302 TARTRATE OF POXASSA AND MAGNESIA. 
ART. LX.— ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE TARTRATE OF 
POTASSA AND MAGNESIA, AND THE ACETATE OF MAG- 
NESIA AS PURGATIVES. 
The Journal de Pharmacie for April, 1848, contains a 
long report on the above subject, by MM. Guerard and 
Garot, on two communications sent to the Society of Phar- 
macy, at Paris, by M. Maiilier and M. Renault, 
r The former proposes the salt obtained by saturating cream 
of tartar in solution with ordinary carbonate of magnesia, 
under the name of Tartrate of Potassaand Magnesia, in the 
form of a solution like that of the citrate. 30 parts of cream 
of tartar, Si parts of carbonate of magnesia, and 700 parts 
of boiling water, are heated together till a solutionis formed, 
which is aromatized and sweetened. 
The reporters observe that they repeated the formula ac- 
cording to the conditions indicated, and obtained a limpid 
liquid, having a decidedly saline taste, which is like that of 
the neutral tartrate of potassa, and it is only owing to the 
large amount of water of dilution that it is diminished in 
disagreeableness compared with other vegetable salts. 
They find that the borotartrate of potassa, (the soluble 
cream of tartar of the French,) when similarly treated, yields 
a much more tasteless solution, and propose the following 
formula : 
Soluble cream of tartar, of the Codex . . 1.00 
Carbonate of magnesia . . . .24 
Water ...... 6.00 
The soluble cream of tartar is dissolved in the water in 
a silver basin saturated with magnesia, and evaporated care- 
fully till the liquid was reduced to a tenacious paste, which 
is divided into little masses, and dried in a stove. 
It presents the form of greyish-white masses, uniform un- 
