
