Chapter LVII: Part 2 (18)

=ROLL (Wine).= _Prep._ Soak a French roll or sponge-biscuit in raisin, marsala, or sherry wine, surround it by a custard or cream thickened with eggs, and add some spice and ornaments.

=ROOT.= _Syn._ RADIX, L. That part of a plant which imbibes its nourishment from the soil or medium in which it grows. In popular language, bulbs, corms, tubers, &c., are improperly included under this term.

=RO′′PINESS.= See MALT LIQUORS and WINES.

=RHYPOPH′AGON.= _Prep._ From yellow soap, sliced, 1 oz.; soft soap (finest), 3 oz.; melt them by the heat of hot water, then allow them to cool a little, and stir in of oil of cloves, 1/2 dr.; essence of ambergris, 10 drops. It is kept a month before sale. Used for shaving.

=ROSE.= _Syn._ ROSA, L. The typical genus of the natural order _Rosaceæ_. It includes numerous species greatly prized as garden plants.

=Rose, Cabbage.= _Syn._ HUNDRED-LEAVED ROSE; ROSÆ CENTILFOLIÆ PETALA (B. P.), ROSA CENTIFOLIA (Ph. L. & E.), L. “The fresh petals” (Ph. L.) of this species are used in medicine. Odorous and slightly astringent and laxative. See WATERS and SYRUP.

=Rose, Dog.= The _Rosa canina_, or wild briar. See HIPS.

=Rose, French.= _Syn._ RED ROSE; ROSÆ GALLICÆ PETALA (B. P.), ROSA GALLICA (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. “The fresh and dried unexpanded petals” (Ph. L.) of this species are officinal. The white claws of the petals are removed before drying them.

_Uses, &c._ The red rose is an elegant astringent and tonic, and, as such, is used as the basis of several pharmaceutical preparations. See CONFECTION, HONEYS, INFUSION, and SYRUP.

=ROSE′MARY.= _Syn._ ROSMARINUS (Ph. L. E. & D.) The flowering tops of _Rosmarinus officinalis_ (Linn.), or the common rosemary of our gardens, are officinal in the Ph. E. & D.; as is also the oil (oleum rosmarini) in the B. P. and Ph. L. The odour of both is refreshing, and they are reputed carminative, emmenagogue, and neurotic. The dried leaves are occasionally used by the hysterical and hypochondriacal as a substitute for China tea. The oil is an ingredient in Hungary water, and is much used in various cosmetic compounds, under the presumption of its encouraging the growth of hair and improving its quality.

=ROSE PINK.= See RED PIGMENTS.

=RO′SIN.= See RESIN.

=ROSY-DROP.= See ACNE.

=ROT.= _Syn._ GREATROT, HYDROPHIC R.,

SHEEP R., WET R. A disease peculiar to sheep, produced by the presence in the liver of the _Distoma hepatica_, a parasite commonly known under the name of “a fluke.” Rot prevails during very wet or rainy seasons. The leading symptoms are loss of flesh and vivacity; the lips and tongue look vivid, and the eyes sad and glassy; the pelt comes off on the slightest pull; the breath is fetid, and the urine highly coloured and scanty; and there is either black purging or obstinate costiveness. The treatment consists in a change to a dry warm elevated situation, and a dry diet, consisting of oats, barley meal, tail-wheat, &c., to which some turnips, carrots, or mangel wurzel may be added, with a liberal supply of common salt, and a few grains of sulphur, daily. These last two substances form the active ingredients in Flesh’s ‘Patent Restorative.’ See MEAT, DISEASE OF.

=ROT (in Timber).= See DRY ROT.

=ROTA′TION (of Crops).= The rotation or succession of crops is absolutely necessary for the successful and economical cultivation of the soils. Crops have been divided by agriculturists into exhausting crops, restoring crops, and cleaning crops. The most exhausting crops are usually considered to be those of corn, but all those that are allowed to ripen their seed and which are carried off the ground are also exhausting, but in different degrees. Even clover, tares, and grass cut green are considered as exhausting, but in a less degree than those that are allowed to ripen. Restoring crops are such as are allowed to decay upon the ground, or are consumed upon it by domestic animals. Cleaning crops are such as are grown in drills, and undergo the usual operations of weeding, hoeing, &c.; the majority of these may also be regarded as exhausting crops. An exhausting crop should always be followed by a restoring or a cleaning crop; or, where possible, by both combined. Crops should also succeed each other in such a way that the soil may not be exhausted of any one particular kind of nutriment. This is best effected by so rotating the crops that plants which are nearly allied should not succeed each other on the same soil, or, at all events, not more than once. See AGRICULTURE, SOILS, &c.

=ROT′TEN STONE.= See TRIPOLI.

=ROUGE.= _Syn._ TOILET ROUGE; ROUGE VEGETAL, ROUGE D’ESPAGNE, Fr. _Prep._ Wash safflower (any quantity) until the water comes off colourless; dry and pulverise it, and digest the powder in a weak solution of crystallised carbonate of soda; then place some fine cotton-wool at the bottom of a porcelain or glass vessel, pour the filtered tinctorial solution on this, and throw down the colouring matter, by gradually adding lemon juice or white-wine vinegar, until it ceases to produce a precipitate; next wash the prepared cotton in pure cold water, and dissolve out the colour with a fresh solution of soda; to the new solution add a quantity of finely powdered talc or French chalk, proportionate to the intended quality of rouge; mix well, and precipitate with lemon juice, as before; lastly, collect the powder, dry it with great care, with as little heat as possible, and triturate it with a very small quantity of oil of olives, to render it smooth and adhesive.

_Obs._ According to the best authorities, this is the only article which will brighten a lady’s complexion without injuring the skin. The relative fineness and proportion of talc employed determines the quality of the rouge. It is applied by means of a camel-hair pencil, a small ‘powder puff,’ or a hare’s foot. It is also employed under the form of ‘pommade’ and ‘crepons.’ The last of these consist of pieces of white woollen crape, upon which the colouring matter of the carthamus has been precipitated, instead of upon the talc, noticed above.

The following articles also pass under the name of rouge, and are used for the purposes named after each:——

=Rouge, Brown-red.= Jeweller’s rouge.

=Rouge, Chinese Card.= This is said to be a ‘carthamate of soda,’ it is colourless when applied, but, being decomposed by the acid secretions of the skin, acquires a most beautiful rose-like tint. (O’Shaughnessy.)

