290 Quartcrli) Report of the Chemical Committee for December^ 



and stating that, as it had not come back through the Returned' 

 Letter Office, the Committee inferred that it had been duly 

 received. It was further stated that, as the Committee must 

 conclude its report to the Council by February 3rd, a reply was 

 requested previous to that date. 



On January 27th, a letter, dated January 26th, was received 

 by the Secretary of the Society, not from the Chairman or Secre- 

 tary of the Hull Pure Linseed-cake Association, but from one oi 

 the members of that Association, whose sale of inferior cake as 

 " Pure Linseed-cake " had been reported by Dr. Voelcker. In 

 that letter it was stated that " at present there is no secretary, or, 

 we believe, chairman, of the Hull Pure Linseed-cake Associa- 

 tion, or we would hand over the whole of the correspondence." 

 The writer then gave the same explanation as before — namely, 

 " that, owing to a slight defect in the screen at the time these 

 cakes were making, it was possible he (the purchaser) had some 

 just cause of complaint." They, therefore, made a reduction in 

 the price. They further insisted that the Society would not be 

 justified in publishing the charges against them as the vendors, 

 and concluded by threatening with an action the editor of any 

 publication in which the Society should seek to brand them 

 " before the public as dishonest traders for what was the result 

 of accident more than anything else," 



To this communication the Secretary returned the following 

 reply on January 27th : — 



" I beg to acknowledge the receipt this morning of your letter of yesterday,, 

 and, by direction of the Chemical Committee, to request that you will inform 

 me by whom my letters to the Chairman or Secretary of the Hull Pure 

 Linseed-cake Association were handed to you on Saturday last. 



" At present the Society is seeking to deal with that Association, and not 

 with any individual members of it, and cannot recognise your letter as any 

 answer to my letters to its Chairman or Secretary. 



"If the Association has no responsible head or executive authority, its 

 existence is in name only ; and the public are greatly misled by those who use 

 and publish a trade mark or emblem describing the contrary." 



To this letter the following answer, dated January 28th, was 

 made : — 



" In reply to your favour, we think you would have no difficulty in getting 

 the information you ask from the Post-Office officials, the letter being regis- 

 tered. We would rather not mention names, for this reason : — it was brought 

 to our office on Saturday night by a boy, and, as no letter accomi)anied it, 

 you will easily understand we have no positive evidence where it did come 

 from. 



" In ovx opinion it is a fine point if the Association really does, or does not, 

 exist." 



This communication arrived on January 29th, and on the fol- 

 lowing day the Secretary received a registered packet containing 

 his letters of the 1st and 20th of January, which had been 



