Chapter XLII: Part 2 (3)

1853.——_Total._
1. Spring. 2. Autumn. 3. Winter. 4. Summer.

“So far, therefore, as seasons are concerned, the above table proves that spring, _i.e._ April, May, June, is the most inimical quarter to phthisical patients, and probably Autumn——October, November, December, the least so. In London at least, if not throughout England generally, the spring is undoubtedly the most obnoxious to consumptive cases; and this statement is in accordance with the experience of those physicians who have opportunities of seeing the rise, progress, and end of many hundreds of phthisical patients during the year. Dr Richard Quain observes that the cold easterly wind of spring completes the work, which the winter had left undone.”[103]

[Footnote 103: ‘Climate, Weather, and Disease,’ by Dr Haviland.]

That greater or less destruction of the lungs, which is characteristic of pulmonary phthisis, originates in the presence in them of a diseased growth, consisting of very minute masses or grains, which are sometimes grey, and at others yellow or cheeselike in appearance.

These little bodies are either diffused uniformly through the substance of the lungs, or are collected together in them in larger or smaller masses. In the latter case, each little mass generally sets up in the surrounding tissue of the lungs, inflammation and suppuration, which, although only processes by which nature endeavours to expel the alien substance from the lung, may, by constant repetition, cause the destruction of the greater part of the respiratory organs.

=PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX.= In 1866 M. Delorme, of Arles, in the South of France, was the first to suggest that a peculiar disease which had manifested itself the previous year amongst the vines growing in the plateau of Pujaut on the west bank of the river Rhone, in the Department of the Gard, was of a new and specific character.

Shortly afterwards a commission appointed by the Herault Agricultural Society visited one of the infested localities, and one of its members, M. Planchon, confirmed M. Delorme’s conjectures, by discovering the cause of the vine malady. This he conclusively showed was due to the presence of a peculiar and hitherto unknown description of _Aphis_, belonging to the genus _Phylloxera_, which, as illustrative of its devastating qualities, he named _P. vastatrix_.

A full-grown _Phylloxera vastatrix_ does not exceed more than the 33rd or 40th of an inch in length. Examined under a microscope, in addition to short pointed legs, it is seen to be furnished with a proboscis nearly half as long as its body. Upon examination this proboscis seems to be composed of three tongues, of which the centre one is the longest, and these are united at their base into a kind of flat, sharp-pointed blade, which is the boring or puncturing apparatus, by the aid of which the insect pierces into the roots, from which it sucks the juices that constitutes its food. About half the proboscis or sucker is inserted into the bark of the root, and the creature can not only attach itself to the root by means of it, but can also turn on it, as on a pivot, when engaged in the depredations.

These are continued from April to October, by which month the insect has lost the yellow colour that distinguishes it in the summer months, and assumed a copper brown shade.

From October to April the Phylloxera hybernate, or rather, such of them do as have laid no eggs during the period of their active existence, for the egg-laying females die, and young phylloxeræ only are preserved during the winter months.

With the return of April they awake from their winter sleep, and recommence their devastating career. They then increase rapidly in size and begin to lay unimpregnated eggs, for there are at that time no males. “These bring forth females which in their turn develop and lay unimpregnated eggs, and the virginal reproduction continues for five or six generations, the development increasing in rapidity with the heat, but the prolificacy or the number of the eggs decreases.

“In July some of the individuals show little wing-pads at the sides, and begin to issue from the ground and acquire wings. These winged individuals become very numerous in August, and continue to appear in diminishing numbers thereafter till the leaves have all fallen. They are all females and carry in their abdomen from three to eight eggs of two sizes, the larger ones about 2/100ths of an inch long and half as wide; the smaller 3/4th as long. These eggs are also unimpregnated and are laid by preference on the under side of the more tender leaves, attached by one end, amid the natural down. They increase somewhat in size, and give birth in about ten days to the true sexual individuals, the larger producing females, the smaller, males.

“Anomalous as it may seem these creatures are born perfect, though without mouth, and with no other than the reproductive function.

“A most remarkable fact, discovered by Babiani, is that some of the females never acquire wings, but always remain on the roots, also produce the few different sized eggs from which these true, mouthless males and females hatch. The sexes pair soon after hatching, and the female is delivered on the 3rd or 4th day of a solitary egg, and then perishes. This egg is never laid on the leaf, but always on the wood, either under the bark, or in sheltered situations above ground, or on the roots underground. The young hatching from it is the normal agamous mother, which, with increased vigour and fertility, lays a large number of eggs, and recommences the virginal reproduction and the cycle of the species’ curious life. The impregnated eggs laid early in the season doubtless hatch the same year, though some of the later deposited ones may pass the winter before hatching.”[104]

[Footnote 104: Riley.]

The parts of the vine attacked by the Phylloxera are the rootlets, which in a diseased plant, may be seen more or less covered with what appears to the naked eye, a yellowish powder, but upon a microscopic examination reveals itself as a mixture of phylloxeræ of different sizes, and of their eggs.

During August and September, the phylloxeræ invest the rootlets in countless numbers, and are so abundant as to entirely obscure the colour of the roots, and to cause them to appear yellow from the enormous number of their minute organisms.

The effect of the attacks of the parasite upon the rootlets is to give rise in it to the formation of a number of little tumefactions or enlargements. These in course of time decay, and their destruction results in the death of the plant.

Exposure to air and sunlight acts fatally to the Phylloxera, shrivelling and drying it up. Hence its instinct of self-preservation, no less than its search after its food, leads it to bury itself beneath the surface of the soil. But, as the insect does not possess an organisation that fits it for burrowing, the character of the soil has a great deal to do in affording facilities or the reverse favorable to its existence.

If the soil be of such a nature, that it splits easily into fissures or cracks, which better lead to or serve to expose the vine roots, it will of course afford a much more easy means of access to the parasite than if it be compact or close.

