ON THE STRONG DECOCTION OF ZITTMAN. 51 
ART. X, — ON THE STRONG DECOCTION OF ZITTMAN. 
By A. Wiggers. 
This remedy has been several times, as is known, the ob- 
ject of chemical investigation; sometimes mercury has been 
detected, and at others has not been found in it. The in- 
solubility of the mercurial preparations employed in its pre- 
paration, (calomel and cinnabar,) appear to have rendered this 
last result most probable. Their addition has even been re- 
garded as absurd, and they have accordingly been excluded 
from the preparation. 
To determine whether this decoction does or does not 
contain mercury in solution, M. Wiggers has made the fol- 
lowing experiment: 
He prepared it according to the last Prussian Pharmaco- 
poeia, which is generally followed in Germany in obtaining 
this medicine. The ebullition was accomplished in a glass 
matrass. By filtering the liquid through a triple filter of 
thick paper, he obtained it so clear that it was not possible to 
admit the presence of any mercurial combination by means 
of mechanical suspension. He mixed four pounds of this de- 
coction with a proportionate quantity of nitric acid, then he 
boiled the mixture until reduced to near two ounces; he con- 
tinued the ebullition with the residue by frequently adding 
nitric acid, until the acid exhibited no more action and he 
had destroyed, as far as possible, the organic matters. After 
the evaporation had been pushed as far as could be done, he 
endeavored, by the reiterated addition of hydrochloric acid, 
and elevation of temperature, to decompose and drive off all 
the nitric acid. He finally diluted the mass with water, fil- 
tered and saturated it with sulphuretted hydrogen. He thus 
obtained a light, brownish-yellow precipitate. When this 
precipitate was collected and washed, boiling nitric acid ap- 
peared to have little action upon it, but it was immediately 
dissolved by the addition of a small quantity of hydrochloric 
acid, by allowing the separation of a little sulphur. All the 
