NOTE  ON  SYRUP  OP  POPPIES. 
399 
"More  Poison  in  Soda  Water." — How  much  soda  water  is 
impregnated  with  metallic  carbonates  in  consequence  of  frag- 
ments of  solder  and  chips  of  copper  lying  loose  on  the  inside  of 
the  fountain  ?  I  ask  this  question,  because  this  spring  I  received 
a  new  fountain,  just  from  the  machinist's  hands,  and  hearing  a 
rattling  on  the  inside,  I  went  to  work  and  extracted  between  two 
and  three  ounces  of  drops  of  fused  solder,  as  well  as  a  chip  of 
copper  which  were  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the  fountain.  Verbum 
sapientibus  sat.  H.  T.  C. 
Portland,  Me.,  July,  1856. 
NOTE  ON  SYRUP  OF  POPPIES. 
Prof.  Wm.  Procter,  Jr.  : — 
Dear  Sir, — All  the  formulas  given  for  the  preparation  of 
syrup  of  poppies  are  too  tedious  for  the  operator,  unless  it  is 
when  time  is  of  no  object.  I  therefore  wish  to  communicate  to 
you  and  to  the  readers  of  the  Journal,  a  very  simple  and  easy 
method  for  the  preparation  of  this  syrup,  and  which,  when  well 
made,  will  be  permanent. 
The  best  formula  which  I  have  yet  seen,  is  that  of  yours,  pub- 
lished in  «  Parrish's  Practical  Pharmacy;"  but  those  who  are 
familiar  with  displacement,  can  prepare  it  in  the  following  man- 
ner : — 
Take  of  Poppy  heads,  9  ounces. 
Diluted  alcohol,  q.  s, 
Sugar,  15  ounces, 
Best  French  brandy,  2  drachms. 
Deprive  the  poppy  heads  of  their  seeds,  reduce  them  to  a  coarse 
powder,  moisten  them  thoroughly  with  diluted  alcohol,  and  digest 
for  forty-eight  hours,  then  transfer  the  whole  to  a  percolator,  and 
gradually  pour  upon  it  diluted  alcohol  until  two  pints  of  filtered 
liquor  are  obtained;  then  evaporate  by  means  of  a  water  bath  to 
bonate  of  iron  by  heat  in  order  to  give  it  the  bright  red  color  that  has,  com- 
mercially speaking,  become  an  index  of  good  quality.  When  subcarbonale 
of  iron  is  made  strictly  by  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia,  it  approximates  to  an 
umber  brown  color,  and  retains  two  equivalents  of  water  besides  eight  or 
ten  per  cent,  of  protocarbonate  of  iron,  which  favor  its  solubility  in  acids. 
— Editor] 