Hence it is that clayey and chalk soils, from their liability to split up on the surface, afford much more congenial habitats for the Phylloxera than sandy ones, which, being dry and closely-knit, afford a much more impenetrable barrier to the entrance of the insect, or to its subterranean movements.

These statements are borne out by the fact that where the disease has shown itself it has been found to vary in extent and intensity in proportion as the soil of the vineyard is more or less clayey; and many instances are known in which patches of a vineyard have continued unaffected amidst the surrounding devastation, owing to the absence in those particular parts of the soil, of the argillaceous element.

A forcible illustration of this malign influence of clay in the soil is afforded by the following analyses of two specimens of earth taken from the same vineyard. The specimen marked “healthy” was from a small plot of ground in which the vines were perfectly sound; that distinguished as “unhealthy” formed by far the greater portion of the soil of the vineyard, the plants growing in which were all suffering from the ravages of the parasite:——

Healthy. Unhealthy.
Water 2·25 3·20
Nitrogen 0·11 0·12
Sulphate of calcium 0·62 0·42
Chloride of sodium 1·15 0·18
Carbonate of calcium 49·00 42·00
Siliceous sand 23·50 10·20
Clay 17·75 37·50
Organic substances }
and error of analysis.} 5·62 6·38
———————— ————————
100·00 100·00

From the locality already indicated, where it had first developed itself in 1865, the vine disease gradually extended until, in the year 1873, it was ravaging the vineyards of the Gard, Vaucluse, Isère, Herault, Drôme, Bouches du Rhone, Ardèche, Basses-Alpes, Var, the Gironde, and the Charentes, since which time it has gradually continued to spread into the adjacent districts.

“We may gain a more precise idea than can be afforded by a mere observation of the geographical extension of the disease, of the disastrous nature of the ravages of the Phylloxera, by the examination of some of the statistics of the grape-crop in successive years, in some of the departments attacked. Thus, in the Department of Vaucluse, where the disease showed itself in 1866, there were in 1866, according to the results obtained by the departmental commission instituted at Avignon to observe on the new vine-disease, 6000 hectares absolutely dead or dying, and a much larger number already attacked, which have since succumbed to the parasite. Out of the 30,000 hectares of vineyards comprised in this department, 25,000, or five sixths of the total area, have been destroyed. In the Gard, where the vine flourishes better than in the above-mentioned department, the ravages of the disease are yet most terrible; for in 1871, in the Arrondissement of Uzes, but one half of the average crop was produced, and in the Arrondissement of Nismes a tenth part of the crop was destroyed. These proportions, moreover, have increased since that year.

“If we examine the mischief done in the less extended areas of the communes, we shall obtain a still clearer idea of the rapid spread of the disease:——

“COMMUNE OF GRAVESON.

1865-66-67 mean crop 10,000 hectolitres.
1868 ” 5,500 ”
1869 ” 2,200 ”
1870 ” 400 ”
1871 ” 205 ”
1872 ” 100 ”
1873 ” 50 ”

“In the Commune of Maillanne the crop in 1868 was only 40 per cent. of the average of the three preceding years, while in 1869 it was only 10 per cent. In the Commune of Eyragues the crop in 1868 was about 33 per cent. of the average of the three preceding years, and in 1869 there was a further falling off of about 10 per cent. In 1870 the crop in the three above-named communes was almost entirely destroyed. From instances such as these, fairly selected from many others equally tragic in their stern figures, we may form some idea of the magnitude of the disaster. Indeed, it is difficult to see, so rapid is the extension of the disease, how, unless some potent and effective remedy can be soon applied, any vine-bearing district in France can escape the visitation of the Phylloxera.”[105]

[Footnote 105: ‘Nature,’ vol. x.]

The French Government, fully alive to the peril threatening the staple product of their country, shortly after the appearance of the Phylloxera in the vineyards of France, offered through their Minister of Commerce and Agriculture a reward of 300,000 francs for the discovery of a means of arresting and stopping its ravages; and in 1871 the Academy of Sciences, at Paris appointed a commission, presided over by the celebrated chemist M. Dumas, to investigate the biology, habits, &c., of the parasite, together with the nature of the injuries it inflicted upon the vine, the area of its depredations, &c. From amongst the members of this commission three gentlemen were chosen to visit the infected districts, so as to be afforded an opportunity of studying the Phylloxera at its destructive work, and its environments of soil, situation, temperature, &c.

The delegates selected by the Commission were MM. Balbiani, Cornu, and Duclaux, respectively amongst the most distinguished living representatives of zoology, botany, and chemistry in France, and the results of their labours was the issue, some few years back, of a most exhaustive and valuable report to the Academy of Sciences on the subject of the Phylloxera.

The vines of other countries besides those of France have also suffered from the attacks of the Phylloxera. Thus it has made its appearance in the vineyards of Algiers, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Australia, and North America, on all of which it has been productive of more or less serious injury to the vintage.

Amongst the numberless remedies that have been suggested and tried, with varying but by no means uniform or satisfactory results, for the destruction of the Phylloxera, may be mentioned sulphur, the sulphites, tobacco, caustic soda, and potash, bisulphide of carbon, coal-tar, soft soap, lime, the immersion of the vine in sulpho-carbonate of potassium, and the application around the roots of sand.

A certain amount of success, it has been said, has attended the employment of the sulpho-carbonate of potassium and sand.

An American botanist, Mr Riley, recommends the importation into French vineyards of the American vines, which he suggests should be employed as stocks on which to graft the French ones.

The American plant being of a hardy nature, he believes its incorporation with the more susceptible French ones, would give rise to a vine sufficiently vigorous to resist, or at any rate not to be injured by the ravages of the parasite.

=PHYSIC BALLS.= See VETERINARY MEDICINES.

=PHYSOSTIGMATIS FABA.= See CALABAR BEAN.

