Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/38

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
34
QUACKERY UNMASKED.

and infinite space scarcely sufficient to afford it room. In this contemplation we may be lost in amazement for a moment, but a little attention to the subject will show us that so much as a whole drop has never been attenuated to the thirtieth degree, only extreme fractional parts are carried forward to the end of the process that at last an ounce of the liquor may not contain more than a decillionth of the drop first employed.

Nearly the same result may be obtained in the following manner, viz.: Take a new vial and put into it one hundred drops of alcohol, then add one drop of whatever liquid may be required, give the vial one hundred shakes, and then turn out all except one drop. Quite as much as one drop will adhere to the sides of the vial after all has been emptied out that will run. Next add another hundred drops to this apparently empty vial, and give it another hundred shakes, and so continue the process up to the thirtieth time; and the last hundred drops will contain the decillionth of a drop of the tincture first employed, if the process has been correctly performed. But whether it does or does not