234 ON THE PREPARATION OP KERMES MINERAL. 
reference to the practical points in its manufacture, which 
have engaged our honorable associate. 
Since Legerie made known to Simon, an apothecary of 
the Carthusian friars, the powder, the composition of which 
he himself had derived from a pupil of Glauber, the celeb- 
rity of kermes was acquired by the marvellous cases 
of cures of the most hopeless diseases of the chest, which 
followed its use. The secret of the composition of kermes 
was bought in 1720, by Philip of Orleans, then Regent of 
France, and published by order of the King. On this oc- 
casion a discussion on the priority of the discovery arose in 
favour of Lemery, who had mentioned a product obtained 
by means of sulphuret of antimony in powder, and oleum 
tartari per deliquium. Ths^t which is authentic in regard 
to the origin of kermes and its introduction into practice, is, 
that it was the process sold by Legerie, and printed in the 
Codex which was followed for a long time, confirming the 
high reputation of its product, by the uniformity of its medi- 
cal effects. 
According to the particular notices of different authors 
who have written on the preparation of kermes, very 
numerous modifications have been introduced in the first 
formula. It has resulted, that the products corresponding 
to these modifications, and called kermes, are more or less 
different in their medical properties, from the Carthusian 
powder. This state of things has been jemarked, and gave 
rise to a fear that the original [heroic] medicine had been 
lost. 
"It was with the intention of doing away with the uncer- 
tainties in the preparation of kermes, that Cluzel undertook 
a series of experiments, full of interest, on these mixtures, 
varying in nature and proportion, and that he published a 
formula (Annales de Chimie t. Ixiii,) to which he at- 
tributes the desirable advantage of furnishing a product 
gifted with the most beautiful physical characters, and con- 
stant physiological effects. 