=Rouge, Jeweller’s.= Sesquioxide of iron prepared by calcination. Used to polish gold, &c.

=Rouge, Liquid.= The red liquid left from the preparation of carmine; or a solution of carmine in weak carbonate of potash water, or of pure rouge in alcohol acidulated with acetic acid.

=Rouge, Indienne.= The terra persica, or Indian red; imported from Ormuz.

=Rouge de Prusse.= Light red or burnt yellow ochre. See RED PIGMENTS.

=Rouge, Spanish Lady’s.= This is cotton wool which has been repeatedly wetted with an ammoniacal solution of carmine, and dried. It is applied like ‘rouge crepons.’

=Rouge d’Athenes, Vert.= _Syn._ PURE ROUGE. See CARTHAMINE.

=ROUGH′ENING.= See WINES.

=RUBEFA′′CIENTS.= _Syn._ RUBEFACIENTIA, L. Substances or agents which, when applied for a certain time to the skin, occasion a redness and increase of heat, without blistering. They act as counter-irritants. Mustard, powdered ginger (both made into a paste with water), hartshorn and oil, and ether and spirit of wine (when their evaporation is prevented), are familiar examples of this class of remedies.

=RUBE′OLA.= See MEASLES.

=RUBIA′CIN.= An orange-coloured substance, obtained from madder.

=RUBID′IUM.= [Eng., L.] A metal belonging to the alkaline group discovered by Bunsen and Kirchhoff by means of spectrum analysis. It is found in many mineral waters associated with cæsium.

=RU′BY.= See GEMS and PASTES.

=RUE.= _Syn._ RUTÆ FOLIA, RUTA (Ph. L. & E.), L. “The leaf _Ruta graveolens_.” (Ph. L.) A powerful antispasmodic, diuretic, and stimulant. It is also reputed nervine and emmenagogue. The fresh leaves are powerfully acrid, and even vesicant; but they become milder in drying.——_Dose._ Of the powder, 15 to 30 gr., twice or thrice daily; in hysteria, flatulent colic, &c. See INFUSION and OILS (Volatile).

=RUM.= _Syn._ SPIRITUS JAMACIENSIS, SPIRITUS SACCHARI, L. An ardent spirit obtained by distillation from the fermented skimmings of the sugar-boilers (syrup scum), the drainings of the sugar-pots and hogsheads (molasses), the washings of the boilers and other vessels, together with sufficient recent cane juice or wort, prepared by mashing the crushed cane, to impart the necessary flavour. The sweet liquor before fermentation commonly contains from 12 to 16% of saccharine, and every ten gallons yield from one to two gallons of rum.

The average strength of rum, as imported into this country, is about 20 O.P. Like all other spirits, it is colourless when it issues from the still, but owing to the taste of the consumer the distiller is compelled to colour it before it leaves his premises.

_Obs._ Rum is imported from the West Indies. The best comes from Jamaica, and is hence distinguished by that name. Leeward Island rum is less esteemed. The duty on rum is 10_s._ 2_d._ per proof-gallon if imported direct from any of the British Colonies (Colonial rum), but 10_s._ 5_d._ if from any other part of the world (foreign rum). The consumption of rum has long been declining in England; its place being chiefly supplied by gin. Rum owes its flavour to a volatile oil and butyric acid, a fact which the wary chemist has availed himself of in the manufacture of a butyric compound (essence of rum) for the especial purpose of enabling the spirit dealer to manufacture a factitious rum from malt or molasses spirit. In Jamaica it is usual to put sliced pine apples into the puncheons containing the finer qualities of rum, which is then termed pine-apple rum. See ALCOHOL, SPIRIT, &c.

=RUM, BAY, R. Rother’s Formula for.= According to an American authority, true bay rum is made from _Pimenta acris_ (_Myrica acris_, Schwartz; _Myrtus acris_, Willd.), and not from _Laurus nobilis_, as commonly supposed; the method of its distillation not being known outside the West Indies, it has been customary to make it extemporaneously with the oil of bay distilled from the leaves of the former plant. This preparation is inferior in fragrance, however, to the genuine article. The following formula of R. Rother is said to give very good results. Take of oil of bayberry, 1 fl. oz.; Jamaica rum, 1 pint; strong alcohol, 4 pints; water, 3 pints. Mix the rum, alcohol, and water, then add the oil; mix and filter.

=RUPERT’S DROPS.= These are made by letting drops of melted glass fall into cold water. By this means they assume an oval form, with a tail or neck resembling a retort. They possess this singular property that, if a small portion of the tail is broken off, the whole bursts into powder with an explosion, and a considerable shock is communicated to the hand.

=RUPIA.= This is an affection of the skin attended by the formation on it of vesicles, that develop into ulcers which copiously discharge a foul, unhealthy, and reddish matter. After a time this matter hardens and forms a thick incrustation over the sores.

The best treatment is to put the patient upon a generous diet, including wine, and to administer iodide of potassium with sarsaparilla or quinine. The scabs should be poulticed.

=RUP′TURE.= See SURGERY.

=RUSKS.= _Prep._ From 4 eggs; new milk and warm water, of each 1/2 pint; melted butter and sugar, of each 1/4 lb.; yeast, 3 table-spoonfuls; beat well together with as much flour, added gradually, as will make a very light paste; let it rise before the fire for half an hour, then add a little more flour, form into small loaves or cakes 5 or 6 inches wide, and flatten them; bake these moderately, and, when cold, cut them into slices of the size of rusks, and put them into the oven to brown a little. A nice tea-cake when hot, or with caraways, to eat cold. PLAIN RUSKS are made by simply cutting loaves of bread into slices, and baking them in a slow oven to the proper colour.

=RUS′MA.= An arsenical iron pyrites, found in Galatia, which, when reduced to powder, and mixed with half its weight of quicklime, is used by the Turkish ladies to make their ‘PSILOTHRONS,’ or compounds to remove superfluous hair. See DEPILATORY.

=RUST.= _Syn._ RUBIGO, L. The coating or film of oxide or carbonate which forms on the surface of several of the metals when exposed to a moist atmosphere; more particularly, that which forms on iron or steel (FERRI HYDRATE; HYDRATED SESQUIOXIDE OF IRON; FERRUGO, FERRI RUBIGO).

