Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
July  1, 1874.  J 
Preparations  of  Phosphorus. 
ganate  of  zinc  is  obtained  by  concentrating  the  solution  cautiously. 
It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  a  troublesome  and  wasteful  process  ;  but  I 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  find  one  to  replace  it  with  advantage.  To 
neutralize  permanganic  acid  with  carbonate  of  zinc  sounds  easy,  but 
this  acid  has  an  unpleasant  habit  of  exploding  when  prepared  in  the 
usual  way  from  the  permanganate  of  potash.  A  modification,  also, 
of  the  process  for  making  this  last-named  salt  has  not  given  me  satis- 
factory results. 
Permanganate  of  zinc  is  a  dark-red  crystalline  powder,  similar  in 
its  general  properties  to  the  potash  salt.  The  maximum  strength  in 
which  I  have  have  heard  of  its  administration  is  one  grain  to  an  ounce 
of  water.  Linen  dipped  into  a  solution  of  this  strength  is  stained 
pink  ;  but  the  color  fades  within  five  minutes  to  a  light-brown,  hardly 
perceptible. 
The  report  to  which  I  have  already  alluded  contains  a  pathetic 
account  of  how  some  manufacturer  imported  into  Prussia,  under  the 
name  of  permanganate  of  zinc,  a  preparation  which  turned  out  to  be 
sulphate  of  zinc  colored  with  permanganate  of  potash.  I  find  by  ex- 
periment that  a  mixture  of  one  part  of  powdered  sulphate  of  zinc  with 
two  parts  of  permanganate  of  potash  makes  an  excellent  imitation  of 
the  zinc  salt,  although  a  few  drops  of  a  solution  of  chloride  of  barium 
expose  the  fraud  at  once.  I  mention  the  above  simple  test  in  case 
the  same  manufacturer  favors  English  pharmacists  also  with  some 
specimens  of  his  ingenuity.  Permanganate  of  zinc  being  at  present 
sold  at  twelve  times  the  price  of  the  potash-salt,  the  motive  of  the 
substitution  is  sufficiently  obvious. — The  Chemist  and  Druggist  [Lon- 
don'], May  15,  1874.  
SOME  NEW  PREPARATIONS  OF  PHOSPHORUS  WITH  GENERAL 
REMARKS  AS  TO  THEIR  THERAPEUTICAL  VALUE. 
By  Dr.  Routh. 
In  a  paper  read  before  the  Medical  Society  of  London,  April  27, 
1874,  the  author  stated  that  this  was  a  corollary  to  his  former  com- 
munication on  "  Overwork  and  Premature  Mental  Decay."  He  then 
had  mainly  spoken  of  two  preparations  of  phosphorus,  viz.,  the  solu- 
tio  phosphori  medicati,  a  solution  of  phosphorus  in  almond  oil,  with  a 
little  mucilage  and  essential  oil  of  the  strength  of  one-sixth  of  a  grain 
of  phosphorus  to  the  drachm  ;  and  the  phosphide  of  zinc,  both  used 
21 
