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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
and whitish. This change in the fracture does not indicate any 
impurity in the chocolate, but is owing to the temperature 
which causes an alteration in the arrangement of the particles. 
We may be convinced of this fact by taking a portion with a 
rough fracture, exposing it to a temperature sufficient to render 
it soft, placing it in a mould, and, when partially hardened, sub- 
mitting it to a low temperature ; it will be found, when per- 
fectly cold, to present a smooth and shining fracture. 
A. Chevalier. — Journ. de Chim. Med. 
ART, XXII.— BI-MECONATE OF MORPHIA. By P. Squire, Esq. 
Mr. P. Squire, impressed with the idea that the combination 
of the active principle of opium, as prepared by Nature, 
would prove more beneficial as a therapeutic agent than the 
artificial salts, instituted a number of experiments, with the 
view of procuring the bi-meconate of morphia as free of the 
other ingredients of opium as possible. He has at length 
succeeded in obtaining a tolerably pure salt, which, from the 
trials which have been made of it, has fully answered his ex- 
pectations, as to its superior medicinal power over the other 
preparations of opium. This salt is given in solution, made 
nearly of the strength of the common laudanum. 
Dr. Macleod, who, at the request of Mr, Squire, made trial 
of this salt, in his letter to that gentleman thus expresses him- 
self: "It appears to me a very mild and efficient preparation, 
rarely producing headach or other discomfort. It has repeated- 
ly answered, in the most satisfactory manner, where opium had 
disagreed, and has succeeded in some cases where the other 
salts of morphia (the acetate and hydrochlorate) had failed to 
give relief. 
Mr. Henry Brandon details, in a letter to Mr. Squire, his 
own case, in which the superiority of this preparation is evi- 
denced . He says, iC I have been a martyr to a spasmodic affec- 
