Anderson's pills are formed principally of aloes, with a portion of jalap and oil of aniseed.

Anodyne necklaces.-The roots of henbane are commonly strung in the form of beads, and sold under this name, to be tied round the necks of children to facilitate the growth of their teeth, and allay the irritation of teething.

Antivenereal drops, so famous at Amsterdam, were analysed by Scheele, who found that they were composed of muriate of iron, with a small portion of corrosive sublimate.

Aromatic vinegar (Henry's) is merely a solution of camphor and some essential oil. A preparation of this kind may be extemporaneously made by putting one drachm of acetate of potassa into a phial, with a few drops of some fragrant oil, and mxx. of concentrated sulphuric

acid.

Balsam of honey, or pectoral balsam, is the tincture of benzoin, or that of Tolu.

Balsam of liquorice. (Pectoral). The proprie tor of this nostrum gravely affirms, that f. 3ifs. contains the virtues of a whole pound of liquo

Barclay's antibilious pills. Take of the extr of colocynth two drachms, resin of jalap to drachm, almond soap a drachm and a half, pa acum three drachms, tartarised antimony en grains, essential oils of juniper, carraway, rosemary, of each four drops, of syrup of burk thorn, as much as will be sufficient to formamas to be divided into sixty-four pills.

Bateman's pectoral drops consist principal of the tincture of castor, with portions of phor and opium, flavored by aniseed and col by cochineal.

Battley's sedative liquor (liquor opii sedative Under this name Mr. Battley, of Fore-stre London, has introduced a narcotic preparatio which it is generally supposed owes its effica to the acetate of morphia; on being kept, he ever, I found that it underwent some importan change, during which so much air was disa gaged as to blow out the cork from the bot with violence. This is a great objection to it admission into practice. [We think it, hower right to state that this preparation has ben used by us and very many of our friends w decided advantage over the common tincture opium.-Ed.]

Black drop, or the Lancaster or Quaker's bar drop. This preparation, which has long be known and esteemed as being more powerful its operation, and less distressing in its effects than any tincture of opium, has until lately been involved in much obscurity; the papers, ever, of the late Edward Walton, of Sunderland, one of the near relations of the original prope tor, having fallen into the hands of Dr. A strong, that gentleman has obliged the professo by publishing the manner in which it is p pared, and is as follows:- Take half a pound of opium sliced, three pints of good vers (juice of the wild crab), and one and ab ounce of nutmegs, and half an ounce of saffr Boil them to a proper thickness; then add quarter of a pound of sugar, and two spoonfl of yeast. Set the whole in a warm place near the fire for six or eight weeks; then place it in the open air until it become a syrup. Lastly, decant filter, and bottle it up, adding a little sugar to each bottle. One drop of this preparation is sidered about equal to three of the tincture of opium.-Ph. L. It would appear that an a tate of morphia is formed, which is more active and less distressing in its effects than any other

narcotic combination.

The French Codex contains directions for pre paring a compound very similar to the black drop, viz. Vinum opiatum fermentatione paratio, or Gutta, seu laudanum abbatis Rousseau. Take of white honey twelve ounces, warm water three pounds. Dissolve the honey in the water, pour into a matrass and set it aside in a warm place! as soon as fermentation has commenced, add four ounces of good opium, having previously dis solved, or rather diffused it in twelve ounces of water. Allow them to ferment together for a month; then evaporate until ten ounces only re

1

main. Filter, and add four ounces and a half of alcohol.

Brodum's nervous cordial consists of the tinctures of gentium, calumba, cardamom, and bark, with the compound spirit of lavender and wine of iron.

Ching's worm lozenges.-These consist of yellow and brown lozenges; the former are taken in the evening, the latter the succeeding morning.

The yellow lozenges. Saffron half an ounce, water a pint, boil and strain; add of white panacea of mercury (calomel washed in spirit of wine) a pound, white sugar twenty-eight pounds, mucilage of tragacanth as much as may be sufficient to make a mass, which roll out of an exact thickness, so that each lozenge may contain one grain of panacea. Dose from one to six.

