Am.  lour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1880. 
Chemical  Notes, 
545 
In  the  third  style  contractions  are  employed  to  the  utmost  extent 
consistent  with  legibility,  and  the  majority  of  the  vowels  and  silent 
consonants  are  omitted. 
It  is  designed  for  use  in  all  cases  where  legibility  is  secondary  to 
the  saving  of  time  and  labor,  as  in  copying  letters,  in  making  abstracts 
of  and  quotations  from  works  read,  in  rough-sketching  business  and 
literary  papers,  and  in  taking  notes  of  testimony,  lectures,  sermons, 
etc.,"  and  saves  about  fifty  per  cent,  in  time.     Example  : 
Sm  bks  rtb  tstd  5  os  tb  swld,  &sm  fw  tb  chwd  &  dgstd  ;  tts,  sm  bks  rtb  i  d  -nly  i 
prts,  OS  tb  rd  bt  n  crsly  5  &sm  fw  tb  rd  whly  &w  dlge  &  -tn. — Bacon. 
Some  books  are  to  be  tasted  5  others  to  be  swallowed,  and  some  few  to  be  chewed 
and  digested  5  that  is,  some  books  are  to  be  read  only  in  parts;  others  to  be  read 
but  not  curiously,  and  some  few  to  be  read  wholly  and  with  diligence  and  attention. 
—  Bacon. 
These  few  examples  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  system  ;  I  might 
have  made  them  fuller,  but  did  not  wish  to  take  up  too  much  space. 
As  will  be  seen,  the  first  and  second  style  can  be  read  at  sight  by  any 
one,  whether  acquainted  with  the  system  or  not,  and  the  third  by  a 
little  extra  attention.  The  third  style  can  be  still  further  extended  by 
the  substitution  of  some  of  the  phonographic  word-forms  for  a  few  of 
the  more  common  words ;  by  this  means,  one  can  glide  almost  imper- 
ceptibly into  a  knowledge  of  phonography,  while  at  the  same  time  his 
brief-loiighand  is  as  valuable  to  him  as  ever. 
In  studying  brief- longhand,  I  cut  out  Part  I,  put  it  in  a  stiff  paper 
cover,  and  carried  it  around  in  my  coat  pocket,  taking  it  out  when  I 
had  opportunity  (as  at  meal  hours  an-d  in  the  evening  in  the  intervals 
between  waiting  upon  customers)  and  studied  it  ;  and  the  same  with 
Part  II.  The  book  is  cheap  enough,  costing  only  sixty-three  cents  j 
and  if  you  want  to  keep  a  whole  copy,  buy  another  one.  I  am  fond, 
myself,  of"  little  books,  that  can  be  put  in  a  coat  pocket  and  pulled  out 
when  opportunity  offers. 
Boston,  October  5,  1880. 
CHEMICAL  NOTES. 
By  Prof.  Samuel  P.  Sadtler,  Ph.D. 
Inorganic  Chemistry.  —  Preparation  of  chemically  pure  Soda.  —  Accord- 
ing to  an  observation  of  Gerresheim,  any  chlorine  or  sulphuric  acid 
which  may  be  present  in  a  soda  solution  is  completely  removed  by 
35 
