ALUMINA  AS  AN  INGREDIENT  OP  SOAPS. 
85 
On  the  value  of  extract  of  meat,  as  a  medicinal  substance,  it  is 
unnecessary  to  say  a  word,  it  being  identical  with  beef-tea, 
about  the  usefulness  and  efficacy  of  which  opinions  do  not  diflfer. 
At  the  same  time,  I  may  remark  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  think 
that  beef-tea  contains  any  albumen — that  there  ought  to  be  any 
gelatine  or  drops  of  fat  to  swim  on  its  surface.  Beef-tea  does 
not  contain  any  albumen,  and,  if  rightly  prepared,  ought  to  be 
free  from  gelatin  (or  glue),  whilst  the  supernatant  drops  of  fat 
form  a  non-essential  and,-  for  many,  an  unwelcome  addition. 
I  should  be  glad  if  these  lines  could  assist  in  clearing  up  pub- 
lic opinion  on  the  value  of  extract  of  meat  as  a  nutriment ;  my 
aim  being,  on  the  one  hand,  to  reduce  to  their  right  limit  hopes 
too  sanguine ;  on  the  other,  to  point  out  the  true  share  which 
the  extract  of  meat  can  have  in  the  nutrition  of  the  people  of 
Europe.  In  doing  this,  I  know  full  well  that  whatever  may  be 
said  for  its  recommendation  would  be  in  vain,  if  the  extract  of 
meat  did  not  supply  a  public  and  generally-felt  necessity,  and 
if  it  could  not  stand  the  test  of  our  natural  instinct — a  judge 
not  to  be  bribed. — Lond.  Pharm.  Journ.,  Dec.  1,  1865,  from 
The  Lancet. 
ALUMINA  AS  AN  INGREDIENT  OF  SOAPS. 
Soaps  intended  for  toilet  use  ought  not  to  contain  any  free 
alkali,  seeing  that  free  alkali  exercises  a  corrosive  action  upon 
the  skin.  Soaps,  however,  which  are  perfectly  neutral,  contain- 
ing no  alkali  which  is  not  combined  with  the  stearic  or  other 
fatty  acid  employed,  are  not  nearly  such  powerful  detergents  as 
soaps  containing  an  excess  of  alkali — are  not  nearly  so  capable 
of  dissolving  the  substances  which  it  is  the  office  of  soap,  when 
applied  to  the  body,  to  remove  from  the  skin.  Singular  to  say, 
M.  Bonnamy,  a  manufacturing  chemist  resident  at  Saint-Ger- 
main, has  found  that  if  that  very  neutral  substance,  pure  alu- 
mina, be  added  to  completely  neutral  soap,  the  soap  becomes 
even  more  powerfully  detersive  than  the  most  highly  alkaline 
soap,  while  remaining  entirely  free  from  corrosive  properties. 
The  alumina  may  be  introduced  into  the  soap  in  various  ways, 
the  most  advantageous  perhaps  being  the  use,  in  the  process  of 
manufacturing  the  soap,  of  an  alkaline  salt  of  alumina,  as  alu- 