The brown lozenges. Panacea seven ounces, resin of jalap three pounds and a half, white sugar nine pounds, mucilage of tragacanth enough for each lozenge to contain half a grain of pa

nacea.

Cough drops. Under this word, Dr. Paris says, Opium is the quack's sheet anchor. The various nostruros advertised as cough drops for the cure of colds, asthmas, catarrhs, &c., are preparations of opium very similar to paregoric elixir. Pectoral balsam of liquorice, and essence of coltsfoot, are combinations of this kind. Grindle's cough drops are a preparation of this kind, made with rectified spirit instead of proof spirit, and consequently more highly charged with stimulant materials. The mischief,' observes Dr. Fothergill, that has proceeded from the healing anodynes of quacks can scarcely be imagined; for in coughs arising from suppressed perspiration, or an inflammatory diathesis, opiates generally do harm.'

Court plaster. Sticking plaster.-Black silk is strained and brushed over ten or twelve times with the following preparation: Dissolve half an ounce of gum benzoin in six fluid ounces of rectified spirit; in a separate vessel dissolve an ounce of isinglass in half a pint of water; strain each solution; mix them; and let them rest, so that the grosser parts may subside. When the clear liquor is cold it will form a jelly, which must be warmed before it is applied. When dry, in order to prevent its cracking, it is finished off with a solution of four ounces of Chio turpentine in six ounces of tincture of benzoin.

Crespigny (Lady) her pills, or lady Webster's pills. These popular pills are the pilula stomachicæ, vulgò pilulæ ante cibum of the Codex Medicamentarius Parisiensis. Editio quinta, A. D. 1758 viz. Take of best aloes six drachms, mastich and red rose of each two drachms, syrup of wormwood as much as will be sufficient to make a mass. The mass is divided into pills of three grains each.

Daffy's elixir. This is the tinctura sennæ composita, with the substitution of treacle for sugar candy, and the addition of aniseeds. Different kinds of this nostrum are sold under the names of Dicey's; but they differ principally in some subordinate minutiae or unimportant addi

tions.

Dalby's carminative. This consists of carbonate of magnesia two scruples, oil of peppermint VOL. XVII.

one drop, of nutmeg two drops, of aniseed three drops, of the tinctures of castor thirty drops, of assafoetida fifteen drops, spirit of pennyroyal fifteen drops, of the compound tincture of cardamoms thirty drops,. peppermint water two fluid

ounces.

Dinner pills. See Lady Crespigny's pills. Dixon's antibilious pills. Aloes, scammony, rhubarb, and tartarised antimony.

Dutch drops. The basis of this nostrum consists of the residue of a redistillation of oil of turpentine, which is a thick, red, resinous matter, to which the name of balsam of turpentine has been given: a preparation however is frequently vended as 'Dutch Drops', which is a mixture of oil of turpentine, tincture of guaiacum, spirit of nitric ether, with small portions of the oil of amber and cloves.

Eau medicinale. discover the active ingredients of this Parisian remedy, it is at length determined to be the colchicum autumnale, which several ancient authors, under the name of hermodactyls, have recommended in the cure of gout. The following is the receipt for preparing this medicine:-Take two ounces of the root of colchicum cut into slices, macerate it in four fluid ounces of proof spirit, and filter.

After various attempts to

Essence of coffee. The pulp of cassia is said to form the basis of this article.

Essence of coltsfoot. This preparation consists of equal parts of the balsam of tolu and the compound tincture of benzoin, to which is added double the quantity of rectified spirit of wine.

Essence of mustard. (Whitehead.) This consists of oil of turpentine, camphor, and a portion of spirit of roseniary; to which is added a small quantity of flour of mustard.

Essence of mustard pills. Balsam of tolu with resin!

