370  Pharmaceutical  Notes.  {^"^'^S^il^o'"^' 
Rytiphloe  purpura  of  Agarth.  These  algae,  says  M.  Venot,  are  very 
abundant  on  the  Arcachon  breeding-grounds  and  cause  considerable 
loss  to  the  cultivators,  as  they  attach  themselves  to  the  valves  of  the 
young  oysters  and  often  carry  these  away.  The  spores  furnish  the 
animals  with  a  very  abundant^  but  highly-colored  food.  The  molluscs 
assimilate  the  coloring  matter,  which  is  preserved,  more  or  less  modi- 
fied, in  the  lobes  of  the  mantle  and  the  branchial  plates  when  the  sea- 
water  is  not  sufficiently  diluted  by  rain  to  dissolve  the  dye.  A  year  or 
two  ago  the  whole  basin  of  Arcachon  was  subject  to  extreme  drought, 
and  hence  the  violet  color  and  peculiar  taste  of  the  oysters. — ^our. 
App.  Sc.^  April,  1880,  p.  45. 
PHARMACEUICAL  NOTES. 
By  R.  F.  Fairthorne,  Ph.G. 
Jrtificial  Congress  Water, — So  many  receipts  for  making  artificial 
spring  waters  are  constantly  published  in  the  pharmaceutical  journals 
that  it  may,  at  first  sight,  appear  superfluous  to  offer  another,  still  most 
of  the  formulas  for  making  a  representative  of  Congress  Saratoga 
Water  hitherto  given  are  mere  imitations  of  that  celebrated  water,  con- 
taining perhaps  only  two  or  three  of  the  principal  ingredients,  and,  in 
some  instances,  introducing  in  considerable  proportion  substances  that 
do  not  exist  in  it  naturally.  I  would  therefore  offer  the  following, 
which  includes  all  the  constituents  of  the  true  water  in  the  proportions 
in  which  they  are  found,  according  to  the  analysis  of  a  celebrated 
chemist;  or,  more  properly  speaking,  the  quantities  of  each  ingredient 
are  such  that  by  double  decomposition  the  proper  proportions  will  be 
produced,  namely: 
Bicarbonate  of  sodium,  .  •314  grains 
Precipitated  chalk,  .  .  85 
Calcined  magnesia,       .  .  .24 
Nitrate  of  strontia,  .  .  i 
Sulphate  of  manganese,  .  .  2 
Sulphate  of  iron,    .  .  .  i 
Sulphate  of  potassium,  .  .  .  ig- 
Nitric  acid,  ...  1 
Carbonate  of  potassium,  .  .18 
Chloride  of  sodium,  .  .  44 
Bromide  of  sodium,      .  .  .2 
Iodide  of  sodium,  .  .  3 
Alum,  .  .  .  .  2j 
Carbonate  of  lithia,  .  .  8 
Solution  of  silicate  soda,  .  .  3 
Muriatic  acid,  sufficient  quantity. 
Carbonic  acid  water,  " 
