294 



NATURE 



[April 27. 1911 



veinr elaewhere is referred to (p. 14J. Mr. Ball uImi re- 

 ports on minerals, including tin, mercury, copper, and 

 coal, in North Queensland (No. 333, 1910). The coals of 

 Cooktown are believed to be of early Mcsozoic age ; but 

 the author refers (p. 37) those of Mount Mulligan to the 

 Palsoozoic, on account of the presence of GlosBopteris. 

 Mr. Marks describes the coal-measures of Trias-Jura age 

 in south-east Queensland (No. 325), but does not add any- 

 thing to their palteontology. A large map has been issued 

 1910), showing the topography of the mineral fields and 

 coal-iirlds in cast central Queensland, on the scale of one 

 inch to four miles. 



The Bulletins of the New Zealand Geological Survey 

 continue to maintain their exceptionally high position. 

 Messrs. Bell and Clarke (No. 8, 1909) make us acquainted 

 with the scenery of the Whangaroa district, in the far 

 north of the long promontory of Auckland. The difficul- 

 ties so often met with in the palaeontology of New Zealand 

 appear to crop up here, and, in view of the scarcity of 

 fossils and the uncertainty of those discovered, it is found 

 impossible to divide the Kaeo series into a Mesozoic and 

 a Cainozoic portion, though both are believed to be pre- 

 sent. Greensands and " claystones " are its most 

 txtensively developed rocks (p. 49). Igneous rocks of 

 Palaeozoic (?) to Cainozoic age occur, and arc illustrated 

 by thin sections. Mr. J. H. Adams (No. 9, 1910) describes 

 the Whatatutu subdivision in Kaukumara, which is also 

 in the North Island. Here satisfactory fossils enable him 

 to place the whole of his beds, the Whatatutu series, in 

 the Upper Miocene, and to reject a previous grouping into 

 Cretaceous and Lower Cainozoic (pp. 13 and 23). Mr. 

 C. Fraser (No. 10) treats of the Thames Goldfield in 

 Hauraki, Auckland, which has suffered from the usual 

 periods of " boom " and consequent depression. The 

 ' sensational development," however, of one mine in 1904 

 shows how irregular vein-mining may prove to be. One 

 of th<? features of the district is the Table Mountain, 

 formed by the weathering out of a huge dyke of andesite, 

 which penetrated a plateau of easily eroded rhyolite-tuflfs. 

 The gold and silver ores began to be imported into the 

 district in early Cainozoic times, and the vein-material 

 partly fills fissures and partly replaces country-rock (p. 41). 

 The " bonanza " deposits are attributed to waters that had 

 acquired different characters meeting at certain points 

 along intersecting veins, and thus promoting deposition. 

 Mr. E. Webb (No. 11) writes on the country in the north 

 of the Westport Division in Nelson. The faults which 

 lowered the highland that once lay to the west of the 

 New Zealand Alps play a great part in the physiography of 

 this region, and the block-system of mountain-building is 

 shown in the retention of fault-scarps between the high- 

 land levels and the lower land stretching to the coastal 

 plain. Copper-ores and molybdenite have directed atten- 

 tion to the district. G. A. J. C. 



7 UK PHAKMACEVTICAL SOCIErV'S 

 SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 



'2" HE seventieth anniversary of the Pharmaceutical 

 Society of Great Britain, which occurs this month, 

 IS an event of some considerable interest, which is not 

 wholly confined to those who practise the art of 

 pharmacy. Since its earliest days the society has devoted 

 Its attention to improvements in scientific education, and. 

 Indeed, before it was a year old, it had instituted courses 

 of lectures in chemistry, materia medica, pharmacy, and 

 botany. Its foundation dates from April 15, 1841, when 

 at a meeting of chemists and druggists held at the Crown 

 and Anchor Tavern, in the Strand, it was resolved to form 

 an association " for the purpose of protecting the per- 

 manent interests and increasing the respectability of 

 chemists and druggists." 