=PI′CA.= Depraved appetite.

=PIC′AMAR.= One of the peculiar principles discovered by Reichenbach in beech-tar, and described by him as a viscid, colourless, oily liquid, only feebly odorous, but intensely bitter; insoluble in water; freely soluble in alcohol, ether, and oils; boiling point 520° Fahr.; sp. gr. 1·095. See KREASOTE.

=PICCALIL′LI.= See PICKLES.

=PICK′LE.= The liquor in which substances used as food are preserved. That for flesh is commonly brine; that for vegetables, vinegar; both of which are commonly flavoured with spices, &c.

_Prep._ 1. (FOR MEAT.)——_a._ From bay salt, 3 lbs.; saltpetre, 2-1/2 oz.; moist sugar, 1 lb.; allspice and black pepper, of each (bruised) 1 oz.; water, 9 pints; simmer them together in a clean covered iron or enamelled vessel for 7 or 8 minutes; when the whole has cooled, remove the scum, and pour it over the articles to be preserved. Used for hams, tongues, beef, &c., to which it imparts a fine red colour and a superior flavour.

_b._ From bay salt and common salt, of each 2 lbs.; moist sugar, 1 lb.; saltpetre, 1/2 lb.; allspice (bruised), 1/2 oz.; water, 1 gall,; as before. Used chiefly for pork and hams. Common salt may be substituted for bay salt, but it is less powerfully antiseptic, and the flavour is less grateful.

2. (For VEGETABLES.)——_a._ Strong distilled vinegar, to each quart of which 1-1/2 oz. of good salt has been added.

_b._ Good distilled vinegar, 4 pints; common salt, 2-1/2 oz.; black pepper, 1/2 oz.; unbleached Jamaica ginger, 2-1/2 oz. (the last two bruised, but not dusty); mace (shredded), 1/4 oz.; simmer in an enamelled iron or stoneware vessel, as above, and strain through flannel. Sometimes a little capsicum is added. Used either hot or cold, according to the vegetable it is intended to preserve.

=Pickle, Lemon.= See SAUCES.

=PICKLES.= These well-known articles are easily prepared of the finest quality. The vegetables and fruit, selected of the proper quality and at the proper season, after being well cleansed with cold spring water, are steeped for some time in strong brine; they are then drained and dried, and transferred to bottles or jars; the spice (if any) is then added, the bottles filled up with hot, strong, pickling vinegar, and at once securely corked down and tied over with bladder. As soon as the bottles are cold the corks are dipped into melted wax, the more surely to preserve them air-tight. Good wood or distilled vinegar is commonly used for this purpose; but the best malt or white wine vinegar of the strength known as No. 22 or 24 is exclusively employed for the finer pickles which are not spiced. In those for early use the ‘steep’ may be made in hot or boiling brine, by which the product will be ready for the table in a much shorter period; but with substances of a succulent and flabby nature, as cabbage, cauliflower, some fruit, &c., or in which crispness is esteemed a mark of excellence, this is inadmissible. To such articles the vinegar should also be added cold, or, at furthest, should be only slightly warmed. As a general rule, the softer and more delicate articles do not require so long soaking in brine as the harder and coarser kinds; and they may be often advantageously pickled by simply pouring very strong pickling vinegar over them without applying heat. It must also be observed that beetroot, and other like substances which are sliced, as well as certain delicate fruits, must not be steeped at all. The spice is commonly added whole to the bottles; but a more economical plan is to steep it (bruised) for some time, or to simmer it in the vinegar before using the latter, as in the forms given under PICKLE (_above_).

The spices and flavouring ingredients employed for pickles are——allspice, black and white pepper, capsicums or red pods, cloves, garlic, ginger, horseradish, lemon peel, mace, mustard, shallots, and turmeric. These are chosen with reference to the particular variety of the pickle, or the taste of the consumer.

A good SPICED VINEGAR for pickles generally is the following:——Bruise in a mortar 2 oz. of black pepper, 1 oz. of ginger, 1/2 oz. of allspice, and 1 oz. of salt. If a hotter pickle is desired, add 1/2 dr. of cayenne, or a few capsicums. For walnuts, add also 1 oz. of shallots. Put these into a stone jar, with a quart of vinegar, and cover them with a bladder wetted with the pickle, and over this place a piece of leather. Set the jar on a trivet near the fire for 3 days, shaking it 3 times a day, then pour it on the walnuts or other vegetables. For walnuts it is used hot, but for cabbage, &c., cold. To save time it is usual to simmer the vinegar gently with the spices; which is best done in an enamelled saucepan.

In the preparation of pickles it is highly necessary to avoid the use of metallic vessels, as both vinegar and brine rapidly corrode brass, copper, lead, &c., and thus become poisonous. These liquids may be best heated or boiled in a stoneware jar by the heat of a water bath or a stove. Common glazed earthenware should be avoided, either for making or keeping the pickles in, as the glazing usually contains lead. Pickles should also be kept from the air as much as possible, and should only be touched with wooden or bone spoons. They are also better prepared in small jars, or bottles, than in large ones, as the more frequent opening of the latter exposes them too much. Copper or verdigris is frequently added to pickles to impart a green colour, or the vinegar is boiled in a copper vessel until sufficiently ‘greened’ before pouring it on the vegetables. This poisonous addition may be readily detected by any of the tests mentioned under COPPER. If a green colour be desired, it may be imparted to the vinegar, and ultimately to the pickles, by steeping vine leaves, or the leaves of parsley or spinach, in it. A teaspoonful of olive oil may be advantageously added to each bottle to keep the pickles white, and to promote their preservation.

⁂ The following list includes the leading pickles of the shops, and some others:——

=Barberries.= From the ripe fruit, without heat.

=Beans.= From the young green pods of the scarlet bean, and the French or kidney bean, with heat.