To prevent iron or steel goods rusting, it is merely necessary to preserve them from damp or moisture. In the shops, small articles in steel are, commonly, either varnished or enclosed in quick-lime finely pulverised; large articles are generally protected with a coating of plumbago, or of boiled oil, or some cheap varnish, applied to them, previously gently heated. Surgical instruments are frequently slightly smeared with a little strong mercurial ointment, with the same intention.

Spots of rust may be removed from the surface of polished iron or steel by rubbing them with a little tripoli or very fine emery made into a paste with sweet oil; or, chemically, by a mixture of polisher’s putty-powder with a little oxalic acid, applied with water. When the last is employed, the articles should be afterwards well rinsed in pure water, then wiped dry, and finished off with a warm and dry rubber, in order to remove every trace of acid.

=RUTHENIC ACID.= _Syn._ RUTHENIC ANHYDRIDE (RuO_{3}). This may be procured by heating any of the preceding oxides with potassic nitrate. Ruthenic acid is insoluble in water.

=Ruthenic Sesquioxide= (Ru_{2}O_{3}); occurs in the anhydrous form when the metal is ignited in a current of air. It is the most stable of the basic oxides of the metal. Alkalies fail to dissolve it. With acids it forms soluble salts of a yellow colour; when, to a solution of these, an alkali is added, a bulky blackish-brown precipitate of the hydrated oxide, having the composition Ru_{2}O_{3},8H_{2}O, is thrown down.

There are three chlorides of ruthenium:——RuCl_{2}; RuCl_{3}; and RuCl_{4}.

=RUTHEN′IUM.= (Ru. = 104·2.) A metal discovered by Claus, associated with iridium, in the residue from crude platinum, which is insoluble in aqua regia. It forms small angular masses, with a metallic lustre; is very brittle and infusible; resists the action of acids, but readily oxidises when heated in the air. Sp. gr. 11 to 11·4.

In Fremy’s process for separating osmium from the residues of platinum ore, ruthenium occurs in a dioxide. By heating this dioxide in a current of oxygen, the metal may be obtained in the form of a powder of dark grey colour.

With oxygen, ruthenium forms four compounds:——RuO; Ru_{2}O_{3}; RuO_{2}; and RuO_{3}.

=Ruthenium Trichloride= (RuCl_{3}), which is the most important of the chlorides, may be procured by dissolving the sesquioxide in hydrochloric acid. The solution being evaporated, the trichloride occurs as a greenish-blue deliquescent mass, which is soluble in alcohol.

_Tests._ In solutions of the trichloride, hydrogen sulphide gives a brown precipitate of ruthenic sesquisulphide, the supernatant liquid being of a bright blue colour. This reaction is a very delicate as well as a very characteristic one.

Metallic zinc reduces the yellow trichloride to the blue dichloride, the metal being afterwards precipitated as a black powder. Plumbic acetate gives a purplish-red precipitate, mercuric cyanide a blue one, the supernatant liquid being also blue. The caustic and carbonated alkalies throw down a black precipitate of sesquioxide of ruthenium, which is insoluble in excess of the precipitant. If the salts of ruthenium are boiled with sodic formiate or oxalate the solution becomes colourless, but no precipitate of reduced metal takes place.

FIG. 2.——Coats _in situ_ from without, × 170. _a_, External; _b_, Middle; _c_, Internal coat; _d_, Starch grains, × 108.]

=RYE.= _Syn._ SECALE, L. The seed of _Secale cereale_, a gramineous plant, the native country of which is undetermined. It is a more certain crop and requires less culture and manure than wheat, and is hence largely cultivated in Germany, Russia, and in the northern parts of Europe, where it is extensively employed for bread. When roasted it is occasionally used as a substitute for coffee. It furnishes an excellent malt for the distillation of spirit, and is much used in the making of Hollands.

Rye bread is very likely to cause diarrhœa in those unaccustomed to partake of it. By continued use, however, this inconvenience disappears. Rye bread is acid and dark in colour. It is about equal in nutritive power to wheat. It is less abundant than wheat in fibrin, but richer in casein and albumen.

The foregoing plate represents the microscopic appearance of rye.

Sommer recommends the microscopic examination of rye flour to be conducted as follows:——The flour is placed on a glass slide, and moistened with water; a single drop of oil of vitriol is added, and a small disc is laid upon it. If, now, it be viewed with a magnifying power of 200, the starch grains of wheat and rye are seen to dissolve in a uniform manner, but the grains of barley starch, after losing their external coat, break up into a number of polyhedrons before their solution is completed.

=Rye, Spurred.= See ERGOT.

=SABADIL′LA.= _Syn._ CEBADILLA, CEVADILLA, SABADILLA (B. P., Ph. E.), L. The dried fruit (_Asagræa officinalis_). A drastic and dangerous cathartic, occasionally used in tapeworm; and, externally, to destroy pediculi, but, even for this purpose, when the scalp has been denuded or ulcerated, it has sometimes caused death. It is now used chiefly as a source of VERATRINE.

=SA′BLE.= The _Mustella Zibellina_ (Linn.), a small quadruped of the martin-cat family, found in Northern Asia. Its fur is remarkable for its fine quality and rich colour, and for the hairs turning with equal ease in every direction. The skins of the rabbit, cat, &c., dressed, painted, and lustred, are sold under the name of COMMON or MOCK SABLE.

=SABOTIÈRE.= [Fr.] An apparatus of peculiar construction, employed by the French confectioners for making ices. It consists of a pail to contain a freezing mixture, and an inner vessel for the creams to be iced. It may be used with a mixture of pounded ice and salt, or any other freezing mixture. The pail and cream vessels being loaded, and closely covered, an alternate rotatory motion is given to the apparatus by means of the handle, for 10 or 15 minutes, care being taken to occasionally scrape down the frozen portion of the cream from the sides, by means of a wooden spoon. See ICES and REFRIGERATION.

=SACCHAR′IC ACID.= _Syn._ OXALHYDRIC ACID†. A compound, resulting from the action of dilate nitric acid on sugar.

=SAC′CHARINE.= The technical name of the uncrystallisable sugar found in malt-wort.

=SACCHARINE FERMENTATION.= This occurs during the germination and kiln-drying of grain in the operation of malting, and in the mashing of malt in brewing. The sweetening of bread during its exposure to heat in the oven is also included under this head by many writers.

