EDITORIAL. 
383 
chief interest in the success of the Messrs. Tilden's experiment, is not 
that it may prove a successful speculation, however favorable we may- 
be to them in this regard ; but it is that the question of the alleged de- 
teriorating influence of our climate and soil on European narcotics, 
when grown here, may be fairly tested, and if not true, that our phy- 
sicians may have the advantages arising from their home culture. 
Calcined Magnesia. — Several attempts have been made in this 
city to produce a magnesia similar in qualities to that of th& Henrys, 
of Manchester, Eng. Onr attention has been called to the subject by 
the reception of a bottle of " Husband's" magnesia and one of "Ellis's" 
magnesia, from their manufacturers, Thomas J. Husband and Charles 
Ellis & Co. The former is known to the public, the latter is 
just being introduced. They are put up in bottles in shape like Henry's, 
with the maker's names on them. 
We are sensible that it is no easy task to give a fair and correct judg- 
ment in such a case,; our opiuion will be drawn from a comparison 
of the following data: Density, suspensibility in water, readiness of 
solubility in dilute acids, absence of carbonic acid, absence of iron, 
loss of weight by heat, smoothness in a dry state, and smoothness 
when mixed with water. 
The real density of the three specimens, as ascertained by weighing 
100 grs. of each in a 1000 gr. bottle filled with ether, sp. grav. .740, 
was 3.333, but their apparent density was quite different, owing to 
the varying molecular condition of the magnesia. When equal 
weights are put into dry test tubes and shaken down equally, Henry's 
occupies the least space, Husband's rather more, and Ellis's considera- 
bly more. When an equal weight of each is mixed with fifteen times 
its weight of water in a test tube, and well shaken, Henry's settles 
the soonest, Husband's next and Ellis's last, and after standing half 
an hour, the relative space occupied by the three was Henry's 2, Hus- 
band's 3 and Ellis's 5. Ellis's being the least dense, is more readily 
suspended in water, and makes a more lasting mixture than either of 
the others. 
When an equal quantity of muriatic acid is added to each test tube 
containing magnesia and distilled water, and shaken at the same mo- 
ment, Ellis's dissolves the quickest, Husband's almost as soon, whilst 
Henry's requires twice the time of Ellis's. When a few particles of 
each magnesia is pressed on different parts of a piece of moist red- 
dened litmus paper, quite neutral, and left for a minute, the blue color 
is fully restored by Ellis's and Husband's, whilst Henry's hardly 
changes the shade. When taken into the mouth there is a perceptible 
difference between the specimens. Henry's at once diffuses itself in 
the saliva without any other than the mechanical impression of the 
