246 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  PURE  SILVER. 
frequently  drug  and  chemical,  sometimes  all  three.  Since  the 
nature  of  the  business  is  equally  well  understood  by  the  public 
in  either  case,  the  sign  being  less  important  than  the  appearance 
of  the  front  window  and  of  the  shelving  and  show  cases  within, 
it  becomes  a  matter  of  choice  with  each  individual  how  he  will 
designate  his  business  on  his  sign,  his  business  cards,  his  labels, 
or  in  his  advertisements.  Acting  on  this  principle  I  have  selected 
the  name  "Pharmacy"  to  designate  my  place  of  business.  I 
find  it  convenient,  brief  and  sufficiently  distinctive,  though  liable 
to  these  apparent  objections.  The  term  Pharmacy  is  applied  in 
a  general  way  to  the  science  and  art  which  we  practice,  and  the 
use  now  proposed  for  it  is  such  as  to  give  it  a  direction  to  the 
place  in  which  we  practice  it.  Moreover,  my  treatise  on 
Pharmacy  is  commonly  called  among  booksellers  "  Parrish's 
Pharmacy;"  my  store  has  the  same  appellation.  These  objec- 
tions should  be  considered,  however,  in  connection  with  the 
acknowledged  flexibility  of  language,  and  the  fact  that  the  con- 
nection in  which  the  word  is  used  greatly  modifies  its  accepted 
meaning.  During  the  several  years  that  I  have  applied  it  in 
that  way  it  has  served  me  a  good  purpose.  As  differently 
spelled,  (Pharmacie,)  it  serves  the  whole  French  nation  for  the 
same  use,  and  I  believe  if  it  were  generally  adopted  it  would 
be  like  some  other  things  we  have  borrowed  from  France,  an 
improvement.- — Proe.  Am.  Pharm.  Association,  1866. 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  PURE  SILYER. 
By  Professor  J.  S.  Stas. 
(Concluded  from  page  168.) 
Second  Method. — This  method  furnishes  it  easily  and  more 
promptly  than  any  other  known  way ;  it  has  the  special  advan- 
tage of  giving  it  in  a  state  of  rare  purity.  I  will  describe  it  in 
detail,  as  I  am  convinced  that  it  would  be  useful  in  laboratories 
and  in  the  workshops  of  the  Mint  for  the  preparation  of  assay 
metal  or  standard  silver.  . 
It  is  based  upon  the  complete  reduction  which  ammoniacal 
solutions  of  silver  compounds  undergo  when  added  to  ammoniacal 