Essence of spruce. A fluid extract by decoction from the twigs of the species of fir called the pinus larix, producing the Venice turpentine, is the well known essence of spruce, which, when fermented with molasses, forms the popular beverage called spruce beer.

Essential salt of lemons. The preparation sold under this name for the purpose of removing iron moulds from linen consists of cream of tartar and superoxalate of potassa, or salt of sorrel, in equal proportions.

Friar's balsam is nothing more than the compound tincture of benzoin of the pharmacopoeias.

Godfrey's cordial. The following receipt for this nostrum was obtained from a wholesale druggist, who makes and sells many hundred dozen bottles in the course of the year. There are, however, several other formulæ for its preparation, but not essentially different. Infuse nine ounces of sassafras, and of the seeds of carraway, coriander, and anise, of each one ounce, in six pints of water; simmer the mixture until it is reduced to four pints; then add six pounds of treacle, and boil the whole for a few minutes; when it is cold add three fluid ounces of the tincture of opium.

Golden ointment. Under this name is sold a preparation which consists of sulphuret of arsenic [orpiment] with lard or spermaceti ointment.

N

The unguentum hydrargyri nitrico-oxydi of the London college is also sold under the same title. Gout tincture (Wilson's). This is merely an infusion of colchicum, as Dr. Williams of Ipswich has satisfactorily shown.

Gowland's lotion is a solution of sublimate in an emulsion formed of bitter almonds in the proportion of about a grain and a half to a fluid

ounce.

Hooper's pills. Compound aloetic pill with myrrh (pil. rufi), sulphate of iron, and Canella

bark.

James's powder. See the present article under the word Pulvis antimonialis.

James's analeptic pills. These consist of James's powder, gum ammoniacum, and the pill of aloes with myrrh (pil. rufi), equal parts, with a sufficient quantity of the tincture of castor to make a mass.

Norton's drops. A disguised solution of corrosive sublimate.

Opodeldoc (Steers's). Castile soap one ounce, rectified spirit eight ounces, camphor three ounces and a half, oil of rosemary half a fluid drachm, oil of origanum one fluid drachm, solution of ammonia six fluid drachms.

Oxley's concentrated essence of Jamaica ginger. A mere solution of ginger in rectified spirit. Portland powder. Equal quantities of the roots of gentian and birthwort, the tops and leaves of germander, ground pine, and lesser centaury powdered and mixed together.

Riga balsam. From the shoots of the pinus cembra previously bruised, and macerated for a month in water. This same fir also affords Briançon turpentine.

Roche's embrocation. Olive oil mixed with about half its quantity of the oil of cloves and amber.

Ruspini's tincture. This consists of the root of the florentine iris eight ounces, cloves one ounce, rectified spirit two pints, ambergris one scruple. Seidlitz powders. These consist of two different powders; the one contained in a white paper consists of two drachms of tartarised soda and two scruples of carbonate of soda; that in the blue paper of thirty-five grains of tartaric acid. The contents of the white paper are to be dissolved in half a pint of spring water, to which those of the blue paper are to be added; the draught is to be taken in a state of effervescence. The acid, being in excess, renders it more grateful and no less efficacious as a purgative.

Singleton's ointment. See Golden ointment. Sodaic powders. Contained in two distinct papers, one of which is blue, the other white; that in the former consists of half a drachm of the carbonate of soda; that in the latter of twenty-five grains of tartaric acid. These powders require half a pint of water. It is very evident that a solution of these powders is by no means similar to soda water, which it is intended to emulate; for in this latter preparation the soda is in combination only with carbonic acid, whereas the solution of the sodaic powders is that of a neutral salt with a portion of fixed air diffused through it.

Spilsbury's antiscorbutic drops.-Of corrosive sublimate two drachms, prepared sulphuret of

antimony one drachm, gentian root and orange peel equal parts two drachms, shavings of red sanders one drachm, made into a tincture with a pint of proof spirit. Digest and strain. Stephen's (Mrs.), remedy for the stone comsisted of lime in conjunction with an alkali.

