PHARMACEUTICAL NOTICES. 
113 
Thus the pharmacopoeias of Edinburg, Vienna and Amster- 
dam, as well as the formulary of Brugnatelli, order one 
ounce of opium to the pound of weak alcohol. Now at Rome 
as well as in Great Britain, Holland and Germany, the pound, 
apothecaries' weight, contains twelve ounces; and hence, al- 
though the value of the pound varies much in these different 
countries, still as the ounce forms the twelfth part of it, the 
proportions of opium and alcohol remain the same. 
The London, Dublin and United States Pharmacopoeias 
order in the proportion of two ounces and a half of opium to two 
pints of weak alcohol, which gives almost the same ratio of 
twelve to one. The codex of Paris prescribes one part of the 
aqueous extract of opium to twelve parts of alcohol at 22°. 
The Lisbon formula, however, is widely different from the 
above; not containing much larger proportions of opium than 
paregoric elixir. The Danish, one part opium to forty-eight 
of alcohol; the Brunswick dispensatory, and that of Van 
Mons, one to eight. 
The relative strength of the alcohol used, is also much the 
same; thus the 22° B. of the French codex agrees very nearly 
with the diluted alcohol of the other formulas; that of the 
London college having a sp. gr. 0.930, or 20° B.; the Dublin, 
0.919 = 21,75°; those of Edinburgh and the United States, 
0.935, or 19° B. On the other hand, the Antwerp orders alco- 
hol of 15°. R. E. G. 
Rochelle Salts. A quantity of epsom salts, in large crys- 
tals, having a strong resemblance in form to the crystallized 
tartrate of potash and soda, has lately been offered in this mar- 
ket as Rochelle salts. The deception is easily detected by 
the taste, or by adding to a solution of them carbonate of pot- 
ash or soda, either of which will separate the magnesia from 
its sulphate. It is believed that they have been profusely 
crystallized in this form to deceive the unwary, and for the 
purposes of gain. Their history cannot be traced further than 
that one lot came from New York; whether they are manufac- 
tured in that city, or further eastward, is not satisfactorily as- 
VOL. II.— NO. II. 15 
