Am.  Jour,  Pharm. ) 
Nov.  1875.  J 
Emulsifiea, 
EMULSIFIER. 
BY  CHAS.   F.  HARTWIG. 
This  is  the  age  vulgarly  called  "  time  is  money, 
and  much  brain  force  is  constantly  expended  to  re- 
duce the  fleeting  hours  to  a  practical  basis,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  gathering  the  "  golden  ducats." 
Steam  and  electricity  have  been  the  great  levers  by 
which  "  old  time  "  has  been  much  ruffled  in  his  slow- 
gait,  and  there  are  now  but  few  vocations  of  every- 
day life  in  which  these  motive  powers  have  not  been 
utilized,  and  by  which  the  muscular  force  formerly 
expended  has  been  reserved  for  more  useful  applica- 
tion in  the  arts  and  manufacture  as  well  as  in  science. 
Pharmacy  being  both  an  art  and  a  science,  and  one 
of  the  most  foremost  in  working  and  pointing  out 
-tr^^^^^  methods  and  processes  that  are  practical  and  valuable 
to  the  progress  of  the  human  race,  has,  however,  for  itself  done  but  little 
to  facilitate  and  expedite  the  numerous  manipulations  and  operations  in 
constant  use  in  extemporaneous  pharmacy.  WTien  we  take  a  retro- 
spect, say  of  half  a  century  or  more,  we  find,  with  but  little  modifica- 
tion, the  same  "  working  tools  "  in  use  by  the  pharmacist  of  the  present 
day  as  of  that  period.  These  consisting  of  apparatus,  instruments  and 
utensils,  as,  e.  g,  the  mortars  and  pestles,  scales  and  balances,  weights 
and  measures,  pill  machines  and  tiles,  funnels,  etc.  ;  and,  no  doubt,  the 
same  directions  and  rules  as  laid  down  by  the  early  writers  on  phar- 
macy, govern  the  uses  of  these  pharmacal  implements,  and  the  same 
ancient  precepts  are  taught  and  held  fast,  and  are  strictly  observed  by 
disciples  of  the  profession  of  the  present  day,  as  they  were  in  the  days 
gone  by.  Some  diversity  of  opinion  occasionally  springs  up  in  the 
discussions  and  writings  on  the  application  of  some  principle  of  man- 
ipulation, pertaining  to  some  extemporaneous  or  galenical  preparation  y 
and,  it  is  curious  as  well  as  edifying,  to  see  with  what  fervor  each  party 
advocates  the  advantages  to  be  gained  in  following  the  particular  direc- 
tions and  methods  as  laid  down  by  them,  when,  in  reality,  both  parties 
are  correct,  and  each  has  solved  the  problem  equally  well ;  although 
they  may  have  followed  different  processes,  the  same  identical  ultimate 
result  has  been  obtained.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  many  rivulets 
may  have  but  one  basin  of  supply.   To  illustrate  our  subject,  it  is  only 
