Prop., &c. Draconine has a fine red colour; is tasteless, inodorous, and flexible; it fuses at 131° Fahr. The smallest quantity of carbonate of lime in filtering paper may be detected by sulphate of draconine, the yellow colour instantly turning red.
“DRAGEES AU LACTATE DE FER.” (Gélis & Conté.) 100 grammes of lactate of iron made into 2,000 very small pills with powder and mucilage of marshmallow, and coated with eleosaccharate of anise. (Reveil.)
DRAGEES DE COPAHU DE FORTIN. 30 grammes balsam of copaiba made into 72 dragées, with 1·2 grammes calcined magnesia, and coated first with gum arabic and then with sugar. (Reveil.)
DRAGEES DE CUBEBE AU COPAHU. Cubebines (Labelonye). 2 parts balsam of copaiba, 2 parts extract of cubebs, 1 part yolk of egg, with sufficient liquorice powder to make a mass, which is divided into oblong pills, each weighing 7 decigrammes. These are dried and coated with white or raw sugar. (Hager.)
DRAGEES DE POUGUES. (Garnier.) Chloride of calcium, 50 parts; chloride of magnesium, 50 parts; chloride of iron, 10 parts; dissolved in water and precipitated with sodium carbonate. The precipitate is washed, pressed, and mixed with 100 parts bicarbonate of soda. Of this mixture 25 parts are made into a mass with 475 parts of a paste of sugar, peppermint, oil, and mucilage. The mass is then divided into dragées weighing 5 decigrammes, which are coated with gum and sugar. (Reveil.)
DRAGON’S BLOOD. Syn. Sanguis draconis, L. A rich red-coloured resin, obtained from various species of the genus Calamus. Its colour, in the lump, is a dark brownish-red; in powder, bright red. It is friable, breaks with a shining fracture, and has a sp. gr. not higher than 1·196 or 1·197. When pure, it readily dissolves in alcohol, ether, and oils, yielding rich red, transparent solutions. Adulterated and factitious dragon’s blood is only partly soluble, and lacks the rich colour of the genuine article. Dragon’s blood is chiefly used to tinge varnishes and lacquers.
Dragon’s Blood, Factitious. Prep. 1. Shell-lac, 4 lbs.; melt, remove from the fire, and add, Canada balsam, 6 oz., and gum benzoin, 2 oz.;
mix well, stir in red sanders wood, 11⁄2 lb., and Venetian red, 3⁄4 lb. (both in fine powder); and form the mass into sticks.
2. As the last, omitting the red Venetian.
DRAINS. The salubrity of a dwelling-house is largely dependent upon the sound condition, the unimpeded outlet from, and the proper construction and position of, its drains, supplemented by like conditions in the various house-pipes which run from the sinks and closets into them.