=Beetroot.= From the sliced root, without steeping in brine, and with cold spiced vinegar. When wanted for immediate use the vinegar may be used boiling hot.

=Broccoli.= As CAULIFLOWERS.

=Cabbage.= This, either red or white, is cut into thin slices, and steeped in strong brine or sprinkled with common salt, and allowed to lie for 1 or 2 days; after which it is drained for 10 or 12 hours in a warm room, and then put into jars or bottles, with or without a little mace and white peppercorns, and at once covered with cold, strong, white vinegar.——Another plan is to steep the sliced cabbage in alum water for 10 or 12 hours, and, after draining and drying it, to pour the vinegar upon it as before. The product of the last formula eats very fresh and crisp, but takes longer to mature than that of the other. Some persons add a little salt with the vinegar; and others mix slices of red beet with the cabbage.

=Capsicums.= As GHERKINS.

=Cauliflowers.= As CABBAGE (nearly). Or, they may be steeped in hot brine for 1 or 2 hours before pouring the vinegar over them.

=Cherries.= From the scarcely ripe fruit, bottled, and covered with strong and colourless pickling vinegar.

=Codlins.= As BEANS.

=Cucumbers.= As GHERKINS.

=Elderflowers.= From the clusters, just before they open, as RED CABBAGE. A beautiful pickle.

=English Bamboo.= From the young shoots of elder, denuded of the outer skin, pickled in brine for 12 or 14 hours; then bottled with a little white pepper, ginger, mace, and allspice, and pickled with boiling vinegar. Excellent with boiled mutton.

=Eschalots.= With boiling spiced vinegar, or spices added to each bottle.

=French Beans.= See _above_.

=Garlic.= As ESCHALOTS.

=Gherkins.= From small cucumbers (not too young), steeped for a week in very strong brine; this last is then poured off, heated to the boiling point, and again poured on the fruit; the next day the gherkins are drained on a sieve, wiped dry, put into bottles or jars with some spice (ginger, pepper, or cayenne), and at once covered with strong pickling vinegar, boiling hot. Several other pickles may be prepared in the same way.

=Gooseberries.= From the green fruit, as either CABBAGE or CAULIFLOWERS.

=Indian Mango.= From green peaches. (See _below_.)

=Indian Pickle.= _Syn._ PICCALILLI. This is a mixed pickle which is characterised by being highly flavoured with curry-powder, or turmeric, mustard, and garlic. The following form is commonly used:——Take 1 hard white cabbage (sliced), 2 cauliflowers (pulled to pieces), some French beans, 1 stick of horseradish (sliced), about 2 dozen small white onions, and 1 dozen gherkins; cover them with boiling brine; the next day drain the whole on a sieve, put into a jar, and add, of curry-powder or turmeric, 2 oz.; garlic, ginger, and mustard seed, of each 1 oz.; capsicums, 1/2 oz.; fill up the vessel with hot pickling vinegar, bung it up close, and let it stand for a month, with occasional agitation. See MIXED PICKLES (_below_).

=Lemons.= From the fruit, slit half way down into quarters, and cored, put into a dish, and sprinkled with a little salt; in about a week the whole is placed in jars or bottles with a little turmeric and capsicums, and covered with hot vinegar.

=Limes.= As the last.

=Mangoes.= As LEMONS, adding mustard seed and a little garlic, with spices at will. ENGLISH MANGOES are made from cucumbers or small melons, split and deprived of their seeds.

=Melons.= As LEMONS (nearly).

=Mixed Pickles.= From white cabbage, cauliflowers, French beans, cucumbers, onions, or any other of the ordinary pickling vegetables, at will (except red cabbage or walnuts) treated as GHERKINS; with raw ginger, capsicum, mustard seed, and long pepper, for spice, added to each bottle. A little coarsely bruised turmeric improves both the colour and flavour.

=Mushrooms.= From the small button mushrooms, cleansed with cold spring water, and gently wiped dry with a towel, then placed in bottles, with a blade or two of mace, and covered with the strongest white pickling vinegar, boiling hot.

=Myrobalans.= The yellow myrobalan preserved in strong brine. Gently aperient.

=Nasturtiums.= From the unripe or scarcely ripe fruit, simply covered with cold strong vinegar; or, as CABBAGE or GHERKINS.

=Onions.= From the small button or filbert onion, deprived of the outer coloured skin, and either at once put into bottles and covered with strong white pickling vinegar, or previously steeped for a day or two in strong brine or alum water. When required for early use, the vinegar should be poured on boiling hot.

=Peaches.= From the scarcely ripe fruit, as GHERKINS.

=Peas.= As BEANS or CAULIFLOWERS.

=Piccalilli.= See INDIAN PICKLE.

=Radish Pods.= As BEANS or GHERKINS.

=Samphire.= From the perennial samphire (_Erythmum maritimum_), covered with strong vinegar, to each pint of which 3/4 oz. of salt has been added, and poured on boiling hot. Said to excite the appetite.

=Tomatoes.= From the common tomato or love apple, as GHERKINS.

=Walnuts.= From the young fruit of _Juglans regia_, or common walnut:——1. Steep them in strong brine for a week, then bottle them, add spice, and pour on the vinegar boiling hot.

2. On each pint of the nuts, spread on a dish, sprinkle 1 oz. of common salt; expose them to the sun or a full light for 10 or 12 days, frequently basting them with their own liquor; lastly, bottle them, and pour on the vinegar, boiling hot.

3. (Dr Kitchener.) Gently simmer the fruit in brine, then expose it on a cloth for a day or two, or until it turns black; next put it into bottles or jars, pour hot spiced vinegar over it, and cork down immediately. In this way the pickle becomes sufficiently mature for the table in half the time required for that prepared by the common method. Dr Kitchener also recommends this parboiling process for several other pickles. Some persons pierce the fruit with an awl or stocking-needle, in several places, in order to induce early maturation. The spices usually employed are mustard seed, allspice, and ginger, with a little mace and garlic.

