328 
LOUISIANA  ROCK  SALT 
Tincture  of  Cinchona, 
Compound  Tincture  of  Cinchona. 
These  tinctures  were  prepared  according  to  the  U.  S.  Pharma- 
copoeia, with  the  exception  that  a  fluidounce  of  Glycerin  was 
substituted  for  a  fluidounce  of  water  in  each  pint  of  the  men- 
struum used. 
The  resulting  preparations  did  not  differ  in  appearance  or  sen- 
sible properties  from  the  officinal  tinctures,  and  up  to  this  time, 
now  some  three  months,  have  not  shown  any  disposition  to  pre- 
cipitate cinchonic  red,  remaining  perfectly  clear  and  bright. 
This  experiment  is  not  decisive,  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
the  addition  of  this  quantity  of  Glycerin  to  these  tinctures  is 
beneficial. — Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1865. 
LOUISIANA  BOOK  SALT. 
The  New  Orleans  Times  of  a  recent  date  has  the  following 
interesting  account  of  the  wonderful  deposits  of  salt  on  Petite 
Anse  Island : — 
Perhaps  the  purest  and  most  important  natural  deposit  of  salt 
in  the  world  is  that  found  on  our  coast,  at  Petite  Anse  Island. 
This  deposit  was  referred  to  in  French's  44  Historical  Recollec- 
tions of  Louisiana."  He  quotes  from  the  papers  left  by  an 
English  voyager  who  visited  the  Mississippi,  or,  as  it  was  then 
spelt,  Mechacebe,  in  1698 — 99. 
Strange  as  it  may  appear,  all  knowledge  of  this  salt  mine 
was  lost  among  our  people  till  after  the  commencement  of  the 
recent  war.  At  that  time  the  residents  of  the  interior,  who 
were  unable  to  procure  a  supply  of  salt  otherwise,  resorted 
thither  for  the  purpose  of  boiling  down  the  briny  waters  which 
gurgled  from  the  base  of  the  island  elevation.  This,  after  some 
investigations  and  experiments  in  well-boring,  resulted  in  the 
discovery  of  the  fact  that  a  great  portion  of  the  island,  with  the 
exception  of  an  upper  layer  of  earth,  was  a  complete  crystal 
mass  of  salt.  The  island  was  the  property  of  Hon.  D.  D. 
Avery,  and  its  value  in  the  then  condition  of  the  Southern 
States  was  regarded  as  incalculable.  For  two  years,  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  trans-Mississippi  was  supplied  from  this  mine,  no 
