Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ") 
Jan.  2, 1871.  J 
Manufacture  of  Iodine,  etc. 
31 
Prepared  opium,  called  "  ya-pieu-kao,"  is  generally  composed  of 
foreign  and  native  drug  boiled  down,  and  often  largely  adulterated  by 
an  admixture  of  various  glutinous  substances,  and  amongst  the  rest 
by  a  decoction  of  the  berries  of  a  leguminous  tree  called  the  huai- 
shu,"  which  grows  abundantly  in  the  province. 
Before  concluding,  I  may  give  a  few  figures  showing  the  imports 
and  consumption  of  opium  in  the  United  Kingdom.   Opium  imported 
and  use(J  in  this  country : 
Imports.  Consumption, 
lb.  lb. 
1830,    .       .       .    209,076  .  .  .  22,668 
1845,    .       .       .    259,644  .  .  .  38,229 
1850,     .       .       .    126,318  .  .  .  42,324 
1855,     .       .       .     50,143  .  .  .  34,473 
1860,     .       .       .    210,867  .  .  .  112,795 
1865,    .       .       .    401,571  .  .  .  225,571 
The  Board  of  Trade  returns  for  the  last  two  years  are,  of  course, 
not  yet  issued. 
The  largely  increased  imports  and  consumption,  unless  a  greater 
home  stock  is  held,  would  give  ground  to  the  opinion  that  opium  is 
-beginning  to  be  used  somewhat  extensively  for  other  than  medicinal 
|)urposes. 
In  1858  we  imported  but  82,085  lb.,  and  retained  for  consumption 
77,639  lb.  In  1868  we  imported  (nearly  all  from  Turkey)  322,309 
lb.  and  re-exported  123,965  lb.,  thus  leaving  198,344  lb.  for  home 
consumption.  The  reshipments  are  principally  to  Holland,  the  United 
States,  New  Granada  and  the  West  Indies.  In  the  latter  countries 
it  is  evidently  destined  for  consumption  by  the  Chinese. — Pharm. 
Journ,,  Lond.,  Nov.  5,  1870. 
MANUFACTURE    OF  IODINE  FROM    THE  SO-CALLED  CHILI 
SALTPETRE  (NITRATE    OF  SODA.) 
By  Dr.  A.  Lachmann. 
The  author  states  that  at  Tarapaca,  Peru,  there  are  now  obtained 
about  40  kilos,  of  iodine  daily  by  means  of  a  process  which  is  de- 
scribed as  follows  : — The  mother- liquors  from  the  refining  of  the  crude 
nitrate  of  soda  are  carefully  mixed  with  a  mixture  of  sulphurous  acid 
and  bisulphite  of  soda,  whereby  all  the  iodine  present  in  the  liquor  is 
