♦ 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Jan.,  1875.  r 
Os  Sepice. 
»  PRACTICAL  NOTES. 
BY  HANS  M.  WILDER. 
Harmless  Face  Powder. — The  apothecaries  in  Copenhagen  (Denmark), 
have  agreed  on  the  following  two  compositions  as  substitutes  for  the 
numerous,  generally  poisonous,  fashionable  face  powders  : 
White. 
Oxide  of  zinc,         ......  30  grms. 
Wheat  starch,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    250  " 
Oil  of  rose,  .......  3  drops. 
Red. 
Carmine,    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .1  grm. 
Carbon,  of  magnesia,  4  grms. 
Approximative  Estimation  of  the  Strength  of  very  small  quantities  of 
Alcohol. — It  being  sometimes  desirable  to  know  (at  least  approxima- 
tively)  the  strength  of  very  small  quantities  of  alcohol.  Prof.  C.  T. 
Barford,  Copenhagen,  recommends  to  moisten  small  slips  of  filtering 
paper  thoroughly  with  the  alcohol,  and  put  fire  to  them.  When,  after 
the  alcohol  has  burned  out,  the  paper  slips  catches  fire  readily,  then  the 
alcohol  must  be  stronger  than  80  per  cent.  ;  if  the  paper  barely  catches 
fire,  the  strength  may  be  presumed  to  be  between  75  to  80  per  cent.  \ 
if  it  does  not  catch  fire  at  all,  the  alcohol  cannot  be  stronger  than  73- 
75  per  cent.  The  rationale  is  simply  this  :  The  small  percentage  of 
water  existing  in  strong  alcohol  vaporizes  by  the  heat  of  the  burning 
alcohol,  and  consequently  leaves  the  paper  dry.  Alcohol  of  73  per 
cent,  or  weaker,  leaves  the  paper  damp. 
It  will  be  seen  that  in  this  way  the  strength  of  even  five  drops  of 
alcohol  may  be  estimated. 
Philadelphia,  December  jth,  1874. 
OS  SEPI^. 
BY  THOMAS  S    WIEGAND,  PH.  G. 
There  are  many  among  those  who  daily  handle,  and  even  sell  the 
common  cuttle-fish  bone,  as  it  is  ordinarily  termed,  who  would  be  quite 
surprised  to  learn  that  it  is  not  a  bone  at  all,  at  least  in  the  same  sense 
that  the  term  bone  is  used  in  speaking  of  the  vertebrate  animals,  the 
