306 
ON  SOME  PHARMACEUTICAL  PREPARATIONS. 
procure  relief  from  those  numerous  morbid  annoyances  which, 
though  not  fatal  in  their  tendency,  we  are  not  generally  willing 
to  submit  to  without  an  effort  to  alleviate,  if  not  to  cure. 
Syrupus  Capsici. — I  have  for  some  years  past  prepared  a 
syrup  of  capsicum  by  the  same  method  employed  in  the  manu- 
facture of  syrup  of  ginger.  The  process  makes  a  beautiful  pre- 
paration, serviceable  in  many  affections  of  the  throat,  in  which  a 
local  stimulus  of  the  kind  is  desirable.  If  the  addition  of  a  little 
acetic  acid  to  this  syrup  should  be  thought  proper  in  any  case, 
it  can  be  made  without  detriment  to  the  transparency  or  pun- 
gency of  the  preparation. 
Magnesice  Sulphas — In  1847,  in  a  Report  on  the  Progress  of 
Materia  Medica  and  Pharmacy,  given  in  the  Half- Yearly  Ab- 
stract of  the  Medical  Sciences,  it  is  said  that  sulphate  of  mag- 
nesia has  "  been  carefully  studied  by  Ladomir  Combes,  espe- 
cially in  relation  to  the  best  mode  of  concealing  its  bitter  taste. 
After  a  number  of  trials,  he  at  last  succeeded  in  affecting  this 
by  the  simultaneous  administration  of  tannin  or  coffee  ;  the  for- 
mer, however,  is  the  active  agent.  The  peculiar  astringent  taste 
of  the  tannin  may  be  removed  by  the  addition  of  an  agreeable 
aromatic.  In  roasted  coffee  we  have  both  these  advantages  com- 
bined." And  it  is  added :  "  this  fluid  [the  decoction  of  coffee 
and  salts]  does  not  impart  the  slightest  taste  of  the  bitterness 
of  the  salts." 
These  statements  were  republished  in  other  works  ;  but  beyond 
this,  I  have  seen  no  testimony  on  the  subject,  either  affirmative 
or  negative. 
To  satisfy  myself  in  relation  to  it,  I  boiled  together,  on  the 
9th  of  4th  mo.  1854,  in  a  Florence  flask,  for  two  or  three 
minutes, 
Sulphate  of  Magnesia  gss. 
Ground  Roasted  Coffee  giss. 
The  coffee  had  been  well  roasted,  and  was  of  fine  flavor.  Af- 
ter the  decoction  was  partially  cooled,  it  was  filtered  into  a  glass 
bottle  of  such  size  as  to  leave  two-thirds  of  it  empty.  After 
corking  the  vessel,  it  was  set  aside  in  a  shady  part  of  my  office, 
undisturbed  for  forty  three  days.    At  the  expiration  of  this 
time,  I  discovered  upon  the  surface  of  the  fluid,  that  two  centres 
-  of  mold  had  formed. 
