Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 123

=Poor Man's Friend.= (Dr Roberts'.) This consists chiefly of ointment of nitric-oxide of mercury.

=Pringle's Remedy for Typhus.= (Dr Paris.) Pale cinchona (bruised), 1/2 oz.; water, 12 fl. oz.; boil them together for 10 minutes, adding, towards the end, Virginian snake-root (bruised), 2 dr.; macerate for an hour in a covered vessel, and to the strained liquid add of dilute sulphuric acid, 2 fl. dr., and when the mixture is cold, further add of spirit of cinnamon, 1 fl. oz. The dose is 2 table-spoonfuls every six hours.

=Reynolds' Gout Specific.= Wine of colchic.u.m disguised by some unimportant additions.

=Righini's Odontalgic Drops.= A solution of creasote in an equal weight of the strongest rectified spirit, coloured with cochineal, and disguised by the addition of a few drops of oil of peppermint.

=Ruspini's Styptic.= A strong solution of gallic acid in spirit of roses.

Dr A. T. Thomson says that it also contains sulphate of zinc.

=Rust's Toothache Paste.= See PASTE.

=Scott's Drops.= _Syn._ TINCTURE OF SOOT. From wood-soot, 2 oz.; a.s.saftida, 1 oz.; brandy or proof spirit, 1 pint.--_Dose_, 1 to 2 table-spoonfuls; in hysteria, &c.

=Smith's Powder.= See MCKINSEY'S POWDER.

=Solomon's Anti-impetigines.= A solution of bichloride of mercury disguised by the addition of a little flavouring and tinctorial matter.

('Med. Circ.,' ii, 69, 70).

=Standert's Red Mixture.= Take of carbonate of magnesia, 1 oz.; powdered Turkey rhubarb, 1/3 oz.; tincture of rhubarb, 3 fl. oz.; tincture of opium, 2 fl. dr.; oils of aniseed and peppermint of each 1/2 dr.; (dissolved in) gin or proof spirit, 5 fl. oz.; agitate the whole together, then further add of soft water, 1-1/4 pint. In colic and diarrha.--_Dose._ A wine-gla.s.sful. The spirit is frequently omitted, but then the mixture soon spoils.

=Standert's Stomachic Candy.= Take of lump sugar, 1 lb.; water, 3 fl. oz.; dissolve by heat; add cardamom seeds, ginger, and rhubarb, of each 1 oz.; and when the mixture is complete, pour it out on an oiled slab or into moulds.

=Storey's Worm Cakes.= Take of calomel and cinnabar, of each 24 gr.; powdered jalap, 72 gr.; ginger, 1 dr.; white sugar, 1-1/4 oz.; syrup, q. s.; mix and divide into a dozen cakes. Resemble 'Ching's lozenges' in their action. (See page 1007).

=Struve's Lotion.= See LOTION, HOOPING-COUGH.

=Succession Powder.= A mixture of powdered quartz and diamond dust, chiefly the first. Used as an escharotic.

=Tasteless Ague Drops.= A solution of a.r.s.enite of pota.s.sa. It is the common ague medicine in the fen counties of England.

=Turlington's Balsam.= See BALSAM OF LIFE (_above_).

=Valangin's Solution of Solvent Mineral.= From a.r.s.enious acid, 1/2 dr., dissolved in hydrochloric acid, 1-1/2 dr., and the solution diluted with distilled water, 1-1/2 pint. In ague, &c. It has rather less than half the strength of the solution of a.r.s.enite of pota.s.sa, Ph. L.

=Vance's Cream.= See CHILBLAIN.

=Wahler's Ointment.= See CHILBLAIN.

=Ward's Purging Powder.= A mixture of jalap and cream of tartar, equal parts, coloured with a little red bole.--_Dose._ A teaspoonful, or more, in broth or beer, twice or thrice daily; in dropsy.

=Webster's Diet Drink.= A sweetened decoction of betony, dulcamara, guaiac.u.m wood, liquorice root, sarsaparilla, sa.s.safras, thyme, and turmeric.

=Wilson's Gout Tincture.= This is said to be wine of colchic.u.m.

=Wright's Pearl Ointment.= Take of white precipitate, 8 oz.; Goulard's extract, 1 pint; rub them to a cream, and add the mixture to white wax, 7 lbs., and olive oil, 10 lbs., previously melted together by a gentle heat; lastly, stir the whole until it is nearly cold. ('Pharm. Journ.')

=Young's Aperient Drink.= From carbonate of soda, 2-1/2 dr.; bitartrate of pota.s.sa, 3 dr. (both in crystals); throw them into a soda-water bottle containing cold water, 8 fl. oz., and immediately cork it down securely, and keep it inverted, in a cool place, until required for use.

=Zanhetti's Bohemian Restorative Tincture.= From crushed raisins, 3/4 lb.; hay saffron, 2 oz.; aqueous extract of opium, 3 dr.; powdered cochineal, 2 dr.; capillaire and orange-flower water, of each 1/2 pint; proof spirit, 3 pints; digested together for a week, and then strained, with expression.

=PAULLIN'IA.= See GUARANA.

=PAYAN'IZING.= The name given to Mr Payne's process for preserving and mineralising wood. See DRY-ROT.