The substance which most powerfully excites the sugar fermentation was first shown by Payen and Persoz to be a peculiar principle to which they have given the name of ‘DIASTASE,’ This is always present in good malt, and possesses the singular property of converting STARCH successively into gum (dextrin) and sugar, at a temperature ranging between 149° and 168° Fahr. During the action of this substance on starch it is itself decomposed; and when the sugar fermentation ceases it is found to have entirely disappeared. It is the presence of diastase in malt which alone converts the starch of the grain into sugar during the operation of mashing with hot water; and hence the absolute necessity of employing water at the proper temperature, as on this depends the strength and sweetness of the wort, and consequently its fitness for undergoing the vinous fermentation, and for making beer. Vegetable albumen and gluten also possess the property of exciting the saccharine fermentation, but in a considerably inferior degree to diastase.

The sugar formed during the germination of seeds containing starch results from the action of diastase, and disappears as soon as the woody fibre (lignin), which has a similar constitution, is developed, forming the skeleton of the young plant. (Liebig.) See BREWING, DIASTASE, DEXTRIN, &c.

=SACCHAROM′ETER.= An instrument similar in principle to the common spirit hydrometer, but so weighted and graduated as to adapt it for the indication of the richness of malt-worts in sugar, or saccharine, expressed in pounds per barrel, or the excess of gravity over that of water, the last being taken at 1000. See BREWING, SYRUP, WORT, &c.

=SACH′ET.= _Syn._ SACCULUS, L. Sachets (SACCULI) are little bags containing dry substances, used for the external medication of parts, or for communicating agreeable perfumes to wearing apparel, drawers, furniture, &c. Those belonging to perfumery are commonly filled with mixtures of fragrant vegetable substances, reduced to coarse powder, and differ from those employed for _pot pourri_ chiefly in being used in the dry state. Sacculi are now seldom employed in this country in legitimate medicine. See POWDERS (Scented), &c.

=Sachet, Ammoniacal.= _Syn._ SACCULUS AMMONIACALIS. _Prep._ Equal parts of sal ammoniac and quicklime are mixed, and sprinkled between cotton wadding, which is to be quilted in muslin.

=Sachet, Anodyne.= (Quincy.) _Syn._ SACCULUS ANODYNUS. _Prep._ Chamomiles, 1 oz.; bay berries, 1 oz.; lavender flower, 1/2 oz.; henbane seed, 1 dr.; opium, 1 dr. To be dipped in hot spirits.

=Sachet, Anti-phthisic.= _Syn._ SACCULUS ANTI-PHTHISICUS, L. _Prep._ Dissolve of aloes, 1 oz., in strong decoction of fresh rue, 1/2 pint; next fold a piece of soft muslin in eight folds large enough to cover the chest and part of the stomach; steep this in the decoction, and dry it in the shade; lastly, place in a small bag, one side of which is formed of scarlet silk or wool, and the other, intended to be worn next the skin, of the finest net or gauze. A celebrated domestic remedy for consumption and asthma. It is intended to be constantly worn on the chest.

=Sachet, Resolv′ent.= _Syn._ MELTING BAG; SACCULUS RESOLVENS, L. _Prep._ 1. (Dr Breslau.) Iodide of potassium, 1 part; sal ammoniac, 8 parts; dry, and reduce each separately to fine powder; mix them, and enclose 1/2 oz. to 1 oz. of the mixed powder in a small bag of linen or silk. Used as a resolvent to indolent tumours, especially goitres and scrofulous indurations. It should be worn on the part night and day for some time. The part next the skin should be well pricked with a needle, and the powder shaken up and readjusted every 2 or 3 days; and it should be renewed about once a fortnight.

2. (Trousseau & Reveil.) Iodide of potassium, 1 part; burnt sponge, 4 parts; fine sawdust, 5 parts; as before.

=Sachet, Sponge.= _Syn._ SACCULUS SPONGII, COLLIER DE MORAND. _Prep._ Muriate of ammonia, chloride of sodium, burnt sponge, of each 1 oz.; mix, sprinkle the powder on a piece of cotton wool, and quilt between muslin, in the form of a cravat. To be worn constantly in goitre or bronchocele, renewing it every month.

=Sachet, Stomachic.= (Fuller.) _Syn._ SACCULUS. _Prep._ Mint, 4 drm.; wormwood, thyme, red roses, each 2 drm.; balastines, angelica root, caraway seed, nutmeg, mace, cloves, of each 1 drm. Coarsely powder the ingredients, and put them into a bag, to be moistened with hot red wine when applied for flatulence.

=SACK.= (From SEC, Fr., dry.) A wine used by our ancestors, supposed by some to have been Rhenish or Canary; but, with more probability, by others, to have been dry mountain——vin d’Espagne; vin sec——(Howell, ‘Fr. and Eng. Dict.,’ 1650). Falstaff[140] calls it ‘sherris sack’ (sherry sack), from Xeres, a sea town of Corduba, where that kind of sack (wine) is made. (Blount.) At a later period the term came to be used as a general name for all sweet wines.

[Footnote 140: In Shakespeare’s day sack was occasionally adulterated with lime, as we learn from Falstaff’s speech to the Drawer: “You rogue, there’s lime in this sack.”]

=SAF′FLOWER.= _Syn._ BASTARD SAFFRON, DYER’S S.; CARTHAMUS, L. The florets of _Carthamus tinctorius_, a plant cultivated in Spain, Egypt, and the Levant. It contains two colouring principles——the one yellow, and the other red. The first is removed by water, and is rejected. The second is easily dissolved out by weak solutions of the carbonated alkalies, and is again precipitated on the addition of an acid. This property is taken advantage of in the manufacture of rouge, and in dyeing silk and cotton.

The most lively tints of cherry, flame, flesh, orange-red, poppy, and rose colour, are imparted to silk by the following process, modified to suit the particular shade required:——The safflower (previously deprived of its yellow colouring matter by water) is exhausted with water containing either carbonate of soda or of potassa, in the proportion of about 5% of the weight of the prepared dye-stuff acted on; the resulting liquid is next treated with pure lemon juice until it acquires a distinct and rich red colour; the silk is then introduced and turned about as long as it is perceived to take up colour, a little more lemon juice being added as may appear necessary; for deep shades this is repeated with one or more fresh baths, the silk being dried and rinsed between each immersion; it is, lastly, brightened by turning it for a few minutes through a bath of warm water, to which a little lemon juice has been previously added. For flame colour the silk should receive a slight shade with annotta before putting it into the safflower bath. For the deeper shades, when expense is an object, a little archil is commonly added to the first and second bath. See CATHARMIN.