Velno's vegetable syrup.-There is a great obscurity with respect to the genuine composition of this nostrum: it is supposed to consist of sublimate rubbed up with honey and mucilage. I have reason, however, to believe that it contains antimony, and the syrup of marsh mallows Swediaur says that the volatile alkali enters into it as an ingredient: this alkali was proposed by Dr. Peyrile as a substitute for mercury, and it constitutes the active ingredient of a composition, proposed by Mr. Besnard, physician the king of Bavaria.

Virgin's milk. A spirituous solution of berzoin, mixed with about twenty parts of res water, forms a cosmetic long known by this name. A sulphate of lead is also sold under this name, which is prepared as follows:-To 2 saturated solution of alum add of Goulard's extract one third part. Shake them together.

Ward's 's paste for fistulas, piles, &c. Take of black pepper and elecampane, powdered, equa parts, half a pound; of the seeds of fennel a pound and a half; of honey and sugar equa parts, one pound; beat and well mix together all the ingredients in a mortar. of a nutmeg three times a day.

Dose the s

Worm cakes (Storey's).-Calomel and ja made into cakes and colored by cinnabar.

APPENDIX II.

TABLE.-Showing the proportions in which

OPIUM, ANTIMONY, ARSENIC, and MERCURY. are contained in some compound medicines. From THOмSON'S DISPENSATORY.

OPIUM.

Confectio opii. London.-Confection d opium. Thirty-six grains contain one grain f opium.

Electuarium opiatum. Edinburgh.-Opiate electuary contains in each drachm about of grain and a half of opium.

Pilula saponis cum opio. London.-Pills of soap and opium. Five grains contain one grai of opium.

Pilula opiate. Edinburgh.-Opiate (formerly Thebaic) pills. Each drachm contains six grains of opium. A pill of five grains contains half a grain of opium.

Pulvis cornu usti cum opio. London.-Powder of burnt hartshorn with opium. Ten grains com tain one grain of opium.

Pulvis creta compositus cum opio. London.Compound powder of chalk with opium. Tw scruples contain one grain of opium,

Pulvis ipecacuanhe compositus. IondonCompound powder of ipecacuanha. Ten grains contain one grain of opium.

Pulvis kino compositus. London-Compound powder of kino. Each scruple contains one grain of opium.

Tinctura opii. London.-Tincture of opium. Nineteen minims contain one grain of opium

Tinctura opii. Edinburgh.-Tincture of opium is made with two scruples of opium in each ounce of liquid, or each drachm should contain five grains. But one drachm of the tincture when evaporated yields only three grains and a half of opium.

Tinctura camphora composita. London.-Compound tincture of camphor. Tinctura opii camphorata. Edinburgh.-Half a fluid ounce contains nearly one grain of opium.

Tinctura opii ammoniata. Edinburgh.-Ammoniated tincture of opium is made with about eight grains of opium in each ounce of liquid, or each drachm should contain nearly one grain of opium.

Tinctura saponis et opii. Edinburgh.-Tincture of soap and opium is made with one scruple of opium in each ounce of the liquid.

Trochisci glycyrrhiza cum opio. Edinburgh. Troches of liquorice with opium. Each drachm contains nearly one grain of opium.

ANTIMONY.

Vinum antimonii tartarizati. London. -Solution of tartarised antimony, contains in each fluid ounce two grains of tartarised antimony,

Vinum tartritis antimonii. Edinburgh.-Wine of tartrate of antimony contains in each ounce two grains of tartrate of antimony.

MERCURY.

Emplastrum hydrargyri. Edinburgh.-Mercurial plaster. Each drachm contains about sixteen grains of mercury (fifteen London). Hydrargyrum cum cretá. London.-Mercury with chalk. Three grains contain one grain of

mercury.

