EDITORIAL. 
383 
quotation  from  their  circular,  viz.  :  "  We  originated  the  class  of  extracts  pos- 
sessing the  form  of  dense  clear  solutions,  credit  for  which  is  given  us  in  the 
Journal  of  Pharmacy,  for  Jan.,  1856,"  &c.  The  remarks  upon  which  this 
assertion  is  based  is  as  follows  : — "  A  peculiarity  of  these  extracts  is  that 
they  all  contain  20  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  as  the  means  of  preservation, 
whether  made  with  that  menstruum  or  not."  "  They  may  therefore  be  look- 
ed upon  as  concentrated  tinctures,  with  about  half  the  usual  proportion  of 
alcohol  found  in  that  class  of  medicines."  Long  before  we  had  seen  these 
preparations  we  had  published  recipes  for  alcoholic  fluid  extracts,  as  those 
of  valerian,  buchu,  cimicifuga,  etc. 
The  particular  samples  sent  to  us  on  this  occasion,  are  the  fluid  extracts 
of  Conium,  Podophyllum,  Jugland,  Scillse,  Cinchona  and  Ipecac.  So  far  as 
a  careful  inspection  of  their  sensible  properties  goes,  we  believe  them  to  be 
excellent  in  quality.  In  the  podophyllum  there  is,  after  standing  a  month, 
some  light  brown  sediment,  supposed  to  be  resin  ;  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  a  menstruum  so  slightly  alcoholic  will  retain  this  important  ingre- 
dient in  solution,  unless  aided  by  an  alkali.  The  ipecac  is  so  strongly 
marked  in  odor  as  to  be  readily  recognised  by  smell  alone.  The  butternut 
has  the  pungency  of  the  bark  well  defined,  and  the  conium  possesses  the 
peculiar  odor  of  the  recently  dried  plant,  without  any  mousey  smell  of  conia. 
The  squill  is  a  reddish-brown,  thin,  syrupy  liquid,  owing  its  consistence  al- 
most entirely  to  the  soluble  matter  of  the  drug,  and  is  a  beautiful  prepara- 
tion. The  extract  of  calisaya  bark  differs  from  that  made  by  Mr.  Taylor's 
formula  in  being  transparent,  it  containing  both  sugar  and  alcohol;  yet  we 
observe  a  resinous  looking  deposit,  showing  that  despite  the  alcohol,  the 
cinchonic  red  will,  as  in  the  simple  tincture,  be  slowly  deposited. 
We  have  some  views  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  manufacturing  pharmacy, 
that  might  be  well  brought  in  here,  but  space  and  time  admonish  us  to 
seek  another  occasion. 
The  Library  and  Museum  of  the  Philadelphia  College  op  Pharmacy. 
— Many  of  our  readers  are  aware  that  in  the  night  following  the  9th  of 
March  last,  the  Hall  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  was  fired  by 
an  incendiary,  in  the  lower  hall,  by  igniting  a  mass  of  scientific  journals 
gathered  from  the  tables,  which  he  had  piled  up  against  one  of  the  cabinet 
eases.  Fortunately  the  alarm  was  given  early,  but  not  until  the  entire 
contents  of  one  of  the  cases  was  destroyed,  and  about  half  of  another  case 
including  nearly  all  of  the  rare  and  valuable  specimens  from  Dr.  Royle, 
brought  from  London  by  Ellis  Yarnall,  Esq.,  of  this  city,  and  which  were 
from  the  East  India  Company's  contribution  to  the  great  exhibition  of  1851. 
The  library,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  suffered  severely  in  the  de- 
struction of  binding,  and  about  fifty  volumes  accidentally  in  one  of  the  cabi- 
net cases  were  totally  destroyed.  The  fire  was  entirely  confined  to  the 
room  where  it  originated,  and  owing  to  the  judicious  use  of  water  by  the  fire- 
men, the  destruction  of  property,  and  especially  of  the  books,  was  compara- 
tively small.    The  heat  was  so  intense  as  to  blister  the  paint  in  all  parts  of 
