[365]. The best mode of using alum as a styptic is that of a tepid saturated solution. In this form it proves much more efficacious in arresting hemorrhage than in the usual way of applying it. Dr. Scudamore, to whom we are indebted for this observation, has detailed some striking and interesting experiments satisfactorily proving its correctness. See “Scudamore on the Blood.” p. 157.—Ed.
[366]. Godfrey’s Smelling Salts. This highly pungent preparation is obtained by resubliming the common sub-carbonate of ammonia with pearlash, and a proportion of rectified spirit. The sub-carbonate of potass in this case, abstracts a fresh portion of carbonic acid from the ammoniacal salt. Its atomic composition has not yet been ascertained, but it will probably be found to consist of equal atoms of carbonic acid and ammonia, and must therefore be a true Carbonate.
[367]. It appears that this is not the only article that has suffered in its quality by the cheap materials which have been brought into the market from those works. I understand that the practical chemist can obtain little or no Naphtha from the Barbadoes Tar, owing to its adulteration with the residue of the gas light process.
[368]. Noyau.—Crème de Noyau. Bitter Almonds blanched 1 oz. Proof spirit half a pint, Sugar 4 oz. It is sometimes coloured with cochineal. The foreign Noyau, although differently prepared, is indebted to the same principle for its qualities. It is a liqueur of a fascinating nature, and cannot be taken to any considerable extent without danger; the late Duke Charles of Lorraine nearly lost his life from swallowing some “Eau de Noyau,” (water distilled from Peach kernels) too strongly impregnated. Journal des Debats, 22, Decembre, 1814.
[369]. Almond Paste. This Cosmetic for softening the skin and preventing chaps, is made as follows: Bitter almonds blanched 4 oz.; the white of an egg; rose water and rectified spirit, equal parts, as much as is sufficient.
[370]. For the derivation of this term, and remarks thereon, see p. 38. (Note).
[371]. The fecula of various grains are employed as articles of diet for the sick, e. g. Sago, prepared from the pith of the Cycas Circinalis, its granular form is imparted to it by passing it, when half dry, through a coarse sieve. Salop, from the Orchis Mascula. Tapioca from the root of the Jatropa Manhiot. By expressing the root of this plant, the juice of which is extremely acrid, and baking the cake that is left, an alimentary substance is prepared called Cassava, the peculiar merit of which, like tapioca, is to swell and soften in water, and thus to make an excellent pudding. Arrow Root is from the Maranta Arundinacea. The arrow root however, usually sold, is the fecula of potatoes; 100 lbs. of which would yield about 10 lbs. of fecula, and it is worthy of remark that for this purpose frozen potatoes answer as well as those not spoiled by the frost. Dr. Ainslie, in his Materia Medica of Hindostan, informs us that “an excellent Arrow root, if it may be so called, is now prepared in the Travancore country from the root of the Curcuma Angustifolia, no way inferior to that obtained from the Maranta Arundinacea.”
[372]. The method of deducing the value of seeds, from their relative weights, appears to have been one of the earliest instances of the art of taking specific gravities; thus Pliny (Nat. Hist. lib. xviii.) estimated the relative weights of several species of grain.
[373]. Chamomile Drops. The nostrum sold under this name is a spirit flavoured with the essential oil of Chamomile. It is very obvious that it cannot possess the bitter tonic of the flowers.
[374]. The Everlasting Pill of the ancients consisted of metallic Antimony, which being slightly soluble in the gastric juice was supposed to exert the property of purging as often as it was swallowed. This was economy in right earnest, for a single pill would serve a whole family during their lives, and might be transmitted as an heir-loom to their posterity. We have heard of a Lady who having swallowed one of these pills, became seriously alarmed at its not passing; upon sending however for her physician, he consoled her with the assurance that it had already passed through a hundred patients with the best effect.