Am.  J  our  Pharm.  ) 
Oct.  1875.  J 
The  Utilization  of  Old  Corks. 
467 
be  sustained,  unless  a  watchful  eye  and  a  close  surveillance  be  Kept 
over  every  little  detail. 
I  purpose  in  this  paper  to  offer  a  few  hints,  in  a  brief  way,  upon  the 
subject  of  economy  in  corks. 
There  is  in  every  drug  store  a  vast  quantity  of  corks  which,  being 
soiled  through  use,  are  daily  thrown  away  ;  these  might  be  saved,  and, 
by  the  proper  treatment,  be  reclaimed  and  utilized. 
Old  citrate  corks,  old  prescription  corks,  and,  in  fact,  old  corks  of 
every  description,  are  constantly  coming  into  the  hands  of  the  pharma- 
cist, and  are  often  cast  aside. 
To  prevent  this  waste  I  here  present  the  plan  which  for  some  time 
I  have  adopted. 
I  have  a  drawer  behind  my  dispensing  counter,  in  which  are  thrown 
all  old  corks  that  are  unfit  to  replace  in  bottles,  rejecting,  of  course, 
all  corks  taken  from  bottles  that  have  contained  substances  of  a 
greasy  nature  or  of  unpleasant  odor,  and  after  a  sufficient  number 
hive  accumulated  I  put  them  into  hot  water,  soak  them  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  then  wash  them  well  with  several  portions  of 
clean  water,  place  them  in  a  salt  mouth  bottle  or  other  suitable 
vessel,  and  pour  upon  them  sufficient  of  a  mixture  consisting  of  one 
part  of  muriatic  acid  and  fifteen  parts  of  hot  water.  They  should  then 
be  set  aside  and  allowed  to  stand  in  this  mixture  for  a  few  hours,  with 
occasional  agitation.  They  should  then  be  removed  from  the  liquid, 
thoroughly  washed  in  clean  water,  and  put  away  to  dry,  when  they  will 
be  found  to  be  almost  as  white  and  fresh  looking  as  though  they  had 
never  been  used.  Those  which  are  sound  and  unbroken  may  be  picked 
out,  and  will  be  found  good  enough  to  use  for  almost  any  purpose. 
The  rest  may  be  selected  according  to  quality  and  appearance,  and  used 
for  such  purposes  as  the  judgment  of  the  pharmacist  may  dictate.  The 
worst  can  be  placed  in  bottles  which  are  used  for  small  sales,  and  will 
obviate  the  use  of  new  corks.  Some  that  are  broken,  and  present  a 
ragged  or  rough  surface,  may  be  trimmed  off  and  improved  very  much 
in  appearance  by  the  judicious  use  of  a  sharp  knife. 
I  would  here  state  that  corks  that  have  been  taken  from  bottles 
which  have  contained  poisonous  substances  should  not  be  saved  for 
subjection  to  this  process  ;  although  I  think  that  the  thorough  wash- 
ing and  the  soaking  in  the  acid  mixture  would  so  thoroughly  cleanse 
and  purify  them  as  to  generally  free  them  from  all  ordinary  poisonous 
contamination. 
