MISCELLANY. 
159 
this base performs a great part in the action of the medicine, he still 
does not think that its presence is entirely useless ; and, in endeavor- 
ing to form with arsenic a new salt possessing febrifuge properties, he 
was naturally led to the employment of quinine. — Load. Chemist , from 
Journ. de Chim. Med. 
On the distilled Waters of the Pharmacopoeia. By Robert Warington, 
Esq. — This paper consists of an examination of the medicated waters 
of the Pharmacopoeias of this country, prepared either by distillation or 
through the medium of carbonate of magnesia, and was commenced in 
consequence of a fact noticed by the author, that water containing a 
very small quantity of spirit became acid by long exposure to the air. 
On experiment it was found that many of the distilled waters under- 
went the same change, and evidently from the small quantity of spirit 
ordered to be introduced, as other portions of the same waters, to which 
no spirit had been added, did not in any case undergo this change. 
Many of the foreign Pharmacopoeias also direct the simple distillation 
of the material with w r ater without any spirit. In the instances where 
carbonate of magnesia is employed, the author proves that its action is 
only mechanical, to subdivide the oily particles, and thus expose a 
greatly extended surface to the solvent action of the water. It is also 
shown experimentally, that of all substances carbonate of magnesia is 
about the worst that can be employed ; and this arises not from its form- 
ing soluble compounds with the oily acids, as is generally supposed, 
but from its being dissolved to an injurious extent in the distilled water 
employed : he therefore proposes the substitution of the Cornish por- 
celain clay, finely powdered silica, glass or pumice stone, as a medium 
for the mechanical subdivision of the essential oil. — London Chem. Gaz. 
On Musk in Emulsions. By Dr. Hauln, of Lahr. — We have found in 
one of the last numbers of the Archives of Pharmacy, of Hanover, a note 
from Dr. Hauln, relative to a point in practical Pharmacy to which at- 
tention has already been called, but which may be, with utility, re- 
peated here. It relates to the nearly complete disappearance of the 
odor of musk in preparations where this substance is associated, either 
with syrup of almonds or cherry laurel w T ater. The knowledge of this 
peculiarity is important, especially to physicians, who without a cog- 
nizance of this fact will be led to the impression that the quantity of 
musk directed in a prescription had not been introduced. 
This fact was noticed, as we have said, for the first time by M. Hauln ; 
since then by M. Soubeiran, and more recently yet by M. Faure, of 
Bordeaux. The last has been conducted on this subject to some in- 
teresting observations. He has ascertained that almond syrup only 
