PHARMACEUTICAL NOTICES. 
99 
ART. XI.— PHARMACEUTICAL NOTICES. NO. XXII. 
By Augustine Duhamel. 
Turlington's Balsam. 
One of the best evidences of the advantages of the displace- 
ment system, in its application to substances of the gummo- 
resinous class, is afforded by the preparation of the Comp. 
Tinct. of Benzoin. When desirous of preparing some of this 
Tincture, according to the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, from our ex- 
perience being confined, with but few exceptions, to the sim- 
ple tinctures of the resins, we were not prepared for a full re- 
alization of our hopes, as this compound embraces a varie- 
ty of substances, which, with the exception of one, were 
of an exclusively resinous character. The Storax, Benzoin, 
Aloes and Tolu, of which last we happened to have some in a 
perfectly dry state, were reduced in a mortar to coarse powder, 
and then mixed together with a portion of clean and dry sand, 
and the whole submitted to the action of the alcohol in a displace- 
ment apparatus. It only remains to say, that we were in a few 
hours put in possession of a tincture as effectually made, if not 
better, than if it had been allowed to macerate for six months, 
w T hen we would have found it difficult to filter it through pa- 
per. 
The residuum afterwards emptied upon a sheet of paper 
and exposed to the sun, displayed, upon becoming dry, some 
loose sand, interspersed with woody and extraneous mat* 
ters which were contained in the Benzoin — and, what is of im- 
portance to know, was completely exhausted of resin. 
Oxide of Silver. 
We have lately had calls for Oxide of Silver for medicinal 
purposes, elicited, probably, by a publication in some medical 
Journal. 
It is obtained by dissolving silver in nitric acid and pre- 
VOL. VIII. — NO. II. 13 