=PIC′OLINE.= An oily substance, discovered by Dr Anderson, associated with aniline, chinoline, and some other volatile bases, in certain varieties of coal-tar naphtha.

=PIC′RIC ACID.= HC_{6}H_{2}(NO_{2})_{3}O. _Syn._ CARBAZOTIC ACID, NITROPHENISIC ACID, TRINITROPHENISIC ACID. A peculiar compound formed by the action of strong nitric acid on indigo, aloes, wool, and several other substances.

_Prep._ 1. Add, cautiously and gradually, 1 part of powdered indigo to 10 or 12 parts of hot nitric acid of the sp. gr. 1·43; when the reaction has moderated and the scum has fallen, add an additional quantity of nitric acid, and boil the whole until red fumes are no longer evolved; redissolve the crystals of impure picric acid deposited in boiling distilled water, and remove any oily matter found floating on the surface of the solution by means of bibulous paper; a second time redissolve in boiling water the crystals which form as the liquid cools, saturate the new solution with carbonate of potassa, and set it aside to crystallise; the crystals of picrate of potassium thus obtained must be purified by several re-solutions and re-crystallisations, and next decomposed by nitric acid; the crystals deposited as the liquid cools yield pure picric acid by again dissolving them in boiling water, and re-crystallisation.

2. Dissolve the yellow resin of _Xanthorrhœa hastilis_ (Botany Bay Gum) in a sufficiency of strong nitric acid. Red vapours are evolved, accompanied by violent frothing, and a deep red solution is produced, which turns yellow after boiling. Evaporate this solution over a water bath. A yellow crystalline mass is deposited, which consists of picric acid with small quantities of oxalic and nitrobenzoic acids. The picric acid is purified by neutralising the yellow mass with potassa, and crystallising twice out of water. The pure picrate of potassium thus obtained is decomposed by hydrochloric acid, and the liberated picric acid is purified by two crystallisations. This process, devised by Stenhouse, is one of the best, and yields a quantity of the acid amounting to 50% of the resin employed.

_Prop., &c._ Brilliant yellow scales, scarcely soluble in cold water, but very soluble in boiling water, and in alcohol and ether; fusible; volatile; taste insupportably bitter, and very permanent. It forms salts with the bases (picrates, carbazotates), mostly possessing a yellow colour, and exploding when heated. The picrate of lead has been proposed as a fulminating powder for percussion caps. The picrate of potassium has been given with advantage in intermittent fevers. A solution of picric acid in alcohol is an excellent test for potassa, if there be not too much water present, as it throws down a yellow crystalline precipitate with that alkali, but forms a very soluble salt with soda. Most of the picrates may be made by the direct solution of the carbonate, hydrate, or oxide of the metal, in a solution of the acid in hot water. The picrate of silver forms beautiful starry groups of acicular crystals, having the colour and lustre of gold.

The principal use of crude picric acid is for dyeing yellow. It is said to be largely employed for the adulteration of beer. It is, however, highly poisonous. According to Prof. Rapp, it acts deleteriously both when swallowed and applied to the unsound skin. Five grains seriously affected a large dog, and killed it within twenty-four hours. It induces vomiting, feebleness, and general loss of nervous tone. The tissues of animals poisoned by it (even the white of the eye) were tinged of a yellow colour. See PORTER, &c.

=PICROTOX′IN.= C_{12}H_{14}O_{5}. _Syn._ PICROTOXINE, PICTROTOXIA, PICROTOXINA. A poisonous principle discovered by Boullay in the fruit of _Anamirta paniculata_, or _Cocculus indicus_.

_Prep._ 1. Precipitate a decoction of _Cocculus indicus_ with a solution of acetate of lead, gently evaporate to dryness, redissolve the residuum in alcohol of ·817, and crystallise by evaporation; repeat the solution and crystallisation a second and a third time. Any adhering colour may be removed by agitating it with a very little water; or by animal charcoal, in the usual manner.

2. (Kane.) Alcoholic extract of _Cocculus indicus_ is exhausted with the smallest possible quantity of water, and the mixed liquors filtered; to the filtrate hydrochloric acid is added, and the whole set aside to crystallise. The product may be purified as before.

_Prop., &c._ It forms small, colourless, stellated needles; soluble in alcohol, ether, and acetic acid, and feebly so in water; boiling water dissolves it freely; taste of solutions inexpressibly bitter; reaction neutral. It does not combine with acids, as formerly asserted, but it forms feeble combinations with some of the bases. It is a powerful intoxicant and narcotico-acrid poison. It acts powerfully on the spinal cord and nervous system generally, occasioning an increase of the animal temperature, and peculiar movements, similar to those described by Flourens as resulting from sections of the cerebellum. It is frequently present in malt liquors, owing to their common adulteration with _Cocculus indicus_.

=PICTURES, Oil.= To clean. See PAINTINGS, OIL.

=PIERRE DIVINE.= _Syn._ CUPRUM ALUMINATUM. See LAPIS DIVINUS.

=PIES.= Alexis Soyer gives the following instructions for making pies:——

To make a pie to perfection,——when your paste (half-puff or short) is carefully made, and your dish or form properly full, throw a little flour on your paste-board, take about a 1/4 lb. of your paste, which roll with your hand until (say) an inch in circumference; then moisten the rim of your pie-dish, and fix the paste equally on it with your thumb. When you have rolled your paste for the covering, or upper crust, of an equal thickness throughout, and in proportion to the contents of your pie (1/2 inch is about the average), fold the cover in two, lay it over one half of your pie, and turn the other half over the remaining part; next press it slightly with your thumb round the rim, cut neatly the rim of the paste, form rather a thick edge, and mark this with a knife about every quarter of an inch apart; observing to hold your knife in a slanting direction, which gives it a neat appearance; lastly, make two small holes on the top, and egg-over the whole with a paste-brush, or else use a little milk or water. Any small portion of paste remaining may be shaped to fanciful designs, and placed as ornaments on the top.

