370 
Laboratory  Notes, 
(  Am.  Jotje.  Pharm. 
t     Aug.  1, 1871. 
gum  arabic.  The  latter  property  may,  however,  be  given  by  the 
addition  of  a  small  quancity  of  molasses  ;  and  thus  prepared,  the  mu- 
cilage will  be  found  quite  acceptable,  and,  certainly,  cheap  enough. 
While  speaking  of  tincture  of  myrrh,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
allude  to  a  plan  for  its  preparation  which  was  proposed  by  an  Ameri- 
can pharmaceutist,  and  which  has,  to  some  extent,  come  into  use.  It 
consists  in  forming  an  emulsion  of  the  drug  with  hot  water,  and 
mixing  this  with  alcohol.  The  resulting  tincture  is  .deep-colored  and 
quite  thick,  conveying  the  vulgar  idea  of  strength.  Strong  it  is,  but 
not  in  arom.a,  or  fragrant  resin.  The  practice  cannot  be  discounten- 
anced too  strongly,  as  not  only  is  the  preparation  quite  different  from 
what  the  Pharmacopoeia  requires,  but  the  product  is  a  sticky  abomi- 
nation. 
Adulteration  of  Lard. — Some  time  ago,  the  stock  of  prepared  lard 
being  exhausted,  a  quantity  was  procured  from  a  respectable  pork- 
dealer.  It  was  beautifully  white  ;  so  much  so,  that  the  writer  was  led 
to  question  his  ability  to  produce  anything  equal  to  it.  The  first  trial 
was  in  preparing  ointment  of  nitrate  of  mercury.  The  color,  when 
the  mercurial  solution  was  added,  was  the  reverse  of  citrine,  indeed, 
decidedly  santurnine,  developing  in  a  short  time  to  a  full  slate  color. 
Surprised  at  this  unprecedented  result,  the  usual  precautions  having 
been  taken  as  to  temperature,  etc.,  the  lard  was  .suspected,  and,  on 
examination,  was  found  to  contain  a  large  proportion  of  lime.  Some 
time  after,  being  in  conversation  with  a  lard-renderer,  a  hint  was 
dropped  as  to  the  relation  of  lime  to  color,  when  the  information  was 
confidentially  imparted  that  a  common  practice  among  lard-dealers 
was  to  mix  from  two  to  five  per  cent,  of  milk  of  lime  with  the  melted 
lard.  A  soponaceous  compound  is  formed,  which  is  npt  only  pearly 
white,  but  will  allow  of  the  stirring  in,  during  cooling,  of  25  per  cent, 
of  water.    So  much  for  appearances. 
Extract  of  Vanilla. — The  pods  are  commonly  recommended  to  be 
rubbed  up  with  sugar.  A  plan  we  have  adopted  gives  more  satisfac- 
tory results.  The  pods  are  first  cut  into  short  lengths  with  a  pair  of 
shears,  and  are  then  ground,  or  pounded,  with  the  addition  of  a 
liberal  amount  of  clean,  broken  glass  (old  bottles).  The  powder  may 
be  made  of  almost  any  degree  of  fineness,  and  the  ground  glass  assists 
materially  in  the  percolation.  Fifty  pounds  of  vanilla  may  be  com- 
pletely exhausted  by  twenty  gallons  of  spirit. — Canadian  Pharmaceu- 
tical Journal.,  April,  1871. 