=SAF′FRON.= The prepared stigmata or stigmas of the _Crocus sativus_, or saffron crocus. There are two principal varieties known in commerce:——

1. (SAFFRON, HAY’S.; CROCUS IN FŒNO, C. HISPANIOLUS, CROCISTIGMATA; CROCUS——B. P., Ph. L., E., & D.) This consisted of the stigmas, with part of the styles, carefully picked from the other parts of the flowers, and then dried on paper by a very gentle heat, generally in a portable oven constructed for the purpose.

2. (CAKE SAFFRON; CROCUS IN PLACENTÂ.) This, professedly, merely varies from the last, it being compressed into a cake after it has become softened by the fire, and being then dried in that condition. The ‘cake saffron’ of commerce is now, however, mostly, if not entirely, composed of safflower made into a paste with some sugar and gum water, rolled out on paper into oval cakes 10 to 12 inches long, 9 or 10 broad, and about 1/8th of an inch thick, and then dried. “I can detect neither saffron nor marigold in them.” (Dr Pereira.)

_Pur._ Saffron, of all the articles of commerce, except French brandy, is, perhaps, the one most largely and constantly adulterated. Abroad it is frequently mixed with safflower, and in England with ‘prepared marigolds,’ or ‘French (mock) saffron.’ These frauds may be detected by the inferiority of the colour, and by soaking the leaves in water, when the stigmas of the _Crocus sativus_ may be readily distinguished from the florets of safflower and the petals of marigolds. Winckler and Grüner proposed to detect these substances by means of a solution of nitrate of silver or of sesquichloride of iron. The infusion of true saffron is not altered by those reagents, but that of either of the above-mentioned adulterants is rendered opaque, and is at length precipitated. “It consists of tripartite filaments, of an orange-red colour, with the small filaments towards the apex dilated.” (Ph. E.) In the wholesale drug trade prepared marigolds are not only employed to mix with genuine saffron, but are extensively sold to the country dealers for that purpose. Old and dry saffron is ‘freshened up’ by rubbing it between the hands slightly oiled, and then repicking it.

The late Mr D. Hanbury, F.R.S., found that the article known in commerce as alicante saffron was largely sophisticated with carbonate of lime, which he says had been made to adhere to the thread-like saffron without in the least altering its general appearance. To ascertain the amount of earthy matter thus fraudulently added, he subjected several specimens of saffron to incineration, each having in the first instance been dried in warm air until it caused it to lose its weight. The result indicated that while good Valentia saffron yields from 4 to 6 per cent. of ash, the alicante furnishes from 12 to 28 per cent. The method of taking a sample of saffron for earthy adulteration which Mr Hanbury recommends is this:——Place in a watch glass a small quantity (say 1 grain) of the saffron, and drop upon it 8 or 10 drops of water; lightly touch the saffron with the tip of the finger, so as to cause the water to wet it. If the drug is free from earthy matter, a clear bright-yellow solution will be immediately obtained; if adulterated, a white powder will instantly separate, causing the water to appear turbid; and if a drop of hydrochloric acid be now added, a brisk effervescence will take place.

Mr Hanbury says that saffron almost always contains a few of the pale yellow stamens, accidentally gathered; but the pollen from them which is detached when the drug is wetted, but which is minute in quantity, is easily distinguished from carbonate of lime, by not dissolving when hydrochloric acid is added. Moreover, the form of pollen grains may be easily recognised under the microscope.

Mr Hanbury furthermore states that an effectual method of examination is to scatter a very small pinch of saffron on the surface of a glass of warm water. The stigma of the saffron-crocus immediately expands, and exhibits a form so characteristic that it cannot be confounded with the flowerets of safflower, marigold, or arnica, or with the stamens of crocus itself.[141]

[Footnote 141: ‘Pharm. Journ.’]

_Prop., &c._ Saffron is anodyne, cordial, emmenagogue, and exhilarant; but is now seldom employed, except as an adjuvant, in medicine. Amongst cooks, confectioners, and liquoristes, it is largely used on account of its fine colour.

=Saffron, Mead′ow.= See COLCHICUM.

=SAGAPE′NUM.= This substance is described in the London Pharmacopœia as a gum resin, the production of an uncertain species of _Ferula_. The mass of the sagapenum sold to the retail trader is, however, a factitious article, formed by softening a mixture of assafœtida, 3 parts, and galbanum, 15 parts, over a water or steam bath, and then stirring in about 1/17th of their weight of oil of turpentine, with a little oil of juniper. This mixture is labelled ‘Gum Sagapeni Opt.’ an inferior sort being made by adding sundry portions of yellow resin and paste of gum tragacanth to the above.

PREPARED SAGAPENUM (SAGAPENUM PRÆPARATUM——Ph. L.) is ordered to be prepared in the same manner as ‘prepared ammoniacum.’

_Obs._ Sagapenum is the feeblest of all the fetid gum resins.——_Dose_, 5 to 15 gr., made into pills; as an antispasmodic and emmenagogue.

=SA′GO.= _Syn._ SAGO (Ph. L., E., & D.), L. “The fæcula (starch) from the stem of _Sagus lœvis_, _S. Rumphii_, and, perhaps, of other species of palms.” (Ph. L.) It forms the principal portion of the pith of the Sago palms, the Gommuti palm, the Talipot palm, and other allied trees. Its properties and uses, for the most part, resemble those of arrow-root. It is used for making puddings, jellies, &c.

Under the microscope the starch-grains of sago present an elongated form, rounded at the larger ends, and compressed at the smaller. They differ altogether in appearance from potato starch.

The pilum of the sago starch-grains is a point, or, more frequently, a crop, slit, or star, and is seated at the smaller end, whilst in the marsanta arrow-root the pilum is situated at the larger end. Rings are more or less clearly seen.

=Sa′go, To Prepare.= Wash an ounce of pearl sago in cold water; then boil it very gently in a pint of fresh water, stirring it frequently till dissolved. It may be flavoured with wine, spices, and sugar. For children, and for consumptive and debilitated persons, it will be found advantageous to substitute milk for water. The common sago being in larger grains, more time is required to dissolve it, and it is usually steeped for some hours before boiling it.

=Sa′go Milk.= (See _above_.)