“For meat pies, observe that, if your paste is either too thick or too thin, the covering too narrow or too short, and requires pulling one way or the other, to make it fit, your pie is sure to be imperfect, the covering no longer protecting the contents. It is the same with fruit; and if the paste happens to be rather rich, it pulls the rim of the pie to the dish, soddens the paste, makes it heavy, and, therefore, indigestible as well as unpalatable.”

Meat pies require the addition of either cayenne, or black pepper, or allspice; and fruit pies, of enough sugar to sweeten, with mace, ginger, cloves, or lemon peel, according to taste and the substance operated on. See PASTRY, &c.

=PIG.= The pig or hog (_Sus scrofa_——Linn.), one of the common pachydermata, is now domesticated in all the temperate climates of the world. Its flesh constitutes pork, bacon, ham, &c.; its fat (lard) is officinal in the Pharmacopœias. The skin, bristles, and even the blood and intestines of this animal, are either eaten as food or turned to some useful purpose in the arts. See PORK, LEATHER, &c.

=PIG′MENTS.= These are noticed under the _respective colours_.

=PIG-STYE.= In order that a pig-stye may not become a nuisance and a danger to health it is essential that the liquid excrement of the pig should be carried off by means of an effective and well-covered drain, and that the solid matters should be frequently removed.

Should it come to the knowledge of the sanitary inspector of the district that a pig-stye is deficient in this particular, the inspector has power to compel the owner of the stye to construct proper drainage.

Urban authorities have full powers in the matter of pig-styes, since under section 26 of the Public Health Act it is enacted “that the owner of any swine or pig-stye kept in a dwelling-house, or so as to be a nuisance to any person, is liable to a penalty of 40_s._ or less, and to a further penalty (if the offence is continued) of 5_s._ a day. The authority can also, if they choose, abate the nuisance themselves, and recover the expenses of such action from the occupier of the premises in a summary manner.

A rural authority has power to deal with the matter under provision 3, section 91, of the Public Health Act, which defines as a nuisance “any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health.”

=PIKE.= The _Esox lucius_ (Linn.), a fresh-water fish. It is remarkable for its voracity, but is highly esteemed by epicures. Various parts of it were formerly used in medicine. The fat (OLEUM LUCII PISCIS) was one of the simples of the Ph. L. of 1618, and was esteemed as a friction in catarrhs. It is even now used in some parts of Europe to disperse opacities of the cornea.

=PIL′CHARD.= The _Clupea pilchardus_, a fish closely resembling the common herring, than which, however, it is smaller, but thicker and rounder and more oily. It abounds on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, where it is not only consumed as food, but pressed for its oil.

=PILES.= _Syn._ HEMORRHOIDS; HÆMORRHOIDES, L. A painful disease occasioned by the morbid dilatations of the veins at the lower part of the rectum and surrounding the anus.

Piles are principally occasioned by costiveness and cold; and, occasionally, by the use of acrid food. They have been distinguished into——BLIND PILES, or a varicose state of the veins without bleeding,——MUCOUS PILES, when the tumours are excoriated, and mucus or pus is discharged,——BLEEDING PILES, when accompanied with loss of blood, and——EXCRESCENTIAL PILES, when there are loose fleshy excrescences about the verge of the anus and within the rectum.

The treatment of piles consists in the administration of mild aperients, as castor oil, or an electuary of sulphur and cream of tartar. When there is much inflammation or bleeding, cold and astringent lotions, as those of sulphate of zinc or alum, should be applied; and when the pain is considerable, fomentations of decoction of poppy heads may be used with advantage. To arrest the bleeding, ice is also frequently applied, but continued pressure is more certain. When the tumours are large and flaccid, the compound ointment of galls is an excellent application; and if there is a tendency to inflammation, a little liquor of diacetate of lead may be added. In confirmed piles the internal use of copaiba, or, still better, of the confection of black pepper, should be persevered in for some time, together with local applications. In severe cases the protruded tumours are removed by surgeons, by the knife or ligature. See OINTMENTS, ELECTUARIES, &c.

=PILL COCHIA.= See COMPOUND COLOCYNTH PILLS (_below_).

=PILL RUFI.= See PILLS OF ALOES WITH MYRRH (_below_).

=PILLS.= _Syn._ PILULÆ (Ph. E. & D.), PILULA (Ph. L.), L.; PILULES, SACCHAROLÉS SOLIDES, Fr. Pills are little balls, of a semi-solid consistence, composed of various medicinal substances, and intended to be taken whole. The facility with which they are made and administered, their comparatively little taste, their power of preserving their properties for a considerable length of time, and, lastly, their portability and inexpensiveness, have long rendered them the most frequently employed and the most popular form of medicine.

The rapid and skilful preparation of pills, from all the numerous substances of which they are composed, is justly considered to demand the highest qualifications in the practical dispenser. The medicinals employed must be made into a consistent and moderately firm mass, sufficiently plastic to be rolled or moulded into any shape, without adhering to the fingers, knife, or slab, and yet sufficiently solid to retain the globular form when divided into pills. A few substances, as certain extracts, &c., are already in this condition; but the others require the use of an excipient to give them the requisite bulk or consistence. As a general rule, all the constituents of a pill which can be pulverised should be reduced to fine powder before mixing them with the soft ingredients which enter into its composition; and these last, or the excipient, should next be gradually added, and the mixture triturated and beaten until the whole forms a perfectly homogeneous mass. It is then ready to be divided into pills. This is effected by rolling it on a slab, with a pill or bolus knife, into small pipes or cylinders, then dividing these into pieces of the requisite weight; and, lastly, rolling them between the thumb and finger to give them a globular form. A little powdered liquorice-root or starch is commonly employed to prevent the pills adhering to the fingers, or to each other, after they are made. Magnesia, so frequently used for this purpose, is unsuited for pills containing metallic salts or the alkaloids, or other remedies, which are exhibited in very small doses.

