540 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES. 
ject  of  much  pharmaceutical  interest,  well- authenticated  samples 
of  wax  should  be  sent  to  Mr.  Davies  for  examination,  and  that 
he  should  be  requested  to  continue  his  inquiries  so  as  to  report 
on  the  subject  at  a  future  meeting  of  the  Conference. — Proc» 
Brit.  Pharm,  Conf,^  in  Lond.  Pharm.  Journ.^  Sept.  24,  1870. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES. 
By  Albert  E.  Ebert. 
Not  the  least  duty  of  the  pharmacist,  though  one  more  hon- 
ored in  the  breach  than  the  observance,  is  his  obligation  to  com- 
municate to  his  fellows  of  the  craft  such  improvements  in  manip- 
ulation, in  apparatus,  and  in  the  convenient  arrangement  of  his 
shop,  as  his  every-day  experience  behind  the  counter  must  occa- 
sionally suggest.  How  much  practical,  desirable  information  is 
hid, under  a  bushel  by  this  sin  of  omission,  we  can  only  conjec- 
ture ;  but  if  the  thousands  would  communicate  their  personal 
experience,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  valuabe  fund  of  useful 
knowledge  would  accumulate.  The  following  suggestions  are 
made  with  no  great  claim  for  their  originality  or  importance ; 
but,  since  they  are  based  upon  actual  experience,  they  may  be 
of  utility  to  others  as  they  have  been  to  us. 
Test  tubes,  indispensable  for  their  legitimate  purpose,  will 
often  answer  another  useful  end.  For  effecting  solutions  of 
small  quantities  of  the  alkaline  or  metallic  salts,  especially  when 
the  solvent  is  of  a  viscid  nature,  we  have  found  the  test  tube  a 
valuable  auxiliary — more  convenient  in  use  than  the  mortar,  less 
wasteful,  and  effecting  the  solution  with  greater  despatch.  We 
proceed  by  dropping  the  salt  into  the  tube,  adding  a  portion  of 
the  vehicle,  and  applying  heat,  with  constant  shaking  of  the 
tube.  Solution  quickly  follows,  the  warm  liquid  is  added  to  the 
remainder  of  the  vehicle,  previously  placed  in  the  vial,  and  the 
whole  is  mixed  by  agitation. 
Of  course,  the  dispenser  will  see  that  this  method  of  procedure 
is  not  applicable  where  the  quantity  of  the  salt  exceeds  its  solu- 
bility in  the  whole  liquid  at  ordinary  temperatures,  as  crystalli- 
zation would  occur.  This  relation  of  salt  to  solvent  is  often  met 
with,  and  then  the  only  resort  is  to  the  mortar,  in  which  the  salt 