=Sa′go Posset.= (For invalids.) Macerate a table-spoonful of sago in a pint of water for two hours on the hob of a stove, then boil for 15 minutes, assiduously stirring. Add sugar, with an aromatic, such as ginger or nutmeg, and a table-spoonful or more of white wine. If white wine be not permitted flavour with lemon juice.

=ST VITUS’ DANCE.= See CHOREA.

=SAL.= [L.] Salt. A word much used in compound names, handed down to us from the old chemists.

=Sal Absin′thii.= Carbonate of potassium.

=Sal Acetosel′læ.= Binoxalate and quadroxalate of potassium.

=Sal Alem′broth.= Ammoniated mercury (white precipitate).

=Sal Ammo′′niac.= Chloride of ammonium.

=Sal de Duobus.= Sulphate of potassium.

=Sal Diure′ticus.= Acetate of potassium.

=Sal Enix′um.= Crude bisulphate of potassium.

=Sal Gem′mæ.= Rock or fossil salt (chloride of sodium).

=Sal Mar′tis.= Sulphate of iron.

=Sal Mirab′ile.= Sulphate of sodium.

=Sal Perla′tum.= Phosphate of sodium.

=Sal Polycrest′us.= Sulphate of potassium.

=Sal Prunel′la.= _Syn._ SORE-THROAT SALT, CRYSTAL MINERAL; POTASSÆ NITRAS FUSA, NITRUM TABULATUM, SAL PRUNELLÆ, L. From nitre fused in a Hessian crucible, and poured out on a smooth surface, or into moulds, to cool. Its usual form and size is that of an ordinary musket bullet, with the tail, in which state it is known in the drug trade as ‘sal prunellæ globosum.’ When in cakes it is often called ‘sal p. in placentis,’ or ‘s. p. tabulatum.’ A small portion allowed to dissolve slowly in the mouth, the saliva being slowly swallowed, often removes incipient inflammatory sore throat.

=Sal Saturn′i.= Sugar of lead (neutral acetate of lead).

=Sal Seignette′.= Rochelle salt (tartrate of potassium and sodium).

=Sal Volat′ile.= Sesquicarbonate of ammonia. The name is commonly used as an abbreviation of aromatic spirit of ammonia. See SPIRITS (Medicinal).

=SAL′ADS= are generally made of esculent vegetables, either singly or mixed, chosen according to taste or time of year, and ‘dressed’ with oil, vinegar, and salt, and sometimes also with mustard and other condiments. Sliced boiled egg is a common addition.

Sydney Smith’s recipe for salad dressing:——

To make this condiment your poet begs
The powdered yellow of two hard-boiled eggs;
Two boiled potatoes passed through kitchen-sieve
Smoothness and softness to the salad give;
Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, half suspected, animate the whole;
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon
(Distrust the condiment that bites too soon);
But deem it not, thou man of taste, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt;
And, lastly, o’er the flavoured compound toss
A magic soupçon of anchovy sauce.
Oh! green and glorious! Oh! herbaceous treat!
’Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat;
Back to the world he’d turn his fleeting soul,
And plunge his finger in the salad bowl;
Serenely full the epicure would say,
“Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today.”[142]

[Footnote 142: The poet has inadvertently ignored the oil and vinegar.]

Another recipe for salad dressing:——Yolk of two eggs; table salt, 1/4 oz.; salad oil, 4 oz.; mustard, 1/2 oz.; best vinegar, 6 oz.; isinglass, 1 dr.; soluble cayenne, 10 grams. (‘Phar. Jour.’)

Cold meat, poultry, and game, sliced small, with some cucumber or celery, and a little onion or chopped parsley, or, instead of them, some pickles, make a very relishing salad. Fish are also employed in the same manner.

Mr C. J. Robinson, writing to ‘Nature’[143] on our salad herbs, says:——“There is, perhaps, no country in the world so rich as England in native materials for salad making, and none in which ignorance and prejudice have more restricted their employment. At every season of the year the peasant may cull from the field and hedgerow wholesome herbs which would impart a pleasant variety to his monotonous meal, and save his store of potatoes from premature exhaustion. Besides there can be no question that in hot seasons a judicious admixture of fresh green food is as salutary as it is agreeable. Much has been said lately about the advantage which the labouring man would derive from an accurate acquaintance with the various forms of fungus; he has been gravely told that the _Fistulina hepatica_ is an admirable substitute for beef-steak, the _Agaricus gambosus_ for the equally unknown veal cutlet.

[Footnote 143: August 18th, 1870.]

“But deep-seated suspicion is not easily eradicated, and there will always be a certain amount of hazard in dealing with a class of products in which the distinctions between noxious and innocuous are not very clearly marked.

“There is not this difficulty with regard to salad herbs, and we conceive that the diffusion of a little knowledge as to their properties and value would be an unmixed benefit to our rural population.

“The first place must be assigned on the score of antiquity to the sorrel plant (_Rumex acetosa_), which in some districts still preserves the name of ‘green sauce,’ assigned to it in early times, when it formed almost the only dinner vegetable.

“Its acid is pleasant and wholesome, more delicate in flavour than that of the wood-sorrel (_Oxalis acetosella_), which, however, is used for table purposes in France and Germany. Chervil (_Anthriscus cerefolium_) is often found in a wild state, and is an admirable addition to the salad bowl; and it is unnecessary to enlarge upon the virtues of celery (_Apium graveolens_) when improved by cultivation.”

John Ray, writing in 1663, says that “the Italians use several herbs for sallets, which are not yet, or have not been used lately, but in England, viz. _Selleri_, which is nothing else but the sweet smallage; the young shoots whereof, with a little of the head of the root, cut off, they eat raw with oil and pepper,” and to this we may add that the alisander (_Smyrnium olusattrum_) is no bad substitute for its better-known congener. The dandelion, which in France is blanched for the purpose, affords that _amarie aliquid_ which the professed salad maker finds in the leaves of the endive, and the same essential ingredient may be supplied by the avens (_Geum urbanum_), the bladder campion (_Silene inflata_), and the tender shoots of the wild hop. Most people are familiar with the properties of the watercress (_Nasturtium officinale_), garlic hedge mustard (_Erysimum aliaria_), but it may not be generally known that the common shepherd’s purse (_Eupsulla Bursa-pastoris_) and the lady’s-smock (_Cardamine pratensis_) are pleasant additions, whose merits have long been recognised by our foreign neighbours. In fact, there is scarcely a herb that grows which has not some culinary virtue in a French peasant’s eyes. Out of the blanched shoots of the wild chicory (_Cichorium Intybus_) he forms the well-known _barbe de capucius_, and dignifies with the title of _Salade de chamoine_ our own neglected corn-salad (_Fedia olitaria_). It would be very easy to extend the dimensions of our list of native salad herbs, for there are, perhaps, some palates to which the strong flavours of the chives (_Allium schœnoprasum_) and stonecrop (_Sedum reflexum_) may commend themselves; but enough has been said to show that nature has not dealt niggardly with us, and that only knowledge is needful to make the riches she offers available.