Instead of forming the mass into pills by hand, in the manner just referred to, a convenient and simple instrument, called a ‘pill-machine,’ is now generally used by the druggists for the purpose. This consists of two pieces. The first (see fig. 1) is divided into three compartments:——_c_ is a vacant space to receive the divided mass, which is to be rolled into pills:——_b_ is a grooved brass plate, which assists in dividing the mass into pills; and _a_ is a box for containing the powder for covering the pills, and to receive them as they are formed. The second (see fig. 2) consists of a brass plate (_a_), grooved to match the plate _b_ in fig. 1, and bounded at both ends by movable projecting plates (_b_ _b_), containing each two wheels under the ledge of the plate (_b_); and a wooden back (_c_), with two handles (_d_ _d_), to which this plate is affixed. In using this machine, the pill-mass is rolled into a cylindrical form on the front part of it, by means of fig. 2 inverted; the small roll is then laid on the cutting part of the instrument (1, _b_), and divided by passing fig. 2 over it, the little wheels enabling the latter to run easily on the brass plate which forms the margin of the bed of the machine. The pills, thus formed, are then drawn forward on to the smooth bed on which the mass was first rolled, and receiving a finishing turn or two with the smooth side of the ‘cutter,’ by which they are rendered more nearly spherical. They are, lastly, thrown over into 1, _c_, ready to be transferred to the pill-box.

The nature of the excipient should be suited to that of the active ingredients in pills, as well as in all other forms of medicine. Furthermore, it should be of such a nature “that,” to quote Dr Redwood, “it will modify as little as possible the action of the pills, either by causing them to become hard, or in any other way, and will not unnecessarily or inconveniently increase their size.” Soft extracts, and other substances of a like character, may be rendered more consistent by the addition of any simple powder, as that of liquorice or sugar. Vegetable powders are generally beaten up with syrup or treacle, and heavy powders with conserve of roses or extract of liquorice. Castile soap (made of olive oil and soda) and medicinal soft soap (made of olive oil and potash) are commonly employed for fatty and resinous matters, as well as for many others which are not decomposed by alkalies. When the chief ingredient of the mass is resin, rectified spirit is frequently used to soften it, either with or without the addition of soap to increase its solubility in the stomach. For many substances no excipient is required. Thus, most of the gum-resins and stiff extracts may be at once made into pills, or, at all events, after being slightly softened by heat. Mucilage, formerly so much used in the preparation of pills, is now only employed for those which are to be taken within a day or two after being made; as pills containing it become so hard and insoluble when kept for some time as to resist the action of the stomach, and frequently to pass through the bowels without even losing their form. Glycerin, as well as a mixture of glycerin and tragacanth made into a paste of proper consistence, are also employed as pill-excipients.

The use of glycerin as a pill-excipient has been advocated on account of its generally neutral properties, and also because its substitution for syrup, the conserves of roses, treacle, and such like substances, results in the production of a pill of smaller bulk. It seems to be suited for pills containing chemical substances, such as quinine, tannic acid, &c. It is said, however, to possess the disadvantage of making the pills moist on their surfaces. To obviate as much as possible this inconvenience, and to provide an absorbent for the superfluous moisture, Mr Martendale, an experienced pharmacist, recommends the employment of a mixture of glycerin and flour, of which he writes as follows:——“By stirring constantly and heating together until a temperature of about 240° F. is reached, 5 parts of glycerin by weight, and 1 part of flour, a firm adhesive paste is formed, which I shall call glycerin mass. As an excipient for vegetable powder it answers well, and for other substances on which it can exert a partially solvent action it is eminently useful. Among these are such salts as valerianate of zinc, 4 gr., which with 1 of the glycerin mass forms a good pill.

Quinine, 3 parts, with 1 of the glycerin mass, P. B. strength, works well. Compound powder of ipecacuanha, 5 gr., with 3/4 gr. of the mass, makes a good pill. Oxide of zinc, too, 4 gr. with 1, makes a good mass.

But for most mineral and insoluble powders it is too moist, and will not form with them a firm mass; some additional absorbent is necessary, and for this purpose I found nothing better than flour; equal parts of the glycerin mass and flour form a tolerably firm, solid, adhesive paste, somewhat resembling dough, but it is not so elastic; this I call bread mass. It possesses great capacity for the absorption of insoluble powders, such, for example, as calomel (3 gr. with 1-1/2 gr. of this mass makes a good pill), nitrate and carbonate of bismuth, arsenic, &c. Of reduced iron, 3 parts with 2 of it, form a good mass, in which the iron is not liable to oxidation. Carbolic acid, too, of which it is a good solvent, is readily made into a pill with the bread mass, a little additional flour being necessary for this substance. Then again, substances which are given in minute doses, as the salts of morphia, resin of podophyllum, and other active principles to partially dilute their action, or where an excipient is needed to partially increase the bulk of the pill, it is well adapted for use. And among the official pill masses an equal quantity of it can with great advantage be used to supplant confection of roses in all these, with the exception of pilula aloes cum ferro, for which the glycerin masses is needed, and pilula ferri carbonatis. This, too, requires the glycerin mass, with which it mixes well, but after a time the pills have a tendency to become moist. Mercurial pill I have not tried with it. The same quantity of this bread mass will replace the treacle in pilula scillæ composita. Equal parts of it and powdered soap, in place of powdered soap alone (if this might be permitted), form a much better mass than the official one of pilula saponis composita.

This pill mass, made strictly according to the Pharmacopœia, soon becomes set into a condition resembling a piece of soap, in which state much beating is necessary to make it again plastic.

