296  SPIMTUS  iETHERIS  NITBIOI. 
ceutical  use,  and  from  the  experiments  I  have  made  for  reducing 
the  scali)  with  this  view,  I  venture  to  assert  that  any  apothecary 
who  can  compound  a  prescription  properly  can  as  easily  make 
this  preparation  for  himself,  it  is  one  of  those  preparations, 
and  the  number  of  such  is  not  few,  that  is  more  easily  made 
upon  the  small  scale,  simply  because  the  success  that  attends  the 
process  depends  mainly  upon  a  temperature,  and  because  this  is 
more  easily  regulated  in  small  vessels  with  small  quantities  of 
materials  to  react.  It  can  be  made  very  cheaply  too,  .and  with 
an  apparatus  so  simple,  and  of  so  general  an  adaptability,  thac 
a  great  majority  of  apothecaries  doubtless  always  possess  it. 
Having  recently  bought  such  an  apparatus  for  making  these 
experiments  on  the  small  scale  it  may  be  worth  while  to  enumer- 
ate it,  and  mention  the  cost. 
A  tubulated  retort  14  to  16  f.^  capacity,  cost  $0  42 
A  tubular  thermometer,*  "  1  75 
A  piece  of  thin  glass  tube,  J  inch  internal  diameter 
and  three  feet  long ;  and  two  short  pieces  of 
small  glass  tube  which  may  be  bent  in  the 
lamp,  cost       0  13 
And  two  feet  of  small  india  rubber  tubing,     "         0  25 
$2  55 
Of  these  last  materials  I  made  a  very  good  Liebig's  condenser 
with  corks,  by  soldering  together  two  plaster  cans  for  a  case. 
The  necessary  lamp  and  stand,  vessel  for  a  water  bath,  and 
proper  supports,  are  always  at  hand  in  some  form  that  may  be 
made  available.  With  such  appliances  the  dispensing  apothecary 
can,  and  should  make  this  preparation  for  a  length  of  time  pro- 
portionate to  the  care  and  skill  with  which  he  uses  them,  with 
great  advantage  to  himself,  to  the  patient  and  to  the  physician. 
*  These  thermometers  are  imported  from  Germany.  They  are  by  far 
the  most  convenient  and  useful.  They  consist  of  an  opaque  glass  scale 
and  capillary  tube  with  black  figures,  enclosed  in  a  glass  tube  not  much 
larger  than  that  of  a  barometer.  Being  entirely  of  glass,  except  the  enclosed 
mercury,  they  are  well  adapted  to  an  extended  and  indiscriminate  use. 
They  may  be  had  of  J.  F.  Luhme  &  Co.,  No.  565  Broadway, 
or  of  F.  Liese,  No.  102  John  Street,  New  York,  of  Mr.  A.  P,  Sharp  of  Bal- 
timore, and  probably  also  of  apparatus  dealers  generally. 