If the British peasant can be taught to discover hidden virtues in these plants, with whose outward forms he has had life-long familiarity, we do not despair of his acquiring the one secret of salad-making, viz. the judicious employment of oil, so as to correct the acrid juices of the plants, and yet preserve their several flavours unimpaired.

=Salad, Let′tuce.= _Prep._ Take two large lettuces, remove the faded leaves and the coarser green ones; next cut the green tops off, pull each leaf off separately, rinse it in cold water, cut it lengthways, and then into four or ten pieces; put these into a bowl, and sprinkle over them, with your fingers, 1 small teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 do. of pepper, 3 do. of salad oil, and 2 do. of English or 1 of French vinegar; then with the spoon and fork turn the salad lightly in the bowl until thoroughly mixed; the less it is handled the better. A teaspoonful each of chopped chervil and tarragon is an immense improvement.

_Obs._ The above seasoning is said to be enough for 1/4 lb. of lettuce. According to Soyer, it is “such as the Italian count used to make some years since, by which he made a fortune in dressing salads for the tables of the aristocracy.” The above may be varied by the addition of 2 eggs, boiled hard, and sliced, a little eschalot, or a few chives or young onions. Several other salad herbs, especially endive, water-cresses, and mustard-and-cress, may be ‘dressed’ in the same manner; always remembering that the excellence of a salad depends chiefly on the vegetables which compose them being recently gathered and carefully cleansed.

To improve the appearance of the above and other salads, when on the table or sideboard, before being used, the gay flower of the nasturtium or marigold, with a little sliced beet-root or radish, and sliced cucumber, may be tastefully intermixed with them.

=Salad, Lobs′ter.= _Prep._ (Soyer.) “Have the bowl half filled with any kind of salad herb you like, as endive, lettuce, &c.; then break a lobster in two, open the tail, extract the meat in one piece, break the claws, cut the meat of both in small slices, about a quarter of an inch thick, and arrange these tastefully on the salad; next take out all the soft part from the belly, mix it in a basin with 1 teaspoonful of salt, half do. of pepper, 4 do. of vinegar, and 4 do. of oil; stir these well together, and pour the mixture on the salad; lastly, cover it with 2 hard eggs, cut into slices, and a few slices of cucumber.” “To vary this, a few capers and some fillets of anchovy may be added, stirred lightly, and then served either with or without some salad sauce. If for a dinner ornament it with some flowers of the nasturtium and marigold.”

=SAL′EP.= _Syn._ SALOP, SALOOP. The tuberous roots of _Orchis mascula_, and other allied species, washed, dried, and afterwards reduced to coarse powder. That imported from Persia and Asia Minor occurs in small oval grains, of a whitish-yellow colour, often semitranslucent, with a faint, peculiar smell, and a taste somewhat resembling gum tragacanth. It consists, chiefly, of bassorin and starch, is very nutritious, and is reputed aphrodisiac. It is employed in the same way as sago. A decoction of about 1 oz. of this substance in a pint of water was formerly sold at street-stalls. A tea made of sassafras chips, flavoured with milk and coarse brown sugar or treacle, was also sold in the same way, and under the same name.

FRENCH SALEP is prepared from the potato. Dr Ure says that the _Orchis mascula_ of our own country, properly treated, would afford an article of salep equal to the Turkey, and at a vastly lower price.

=SAL′ICIN.= C_{13}H_{18}O_{7}. A white, crystalline substance discovered by Le Roux and Buchner in the bark and leaves of several species of _Salix_ and _Populus_. It occurs most abundantly in the white willow (_Salix alba_) and the aspen (_Salix helix_), but is also found in all the bitter poplars and willows. From willow bark which is fresh, and rich in salicin, it may be obtained by the cautious evaporation of the cold aqueous infusion.

_Prep._ 1. (Merck.) Exhaust willow bark by repeated coction with water, concentrate the mixed liquors, and, while boiling, add litharge until the liquid is nearly decoloured; filter, remove the dissolved oxide of lead, first by sulphuric acid, and afterwards by sulphuret of barium; filter, and evaporate, that crystals may form; the crystals must be purified by re-solution and recrystallisation.

2. As No 1, but using a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen, to free the solution from lead.

3. (P. Codex.) To a strong filtered decoction of willow bark add milk of lime, to throw down the colour; filter, evaporate the liquor to a syrupy consistence, add alcohol (sp. gr. ·847), to separate the gummy matter, filter, distil off the spirit, evaporate the residuum, and set it aside in a cool place to crystallise; the crystals are purified by solution in boiling water, agitation with a little animal charcoal, and recrystallisation.

_Prop., &c._ Salicin forms white, silky needles and plates; it is intensely bitter; inodorous; neutral; non-basic; fuses at 230° Fahr., with decomposition; burns with a bright flame; is soluble in 5-1/2 parts of water at 60°, and in much less at 212°; dissolves readily in alcohol, but is insoluble in ether. It is tonic, like sulphate of quinine, but less liable to irritate the stomach. It is given in indigestion and intermittent diseases, in from 5- to 10-gr. doses.

Salicin has lately been used with considerable advantage in acute rheumatism.

Dr Maclagan[144] states that he found when administered in doses of 10 gr. to 1/2 dr., every 2 to 4 hours, the pain and fever ceased in the course of 48 hours. The results are stated to have been quite as favorable as those following the employment of salicylic acid. It was found to effect with certainty a great reduction in the bodily temperature.

[Footnote 144: ‘Lancet,’ March 4th and 11th, 1876.]

_Pur. & Tests._——1. It is entirely soluble in water and rectified spirit.——2. When strongly heated it is wholly dissipated, and, if kindled, burns with a bright flame, leaving a bulky charcoal.——3. Its solution is absolutely neutral to test-paper.——4. Concentrated sulphuric acid causes it to agglutinate into resin-like lumps, with the accession of an intense blood-red colour.——5. When its aqueous solution is mixed with some hydrochloric acid, or dilute sulphuric acid, and the mixture is boiled for a short time, the liquid suddenly becomes turbid, and deposits SALIRETIN, under the form of a granular crystalline precipitate. This is characteristic.——6. No reagent deposits salicin without decomposition. See SALICYLIC and SALICYLOUS ACIDS.

