^""fICX"""'}  Substitute  for  Chiretta.  71 
the  German  Furnace,  Germany,  West  Virginia  ;  at  the  Hope  Furnace^ 
Mason  City,  West  Virginia  ;  at  the  Snow  Hill  Furnace,  Kanahwa, 
West  Virginia. 
The  basin  of  the  Ohio  is  eight  miles  wide,  and  on  it  are  located 
the  above-named  furnaces.  From  the  bittern  of  this  district,  and  not 
from  any  other,  can  pure  bromine  be  made  at  a  price  that  will  com- 
pare with  present  rates,  as  you  are  aware  the  manufacturers  at  Saginaw 
river  and  other  Western  points  have  suspended  operations  and  torn 
down  their  factories. 
"  The  Kanahwa  basin  is  a  continuation  of  the  Ohio  basin,  dipping 
with  the  coal  in  an  easterly  direction.  In  the  manufacture  we  boil  the 
bittern  (or  refuse  water  after  extracting  the  salt)  in  iron  pans,  then 
transfer  it  to  stone  or  fire-clay  stills  and  treat  it  with  sulphuric  acid, 
chlorate  of  potash  or  manganese,  and  by  means  of  coolers  and  other 
apparatus  extract  the  bromine. 
When  in  full  operation  there  are  : 
4  factories  producing  say  75,000  pounds  per  year. 
I  factory  25,000  " 
I      "  "  15,000        "  " 
I  "  "      7,000  " 
4  factories      "  "  100,000        "  " 
It  is  likely  that  next  year  these  factories  will  not  be  worked 
up  to  more  than  one-half  or  two-thirds  capacity,  on  account  of  over- 
production of  salt." 
Present  prices  are  very  low  for  bromine  and  its  preparations,  and 
manufacturers  have  had  only  unsatisfactory  results  for  some  time  past. 
When  we  consider  the  current  quotations  for  bromine  and  bromides, 
and  contrast  them  with  the  rates  of  ten  or  fifteen  years  agos  we  have 
a  very  good  illustration  of  domestic  competition  reducing  profits  to 
mere  nominal  figures.  At  present,  bromine  and  the  preparations  of 
bromine  are  selling  at  very  little  advance  over  cost. 
ON  A  DRUG  SUBSTITUTED  FOR  CHIRETTA  [OPHELIA  CHIRATA, 
GRISEBACH). 
BY   PROFESSOR  BENTLEY. 
Honorary  Member  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain. 
A  few  days  since  a  sample  of  Chiretta  was  forwarded  to  me  by  a 
well-known  wholesale  firm  in  London,  stating  that  its  genuineness  had 