At that time there were many men who bv their training 

 were well equipped for the work of compounding drurfs and 

 dispensing medicines, but owing to their lack of cohesion 

 "le science of pharmacy was making very sk>w progress, 

 ine rapid advances which the society made in the com- 

 mencing years of its existence was in a large measure 

 NO. 2165, VOL. 86] 



due to the pervading influence of its fir»t pr< - 

 William Allen, F.K.S., who, in addition to carr> : 



the busincks of a chetr'- ••• ?>"'.••■•»• < •' 



was a man with ver> 

 In 1796 he had with ^ 



Askesian Society for prabtt(;iil •cientihc research, and 

 three years later he helped to f<xra the British 

 Mineralogical Society, while in 1804 he delivered a course 

 of lectures on natural philosophy at the Royal Institu- 

 tion. 



With such a man at the head, there is little wood' 

 that the newly formed Pharmaceutical Society becan 

 imbued with his scientific spirit, and turned to edut..' > 

 as a means of raising pharmacy from the low lev-: , ; 

 which it stood as a calling in those days. The K .<! 

 Charter of Incorporation was obtained in 1843; th' r . 1 

 the purpose of the society is set forth as being f(-' ■ 

 advancement of chemistry and pharmacy and the jj: 

 tion of a uniform system of education of those who 

 on the business of chemists and druggists. As a! 

 stated, the School of Pharmacy was soon establishi-'i 

 in 1845 a laboratory was constructed which con: 

 favourably with the laboratories of Germany, in( ! 



that of Giessen, and most of those in F- - " g 



instituted a sound system of education a: 



the society was in a position to ask the < or 



privileges for its members, but it was not until 1852 that 

 an Act was passed restricting the use of the title of 

 pharmaceutical chemist to examined persons. This Act 

 did not restrict the sale of poisons, and the society had 

 to wait another sixteen years before it obtained from 

 Parliament a measure of legislation by which the retail 

 traftic in poisons was placed in the hands of those who 

 had passed the statutory examinations. 



To revert to an earlier period and the efforts made to 

 encourage scientific research, a committee was appointed 

 in 1844, on the recommendation of Dr. Pereira, to investi- 

 gate the then known materia medica. The committee 

 was composed of several officers and members of the 

 society, together with the professors at the school, and di^ 

 a considerable amount of useful work, the results of whidi 

 were communicated to meetings of the society. The even- 

 ing meetings, held once a month in the autumn and 

 winter, have contributed very largely to the advancpmeni 

 of scientific pharmacy, and the great improvements in t'v 

 methods of preparation and administration of med: .. 

 compounds which have been effected during the last scv!.:n 

 years have been due in a great measure to the discussions 

 at these meetings. 



Thp influence of the Pharmaceutical Society and it^ 

 members on the British Pharmacc^xEia has been extr< nv !' 

 important, notwithstanding that the society, as such, ha~ 

 no statutory acknowledgment of its work in this connec 

 tion. In a paper read in 1845, Peter Squire, who sub-, 

 sequently held the office of president, pointed out the evils 

 likely to result from the discrepancies existing in the] 

 formula? of the Pharmacopoeias for England, Scotland 

 and Ireland, but it was not until 1864 that the first BritiJ 

 Pharmacopoeia was published. When the preparation « 

 this volume was contemplated, the council of the Pharma- 

 ceutical Society, at the request of the College «< 

 Physicians, appointed a committee to assist in its com- 

 pilation, and when a few years later the duty of pre 

 paring the Pharmacopoeia was transferred to the Genera 

 Medical Council, the society was requested to keep ir 

 touch with that body. In the preparation of subsequen 

 editions the services of pharmacists have been invaluable. 



The British Pharmaceutical Conference, although in n< 

 way part of the society, largely consists of members o 

 the society, and the parent body has never ceased t< 

 encourage the conference in the useful work it has accom 

 plished.' The Pharmaceutical Journal was founded in 184 

 by Jacob Bell, and has been the means of recording am 

 distributing the results of work done in connection witl 

 pharmacy and allied sciences. The British Pharma 

 ceutical Codex is another of the society's publication 

 which has contributed to the prepress of pharmacy. Mor 

 recently the society has directed its attention to improvin 

 its educational system, which seems to justify the belie 

 that the scientific spirit which imbued its founders ha 

 been inherited by those who govern its affairs to-day. 



