Am.  Jour  Fharm. 
Nov.,  1880. 
Indexing  for  Pharmacists, 
541 
saponification.  Soap  thus  made,  after  a  few  days  is  as  hard  and  dry  as^ 
that  article  generally  is  when  several  years  old  when  made  in  the  usual 
manner. 
A  Substitute  for  Neutral  Mixture  can  be  made  by  placing  the  solid 
ingredients  employed  in  making  the  solution  of  citrate  of  potassium  in  a 
mortar  and  rubbing  them  together  with  a  small  quantity  of  Fresh  lemon 
peel,  adding  the  water  and  straining  through  muslin.  To  each  ounce 
of  the  solution  5  grains  of  sugar  are  added. 
This  forms  an  agreeable  substitute  for  neutral  mixture,  quite  as 
pleasant  and  efficient  and  more  uniform  in  strength.  The  small  amount 
of  sugar  added  increases  its  resemblance  to  that  made  from  the  lemon 
juice. 
Syrup  of  Orange  PeeL — If  two  fluidounces  of  a  tincture  of  sweet 
orange  peel,  prepared  in  the  same  manner  and  of  the  same  strength  as 
the  officinal  tincture  of  bitter  orange  peel,  are  mixed  with  fourteen 
fluidounces  of  simple  syrup,  a  syrup  is  formed  that  is  equally  pleasant 
in  tasie  and  appearance  to  that  made  by  the  formula  of  the  U.  S.  Phar- 
macopoeia, containing  about  the  same  amount  of  alcohol,  and  free  from 
the  objection  that  may  be  made  to  that  preparation  on  account  of  the 
presence  of  a  small  amount  of  magnesia,  thereby  rendering  it  incom- 
patible with  solutions  containing  alkaloidal  and  metallic  salts. 
INDEXING  FOR  PHARMACISTS. 
By  Chas.  Dyer  Chase,  Ph.G. 
Few  pharmacists  know  or  appreciate  the  value  of  indexing  ;  it  is 
the  best  artificial  memory  known,  and  is  useful  in  every  trade  and  pro- 
fession. It  is  common  for  men  of  affairs  :  lawyers,  editors,  statesmen 
and  literateurs  to  have  some  system  of  indexing,  although  they  vary 
in  their  methods. 
This  subject  is  one  that  has  interested  me  for  a  number  of  years. 
I  have  tried  one  system  after  another,  and  finally  settled  upon  the  card 
index  as  combining  in  itself  note-book,  scrap-book,  formula-book  and 
index  all  in  one.  This  is  the  system  that  is  used  by  the  large  libraries 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe  in  cataloguing  their  books,  and  is  the  one 
spoken  of  by  Mr.  Hans  M.  Wilder  in  his  too  short  article  in  the 
''Journal  of  Pharmacy"  for  May,  1877.  Perhaps  some  have  never 
seen  a  card  index,  so  I  will  simply  say  that  mine  is  made  of  a  good 
