436  DISTILLED  WATERS  OF  THE  PHARMACOPOEIAS. 
scarce  a  square  inch  could  be  found  clear,  and  a  powerful  stench 
of  decaying  vegetable  substance  was  evolved.  Complaints  of  the 
water  soon  followed,  and  the  experiment  was  discontinued. 
In  the  course  of  the  discussion  Mr.  Braithwaite  put  forward 
objections  to  the  application  of  Dr.  Clark's  method  of  purifica- 
tion, on  the  ground  that  a  certain  amount  of  lime  was  necessary 
for  maintaining  the  functions  of  animal  life,  and  cited,  in  support 
of  his  argument,  experiments  made  by  Liebig,  upon  pigeons  and 
cows.  But,  the  quantity  of  lime  supplied  in  solid  food  is  much 
more  than  adequate  to  these  requirements  ;  in  many  districts,  the 
water  consumed  by  large  populations,  and  by  great  numbers  of 
cattle,  is  soft  water,  with  a  very  small  amount  of  lime  in  any 
state  ;  and  further,  the  lime  salt,  required  for  the  formation  of 
bone,  is  not  carbonate,  but  phosphate  of  lime,  which  is  never 
present  in  water  to  more  than  an  infinitesimal  amount.  More- 
over, the  experiments  cited  by  Mr.  Braithwaite  are  quite  inap- 
plicable to  the  case  in  question,  because,  in  those  experiments, 
lime  was  entirely  abstracted  from  the  solid  food,  as  well  as  from 
the  water  supplied  to  the  animals. — London  Pharmaceutical 
Journal,  June,  1856. 
ON  THE  DISTILLED  WATERS  OF  THE  PHARMACOPOEIAS, 
By  Mr.  Haselden. 
The  author  stated  that  what  he  had  to  communicate  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  meeting,  not  as  comprising  anything  new,  but  in 
reply  to  the  request  which  had  been  made  that  those  practically 
engaged  in  the  preparation  of  distilled  waters  would  give  the 
results  of  their  experience  on  this  subject.  He  adverted,  first, 
to  simple  distilled  water,  which  he  thought  ought  to  be  more  gen- 
erally used  in  pharmaceutical  operations  than  it  was  at  present. 
It  would,  he  said,  be  a  desirable  point  gained  if  the  colleges 
were  to  direct  in  future  Pharmacopoeias,  that  whenever  water 
was  ordered,  either  in  preparations  or  in  prescriptions,  none 
other  than  distilled  water  should  be  used.  This  would  obviate 
some  difficulties  which  occasionally  arise  on  account  of  differ- 
ences in  the  appearance  of  medicines  made  from  the  same  pres- 
cription, but  dispensed  at  different  houses.  In  order  to  keep  up 
a  cheap  and  sufficiently  abundant  supply  of  distilled  water,  an 