=PEACH.= _Syn._ PERSIc.u.m, L. The fruit of _Amygdalus Persica_. Two varieties are known in our gardens--CLINGSTONE PEACH and FREESTONE PEACH, terms which explain themselves. The fruit is wholesome; but the flowers and kernels contain prussic acid, and are poisonous.

The peach, the original habitats of which were Persia and the North of India, is now very generally grown in the South of Europe, in many parts of the East, and very largely in the more temperate portions of North and South America; more particularly in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland, where there are extensive orchards of peach trees. This fruit is also extensively cultivated by the Mormon community at Utah. The fruit of the NECTARINE, which is a variety of the peach, differs from that of the latter in having a smooth skin. When stewed, the fruit of the peach is said to be useful in habitual constipation.

Dr Fresenius has a.n.a.lysed this fruit, and found its composition to be:--

_Soluble matter_-- Large Dutch.

Sugar 1580 Free acid (reduced to equivalent in malic acid) 0612 Alb.u.minous substances 0463 Pectous substances 6313 Ash 0422

_Insoluble matter_-- Seeds 4629 Skins } 0991 Pectose } [Ash from soluble matter included in weights given] 0042]

Water 84990 -------- 100000 --------

It will be seen from the above that the peach contains a very small amount of sugar.

=PEACH'WOOD.= The produce of a species of _Caesalpinia_, now extensively used in calico-printing.

=PEAR.= _Syn._ PYRUS, L. The fruit of _Pyrus communis_ (Linn.), one of the rosaceae. Its general qualities resemble those of the apple.

COMPOSITION OF THE PEAR.

_Soluble matter_--

Sugar 7000 Free acid (reduced to equivalent in malic acid) 0074 Alb.u.minous substances 0260 Pectous substances, &c. 3281 Ash 0285

_Insoluble matter_--

Seeds 0390 Skins 3420 Pectose 1340 [Ash from insoluble matter included in weights given] 0050]

Water 83950 -------- 100000 (FRESENIUS.)

=PEARL.= _Syn._ MARGARITA, MARGARITUM PERLA, UNIO, L. The most beautiful and costly pearls are obtained exclusively from the pearl oyster (_Meleagrina margaritifera_) of the Indian Seas. The princ.i.p.al fisheries are on the coast of Ceylon, and at Olmutz, in the Persian Gulf. An inferior description of pearl is procured from a fresh-water sh.e.l.l-fish (_Unio margaritifera_) in the neighbourhood of Omagh, county of Tyrone. A similar quality is also procured from the river Ythan, Aberdeenshire. It is probable that pearls from this source collected by the ancient Britons may have given rise to the statement by Tacitus, in his 'Life of Agricola,' of pearls "not very orient, but pale and wan," being among the indigenous products of Great Britain.

Pearls are composed of membrane and carbonate of calcium; or, in other words, of substances similar to bladder and chalk, in alternate layers.

The cause of the production of pearls is highly curious and interesting.

When any foreign body gains a permanent lodgment within the sh.e.l.ls of any of the mollusca which are lined with pearly matter, or nacre, the pearly secretion of the animal, instead of being spread in layers on the inside of its habitation, is acc.u.mulated around the offending particles in concentric films of extreme tenuity, and more or less spherical, forming a pearl.

Pearls were formerly used in medicine as absorbents or antacids; and among the ancients they were occasionally taken, dissolved in acid, both as a remedy and for the purpose of displaying the careless opulence and luxury of their possessors. A perfect pearl, large, truly spherical, highly iridescent, and reflecting and decomposing the rays of light with vivacity, claims to rank with the most costly of the gems, and in some parts of the East is, with justice, more highly prized than even the diamond. In Europe, however, the present estimation of their value is somewhat different, "A handsome necklace of Ceylon pearls, smaller than a large pea, costs from 170 to 300; but one of pearls about the size of peppercorns may be had for 15. The pearls in the former sell at a guinea each, and those in the latter at about 1s. 6d." (Milburn.) Seed pearls are of little value, however beautiful.

=Pearl, Artificial.= These are hollow spheres or beads of gla.s.s, perforated with two holes at opposite sides to permit of their being strung into necklaces. A small portion of essence d'orient is introduced into each, by suction, and is then spread over the inner surface of the gla.s.s. When this has become dry and hard, the globe is filled up with white wax, spermaceti, or gum Arabic. The gla.s.s of which the beads are formed is slightly bluish and opalescent, and very thin. The latest improvement consists in removing the gla.s.sy appearance of the surface of the prepared bead by exposure to the fumes of hydrofluoric acid, highly diluted.

=Pearl, Mother of.= _Syn._ UNIONUM CONCHae, L.; NACRE DE PERLE, Fr. This is the internal or nacreous layer of those sh.e.l.ls which produce the pearls for ornamenting the person; hence the term 'mother of pearl' is by no means inappropriate. It is also derived from several other species known in trade as ear-sh.e.l.ls, green snail-sh.e.l.ls, Bombay-sh.e.l.ls, &c.

The brilliant hues of mother of pearl do not depend so much upon the nature of the substance as on its structure. Its surface is covered by minute corrugations or furrows, which give a chromatic appearance to the reflected light. Sir David Brewster was the first to show that this substance is capable of imparting its iridescent appearance to fusible metal or fine black wax.