Applying the Test for Lead. -- the sulfide of ammonium may be purchased at a small cost, save for $.25 an ounce, of most dealers and chemicals; and, as its odor is extremely disagreeable, it should be carefully corked until the moment it is used. The experiment should be made upon half a pint of the suspected water; and, if the contamination is supposed to be caused by lead pipes, it is a good plan to test a portion of the liquid which has stood overnight in the conduits. The mode of discriminating the precipitate caused by iron from those due to the dangerous metals, lead and copper, is to let fall a few drop of hydrochloric acid, called also muriatic acid, into the fluid. If the brownish or yellowish brown tent disappears, we may know that innocent iron is the only metallic impurities; whilst if, on the contrary, no change is effected by the addition of the acid, one of the poisonous metals, better copper, is present. No water, however, in which the slightest change is produced by adding the sulfide of ammonium, should be swallowed by man or beast until a rigid investigation by a competent water analyst has proved it to be harmless.

I somehow doubt that sulfide of ammonium costs that amount today.  Its probably either much more expensive or sold in ridiculous bulks at every grocery store, pharmacy and gas station next to the Phentermine in one of those combination aisles that sells just a little bit of everything, but never the thing you really need.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Bony Frame of the Hand – Palm of the Hand
  
  

  Bony Frame of the Hand. – on turning over this flap we behold the bony framework of this wonderful organ. This seemed to consist of a number of bones, so exquisitely arranged as to combine the greatest possible degree of flexibility and strength.

  Palm of the Hand. – below this is given an elegant, and the same time a true and correct view of the muscular arrangement of the palm of the hand and fingers. Over the wrist to see me annular ligament, that then, tough, strong sheet, which binds the muscular courts and holds them firmly in place us in these anatomical charts have we depicted the perfection of the human hand.

  Sometimes you definitely do get the impression that the author is talking much more about the book they are writing, the pictures in the book and absolutely nothing at all related to the topic.  The author could be talking about acne treatment and it would be more relevant than talking about these charts and the ‘perfection of the human hand’.

  del.icio.us tags: history of medicine, medicinal teaching, hand frame, hand palm, palm of hand, bony hand
• How can the housewife protect her children from drinking germ laden milk?
  
  

  How can the housewife protect her children from drinking germ-laden milk?-First make sure that the dairy from which the milk is applied is clean and up-to-date and the city dealer delivers the milk at her doorstep in clean bottles.  Do not allow it sit in the sun in the early morning in warm weather, or about the kitchen at any time of the year, but place it immediately on ice in a clean refrigerator until ready to use.  When taking a certain quantity of milk out of the bottle, if for the baby use a chappen in dipper, and do not allow it to stand uncovered for flies to contaminate.  Milk may all so be contaminated by water from any source of pollution if their utensils are carelessly washed with a supply of water from an infected water supply as any dirty well or one contaminated by cesspool, outhouse, the newer pit which is infecting water to the soil or from drainage.

  It is absolutely vital to a country to protect its milk supply as two thirds of the dust under two years of age are traceable to either germ laden milk from dairies were not properly handled by dealers, nurses, mothers, etc., who are careless or too ignorant to appreciate the danger of allowing babies milk bottle nipple being dirty, contaminated by flies or who allow a milk bottle to sit in the hot morning sun,-result a sick baby, followed by death.

  Again another interesting section especially as it’s trying to convince people to keep no cold and keep refrigerated.  Possibly a new concept for this time, being the turn-of-the-century and a long shot away from concepts such as diet drugs like Phentermine.

• Buying Prescription Drugs Online Through an Escrow Agency
  
  

  If you have ever considered or tried purchasing prescription drugs online or even supplements, the internet is a very difficult place.  You can never really be certain if a company will actually deliver what you order or whether they will deliver what they promise. 

  Enter the Canada Pharmacy Escrow Service which basically enables you to

  1. shop for drugs and supplements online
  2. Review prices from pharamacies around the world
  3. Place orders through those pharmacies
  4. Provide a prescription or have a medical review performed online
  5. Get the drugs or supplements shipped to you.
  6. If a pharmacy does not deliver or the shipment is lost (remember this is international) then the escrow service protects you and reships the order at no additional cost.

  This basically opens up the pharmacies around the world to people shopping for the best prices.  It is an interesting business application to a problem that was created by the internet and the flattening of the world economy.

  More an more escrow services in general are finding new and useful applications to a number of areas on the internet, medicine is just one of them, but given skyrocketing price of medicine prices around the world, this offers a solution of enabling customers to benefit from price arbitrage (buying from whatever jurisdiction or pharmacy offers the lowest price).