390  Contributions  from  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  etc.  {AmseJPT(r'I87h6arm' 
sold  as  Precipitated  Sulphur,  or  Lac  Sulphur — the  distinction  between 
these  terms  which  the  law  has  enforced  in  Great  Britain  not  being 
regarded  here. 
No.  i  contained  43*6  p.  c.  of  calcium  sulphate. 
No.  2       "        25-9    "  "  " 
No.  3  was  free  from  calcium  sulphate. 
No.  4    "    "      cc       ct  u 
No.  5  contained  47*7  p.  c.  of  calcium  sulphate. 
No.  6       "       47.3    "  "  " 
No.  7       "       46-2   "  cc  " 
INo.  8       u       237    "  "  " 
No  arsenic,  no  free  sulphuric  acid  and  no  other  impurity,  save  a 
third  of  a  per  cent,  of  silicate  in  Nos.  3  and  4,  was  found  in  any  of 
the  samples. 
Evidently  six  of  the  eight  specimens  were  manufactured  by  precipi- 
tating the  lime  solution  with  sulphuric  instead  of  hydrochloric  acid  (a 
process  having  older  than  centennial  authority1  )  and,  therefore,  repre- 
sent that  useful  article  (having  all  the  virtues  of  sulphur  in  a  more 
eligible  form,  etc.)  which  our  better  regulated  British  cousins  in  phar- 
macy are  permitted  by  their  rigorous  magistrates  to  sell  as  milk  of  sul- 
phur, but  not  as  precipitated  sulphur. 
VIII.    Analysis  of  six  nostrums  sold  as  Ague-cures.     By  O.  L.  Churchill,  Ph. C. 
Five  of  these  articles  were  found  to  contain  one  or  more  of  the  cin- 
chona alkaloids  (chiefly  the  cheaper  alkaloid) ;  the  remaining  one  con- 
tained no  alkaloid.     None  contained  arsenic,  strychnia,  or  mercury. 
The  quantitative  determination  of  the  alkaloids,  from  well  known  dif- 
ficulties, is  presented  as  only  approximate.  The  following  was  the 
general  plan  of  separation,  modified  in  several  particulars  as  found 
necessary  for  each  mixture.  From  a  weighed  portion  of  the  mixture, 
the  alcohol,  if  any,  was  evaporated  ;  the  residue  diluted  with  acidified 
water  and  filtered  (more  than  once  if  need  be) ;  the  filtrate  precipitated 
by  a  slight  excess  of  caustic  soda  ;  in  most  cases,  the  precipitate  dis- 
solved in  acidified  water,  the  solution  concentrated  and  dissolved  with 
strong  alcohol,  the  filtrate  evaporated  and  the  residue  dissolved  with 
water.  Care  was  taken  to  avoid  loss,  by  well  washing  the  residues  of 
extraneous  matter,  and  not  washing  the  precipitates  of  alkaloids  at  all 
1  "  The  London  Pharmsecopoeia"  of  1720. 