=SAL′ICYL.= C_{7}H_{4}O. A compound radical, forming the basis of the so-called SALICYL-COMPOUNDS, or SALICYL-SERIES. It is known only in combination. The volatile oil of meadow-sweet is a natural hydride of salicyl, a substance which, when artificially prepared, is better known under the name of SALICYLOUS ACID. (See _below_.)

=SALICYL′IC ACID.= H_{2}C_{7}H_{4}O_{3}. A peculiar volatile, crystallisable acid, discovered by Piria. It is obtained by fusing salicylous acid with solid hydrate of potassa in slight excess, until the mixture turns white and gas is disengaged, and treating a solution of the residuum with hydrochloric acid, in slight excess to separate the potassa; the salicylic acid separates in crystals, which are purified by solution in hot water. It may also be obtained from the oil of partridge-berry (_Gaultheria procumbens_), by acting on it with a strong and hot solution of potassa, and afterwards separating the acid as before. This oil is methylo-salicylic ether, or salicylate of methyl. In its general properties, salicylic acid closely resembles benzoic acid.

The greater part, if not the whole, of the salicylic acid of commerce is now obtained by a method invented by Professor Kolbe. This process, which consists in acting on sodium carbolate with carbonic acid, is thus described in the ‘Archiv der Pharm.,’ 3rd series, v, 445.[145] In a strong crude soda liquor of known strength is dissolved a sufficiency of previously melted crystals of carbolic acid to saturate the soda.

[Footnote 145: ‘Pharm. Journal,’ 3rd series, v, 421.]

The solution is then evaporated in an iron capsule, and by means of stirring brought to a dry powder. The sodium carbolate so obtained is gradually heated in a retort to a temperature of from 220° to 250° C., in a continuous current of dry carbonic anhydride.

The reaction is ended when at the above-mentioned temperature no more carbolic acid passes over. It might have been expected that, the reaction going forward in this manner, a molecule of carbonic anhydride would have been introduced into the molecule of sodium carbonate, and thus a molecule of sodium salicylate be formed.

This, however, is not the case, only half the sodium carbolate being converted into salicylate. The reaction proceeds according to the following equation:——

2NaC_{6}H_{5}O + CO_{2} = Na_{2}C_{7}H_{4}O_{3} + HC_{6}H_{5}O.

The disodic salicylate is dissolved in water and decomposed by hydrochloric acid. Salicylic acid then separates in crystalline films and may be purified by recrystallisation out of its solution in hot water.

_Props._——Salicylic acid is a white solid which forms acicular crystals; it melts at from 155°-156° C.; it dissolves in about 1800 parts of cold water, but is more soluble in boiling water as well as in alcohol and in ether. An aqueous solution of salicylic acid mixed with one of a ferric salt produces a deep violet colour.

Professor Kolbe surmised that from the constitution of salicylic acid, as revealed by his synthetical process, that it would split up with heat into carbonic anhydrate and carbolic acid, and hence that it might be employed as an antiseptic and antiputrefactive agent. He quotes the following experiments as confirmatory of his views on this point:——Mustard meal, which, in a few minutes after being mixed with warm water, gave off a strong smell of mustard oil, formed with water a scentless mixture, when a little salicylic acid had been previously added. No fermentation was set up by yeast in a fermentation of grape sugar, to which salicylic acid had been added; whilst in a sugar solution already in fermentation the action stopped after the addition of some salicylic acid. The preservation influence of this acid upon fresh meat is also recorded.

The following, among other experiments, in their results, illustrate the physiological action of salicylic acid:——

Solution of amygdalin mixed with emulsion of sweet almonds developed no smell of bitter almonds if some salicylic acid were added. Beer, to which salicylic acid, in the proportion of 1 to 1000, was added, was thereby prevented from being spoiled by fungoid growth.

Fresh pure cow’s milk, mixed with 0·04 per cent. of salicylic acid, and allowed to stand in an open vessel at a temperature of 18° C., curdled thirty-six hours later than a similar quantity of milk standing by the side of it, but containing no salicylic acid. The milk remained of a good flavour, the small quantity of salicylic acid present not being perceptible to the palate.

Some fresh urine was divided into two portions, and placed in separate vessels, after some salicylic acid had been added to one portion.

The urine containing the acid was on the third day still clear and free from ammoniacal odour, whilst the other portion was far advanced in putrefaction.

Professor Thiersch has investigated the antiseptic action of this acid, specially in relation to surgery. He has found that as a powder, either alone or mixed with starch, it destroys for a long time the fetid odour of cancerous surfaces or uncleansed wounds, without setting up any inflammatory symptoms. A solution of one part of salicylic acid, and three parts of sodium phosphate in fifty parts of water, promotes the healing of granulated surfaces.

According to Dr Rudolph Wagner, salicylic acid may be applied to the following industrial purposes:——

If a concentrated aqueous solution of salicylic acid be applied to fresh meat, and the meat be then placed in well-closed vessels, it will remain perfectly fresh for a long period. This solution is also very useful in the manufacture of sausages and such food. Butter containing a bitter salicylic acid will remain fresh for months, even in the hottest weather. The same acid prevents the moulding of preserved fruits. In the manufacture of vinegar this acid is of great utility.

The addition of a little salicylic acid renders glue more tenacious. The acid also prevents decomposition in gut and parchment during their manufacture.

Skins to be used for making leather do not undergo decomposition if steeped in a dilute solution of salicylic acid.

Weaver’s or bookbinder’s glue and other allied substances may be preserved for a long period by treating them with a solution of this acid.

Albumen may be preserved by the same means.

This acid is a very delicate test reagent for iron.

The methyl ether and amyl ether of salicylic acid are used as perfumes. The calcium salt on keeping and distilling with water yields a liquid which has a strong odour of roses.

Mr Rother, an American chemist, contends that the antiseptic powers of salicylic acid have been much overrated. He states that he had tried it for the preservation of the syrups of marshmallow, raspberry juice, and milk, and that it was a failure. Professor Salkowsky regards it as of less value as an antiseptic than benzoic acid.