NOTES  AND  QUERIES  IN  PRACTICAL  PHARMACY. 
397 
NOTES  AND  QUERIES  IN  PRACTICAL  PHARMACY. 
The  following  desultory  observations  have  been  suggested  from 
time  to  time  by  the  every  day  occurrences  in  the  experience 
of  the  writer.  They  are  thrown  together  without  any  attempt 
at  arrangement,  and  are  offered  as  a  sample  of  what  might  be 
put  under  the  above  head,  so  as  to  form,  in  time,  a  very  valuable 
collection,  if  thoughtful  and  inquiring  pharmaceutists  would  but 
give  their  attention  to  putting  on  record  facts  and  queries  of  an 
analogous  kind. 
Compound  Syrup  of  Squill. — The  writer,  in  reflecting  upon 
the  mode  of  securing  the  best  results  in  making  this  preparation, 
was  led  to  try  the  experiment  of  exhausting  the  squill  and  senega 
separately  hy  displacement,  each  with  its  appropriate  menstruum, 
namely  the  senega  with  the  diluted  alcohol,  and  the  squill  with 
diluted  acetic  acid,  mixing  the  two  solutions  thus  obtained, 
evaporating  to  one  half,  adding  water  if  necessary  after  filtration, 
and  proceeding  as  for  syrup.  It  is  believed  that  the  small  quan- 
tity of  acetic  acid  present  in  the  syrup  as  thus  prepared,  acts 
beneficially  in  four  ways.  1.  More  perfectly  extracting  the 
squill.  2.  Preventing  the  crystallization  of  the  sugar.  3.  On 
the  other  hand  obviating  the  tendency  to  fermentation  in  the 
syrup.  4.  As  an  adjuvant  in  the  solution  of  the  tartar  emetic. 
In  preparing  the  squill  for  displacement  a  handful  of  well  washed 
sand  thrown  upon  it  will  enable  any  one  to  triturate  it  to  a 
magma  in  a  wedgewood  mortar  after  it  has  been  swollen  by 
maceration.  I  prefer  this  practice,  because  I  am  sure  that  the 
root  is  thus  sufficiently  divided  to  enable  the  menstruum  to  ex- 
tract all  the  soluble  portion,  while  in  most  samples  that  I  have 
seen,  it  is  in  such  a  condition  that  if  put  into  a  mortar  it  cakes 
under  the  pestle,  or  in  a  mill  it  will  clog  it  so  as  to  render  it 
impossible  to  grind.  I  have  obtained  on  two  occasions  the  most 
satisfactory  results  from  the  process  above  adverted  to. 
ColcMcum  Seeds. — Can  you  or  any  of  your  correspondents 
give  me  a  hint  as  to  the  best  method  of  reducing  these  refractory 
little  nodules  to  powder?  I  have  tried  them  with  pestle  and 
mortar  and  with  mill,  and  subjected  them  to  the  action  of  steam 
until  they  were  partially  torrefied,  but  with  very  unsatisfactory 
results.    I  wished  to  prepare  the  wine  of  colchicum  seed,  and 