Of the glycerin mass to be added to the Pharmacopœia quantities of——

Pil. cambogiæ comp. (_vice_ syrup), 1 oz., makes a good mass.

Pil. colocynth comp. (_vice_ water), 3 dr., makes a good mass, and does not get so hard.

Pil. hydrarg. subchlor. comp. (_vice_ castor oil), 1-1/2 oz., makes a good mass, but becomes slightly moist.

Pil. ipecac. cum scilla (_vice_ treacle), 1 oz., makes a good mass, which does not crumble.

Pil. rhei comp. (_vice_ 4 oz. of treacle), 2 oz., makes a good mass, and keeps tolerably plastic.

Among the other official pill masses which I have not tried with these excipients are pilula colocynthidis et hyoscyamic and pilula conii composita. These I find do not generally require any excipient, and pilula ferri iodidi, the starch contained in the flour, with that would not form an elegant preparation.

_Nitrate of silver_ is generally recommended in works on materia medica to be made into a pill with bread crumb, but this contains common salt, with which it is incompatible. I recommend the following formula, which is a modification of the bread mass:——

℞ Nitrate of silver 6 gr.
Distilled water 6 minims.
Dissolve, and add——
Glycerin mass 12 gr.
Flour 24 gr.

Mix to form a mass which may be divided into 2 gr. pills, each containing 1/4 gr. of nitrate of silver. The mass rolls out well. Keep them from exposure to the air and light.

For _Perchloride of Mercury_ Pills:——

℞ Perchloride of mercury 6 gr.
Distilled water 48 minims.

Heat in a test-tube till dissolved, and add to it——

Glycerin mass 48 gr.
Flour 96 ”

Mix well, and divide into 96 2-gr. pills, each of which will contain a sixteenth of a grain of perchloride of mercury.

Substances like nitrate of silver and perchloride of mercury may form different combinations with the albuminoid principles contained in the flour, but in such state they will probably be quite as readily assimilated, and have a similar medicinal action, as physiologists affirm that most metallic substances enter into the blood as albuminates. I have had some fear lest the gluten contained in the flour might favour some decomposition similar to fermentation, but such, from nearly two years’ use of them, I have never yet seen take place; the glycerin seems to check anything of the kind.

The crude gluten obtained in the moist condition from flour I find is nearly entirely soluble in glycerin, the solution does not appear to undergo any change when kept.

A mixture of glycerin and tragacanth is often used, and produces very similar results to those I have obtained from the glycerin mass. I have not had much experience with such a mixture, but I find it makes a more elastic paste, which is often a disadvantage, as it causes the pills to have a certain amount of springiness, and renders them difficult to form perfectly globular.

For dried sulphate of iron, of which a large quantity is sometimes ordered in a pill, I find syrup the best excipient. By this means 5 grains of this can be thus made into a pill.[106]

[Footnote 106: ‘Pharmaceutical Year Book.’]

It may be further remarked, that no deliquescent salt should enter into the composition of pills not intended for immediate use; and that when efflorescent salts are so employed they should be first freed from their water of crystallisation.

When the mixed ingredients are made into a mass (pill-mass), which it is not intended at once to divide into pills, it should be preserved in a piece of bladder or gut-skin placed in a covered stoneware or earthenware pot. In this state it may be occasionally moistened with a little weak spirit to prevent its getting hard.

The weight (size) of pills varies from 1/2 gr. to 6 gr. If heavier than this, they are called ‘boluses.’ Formerly, as a general rule, they were made of 5 gr. each; but pills of this weight are, in general, so large that some persons find a difficulty in swallowing them. Another disadvantage of large pills is the trouble of nicely apportioning the dose,——one pill being, perhaps, too small a quantity, and two pills the reverse. Hence, 2 to 3-gr. pills are now the favourite size with both pill-takers and dispensers, notwithstanding that 5-gr. pills are still ordered in one of the authorised Pharmacopœias.

Pills are occasionally coated with gold, silver, and other substances, to render them more agreeable to the eye, or to prevent the taste of nauseous ingredients affecting the palate during deglutition. They are gilded and silvered by placing them, in the moist state, on a leaf or two of the metal in a small gallipot, and covering them in a similar manner with another leaf of metal; over the mouth of the gallipot is laid a piece of smooth writing paper, and on this the palm of the hand; a sudden and rapid circular motion is then given to the whole. If the pills are not sufficiently moist or sticky, they should be rendered so by rolling them between the fingers very slightly moistened with mucilage, before proceeding to silver them. Another method is to shake them in a similar manner with a little gold or silver dust.

Mr Haselden recommends a varnish composed as follows:——Resin[107] of tolu, 3 parts; rectified spirit, 6 parts; methylated ether, 2 parts. Well shake until all that will is dissolved. Use the clear solution. Mr Hasleden says iodide of iron pills are well preserved by this coating, and also granules of secale cornutum.

[Footnote 107: This is the substance which is left in the preparation of syrup of tolu.]

When pills are to be covered with gelatin, each pill, being stuck on the point of a very thin wire four or five inches in length, is dipped into a solution of gelatin, so as to coat it completely, and the wire is then inserted into a pin-cushion, or a vessel containing fine sand, and left until the gelatin is firm, which occurs in about a quarter of an hour; the pins may then be easily removed by simply warming them, by placing the centre of each wire for a second or two in the flame of a spirit lamp or candle. ‘Sugar-coated pills’ are prepared in nearly the same way, but substituting hot and highly concentrated syrup, to which a little gelatin has been added, for a simple solution of gelatin.

The following details for coating pills with sugar are taken from the ‘Chemist and Druggist,’[108]——“The pills are first varnished with the following liquids——

[Footnote 108: Dec. 15th, 1871.]

Ether 100 parts.
Bals. tolu 10 ”
Colophonium 1 ”
Absolute alcohol 10 ”