Liquor hydrargyri oxymuriatis. London. Solution of oxymuriate of mercury. Two fluid ounces contain half a grain of oxymuriate of mercury.

Linimentum hydrargyri. London.- Mercurial ointment. Six drachms contain one drachm of mercury.

Pilula hydrargyri. London. Mercurial pills. Three grains contain one grain of mercury.

Pilula hydrargyri. Edinburgh.-Mercurial pills. Each drachm contains fifteen grains of mercury. Each five grain pill contains one and one-fourth grain of mercury.

Pilule hydrargyri submuriatis composite. London. Edinburgh.-Pills of submuriate of mercury. About four grains contain one grain of submuriate of mercury.

Unguentum hydrargyri fortius. London.Stronger mercurial ointment. Two drachms contain one drachm of mercury.

Unguentum hydrargyri mitius. London.Weaker mercurial ointment. Six drachms contain one drachm of mercury.

Unguentum hydrargyri. Edinburgh.-Mercurial ointment. Each drachm contains twelve grains of mercury: made with double the quantity of mercury, each drachm contains twenty grains.

Unguentum nitratis hydrargyri fortius. Edinburgh. Stronger ointment of nitrate of mercury. Each drachm contains four grains of mer

burgh.-Milder ointment of nitrate of mercury. Each scruple contains half a grain of mercury.

Unguentum oxidi hydrargyri cinerei. Edinburgh.-Ointment of the gray oxide of mercury. Each drachm contains fifteen grains of the oxide.

Unguentum oxidi hydrargyri rubri. Edinburgh. -Ointment of red oxide of mercury. Each drachm contains seven grains of the oxide. ARSENIC.

Liquor arsenicalis. London.-Solutio arsenicalis. Edinburgh.-Arsenical solution. One fluid ounce contains four grains of white sublimed arsenic.

APPENDIX III.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

(Extracted from Mr. Gray's Supplement to the Pharmacopoeia, a most useful work, and from which we had contemplated much extract; but our limits being already trespassed upon, and not being able to do justice to our original design in reference to this work without very considerable enlargement of the article, we must content ourselves with recommending the possession of this book to such of our readers as are curious to learn, not only the drugs and compounds which are used by practitioners of medicine, but also most of those which are used in the chemical arts, or which undergo chemical preparation,' &c. Many of these have of course, and will further fall under notice in the prosecution of our own labors; but we think Mr. Gray has been most meritoriously employed in collecting a mass of informatiou into one volume, of which we repeat our recommendation).

Medicines, except a few hereafter mentioned, were formerly sold, and the prescriptions of physicians made up, by the common English weight, called avoirdupois. The ounce of that weight being then, as appears by all the old authors on arithmetic, subdivided into eight drachms, twenty-four scruples, and 480 English grains; the medical pound differing from the common by its containing only twelve ounces, while the troy ounce had for its fractions pennyweights and troy grains. The College of Physicians having at length, in the 1720 edition of the Pharmacopoeia, ordered the drachms, scruples, and grains to be adjusted to the troy ounce, hence, as the dispensers of medicines were the only persons who used these small weights, those adjusted to the avoirdupois ounce went out of use, and were no longer made, and the quarter-ounce was the smallest avoirdupois weight in common use, as it still continues; but as the Italian rotolo for raw silk has been adjusted to the avoirdupois weight, and made twenty-four ounces a pound; a smaller weight, the Spanish adarme, equal to the sixteenth part of the avoirdupois ounce, was used under the name of a dram, for weighing silk, and this has now become an established fraction of this ounce, but it is scarcely used by any other persons than haberdashers, and, for all weights less than the quarter of an ounce troy, apothecaries' weights are employed, although as the avoirdupois pound is established by statute at 7000 troy grains, the quarter ounce containing 109 grs. 375, and the drachm 27, gr. 34375, are most inconvenient numbers for reduction.