_Dr. Ruston._ Yes. I poured on one of them a few drops of volatile alkali, and it immediately struck a deep black. The same appearance was produced by salt of tartar, and by lime-water. I then added a few grains of calomel to the _pilulæ cochiæ_, and repeated the experiments with the same effect. _Couns. for the Prisoner._ And what discoveries have you made concerning the drops? _Dr. Ruston._ The acid drops with which he prepares his punch, is so obviously of the same nature with the dulcified volatile vitriolic acid that arises during the distillation of æther, and which is the same with what exists in large quantities in the _liquor anodinus_ of Hoffman, that it was unnecessary to submit it to any chemical experiment. There was nothing foreign in its composition. _Couns. for the Cr._ Not to interrupt the course of your examination, I beg leave, before you proceed, to ask the Doctor one question. If I remember right, you said, the powder contained ten grains of calomel. Pray, Doctor, is not this an unusual large dose? _Dr. Ruston._ As an alterative it certainly is so; and therefore Mr. Sutton’s powders have often been known to salivate the patient. But its activity is somewhat weakened by the sulphur contained in the æthiops. _Couns. for the Cr._ But has it not been generally supposed that there was some other powerful ingredient in Mr. Sutton’s medicines? _Dr. Ruston._ Yes, antimony. But from my experiments, I am convinced of the contrary. _Couns. for the Pris._ Now, Doctor, give me leave to ask you, whether the exhibition of mercury, as preparative to inoculation, be the invention of the Prisoner at the bar? _Dr. Ruston._ Certainly not. _Couns. for the Pris._ Who were the inventors of this practice? _Dr. Ruston._ I cannot answer positively to that question. The great Boerhaave, in his Aphorisms, recommended the experiment of uniting mercury with antimony as an antidote to the variolous virus; but I believe some American physicians were the first who used mercury in preparing for inoculation. _Couns. for the Pris._ And with what success? _Dr. Ruston._ With very great. Out of the first three thousand inoculated, only five died; and these were all children, who could not be prevailed on to take the medicine. _Couns. for the Pris._ I beg, gentlemen of the jury, you will remember this circumstance--All that took the mercurial medicines recovered. Pray, Dr. Ruston, was this new method of preparation long confined to any particular physician, or part of America? _Dr. Ruston._ No: the fame of its extraordinary success soon produced a number of inoculators on the new plan; so that in a short time it spread from one end of the continent to the other. _Couns. for the Pris._ Did these several inoculators all give precisely the same medicines? _Dr. Ruston._ Not precisely. _Couns. for the Pris._ In what respect do they differ? _Dr. Ruston._ Principally in the proportions of calomel and antimony.