12 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
agrees better with irritable stomachs, and where there is a 
tendency to, or inflammation of the internal organs. It 
does not, it is said, produce the uneasiness which sometimes 
follows the use of the sulphate, as it acts in a less direct man- 
ner on the organs of respiration and circulation. 
Several modes of preparing it have been advised, but the 
best results are stated to have been obtained by the following 
process recommended by Winkler in Buckner. Repert 
Pharm. 
Triturate crystallised sulphate of quinia 480 parts, with crys- 
tallised hydrochlorate of barytes 1200 parts, add 8 parts of 
distilled water, filter, wash the residue well, unite the filtered 
solution and washings, adding 4 parts more of distilled water; 
to this a dilute solution of phosphate of ammonia is to be very 
gradually added, and at intervals, stirring continually, till a 
precipitate is no longer produced. The whole is now to be 
filtered, and the residue rapidly washed with cold distilled 
water, and dried by a gentle heat. An excess of the phosphate 
is to be avoided, or part of the precipitate will be redissolved. 
By this mode of preparation 46 parts of phosphate of quinia 
are obtained for every 60 parts of the sulphate employed. It 
is in a fine crystalline powder, of a brilliant white colour, 
very light, and of an extremely bitter taste. It is soluble in 
480 parts of warm, and 140 of cold water. 
Unguentum hydrargyri oxidi rubri. — This ointment is 
very often badly prepared, and hence disappoints the expec- 
tations of the physician. When used for the cure of certain 
diseases of the eye it is of the utmost importance that it should 
be completely homogenous, and free from visible particles of 
the oxide. The best directions for its preparation are those 
given by Mr. Thomas Clarke, in the Glasgow Medical 
Journal. He says, to attain a proper consistence in the oint- 
ment, to keep it from spoiling, to obtain a strength readily 
computed, and to render it uniform and certain, are the great 
desiderata. For this purpose he proposes the following for- 
mula. Take of red precipitate, prepared by nitric acid, good 
