BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE, NORWICH. 409 



part of it is volatile without decomposition, while the other is 

 not. But no substance, as Mr. Waddington remarked, can 

 sublime and decompose at the same temperature ; partial sub- 

 limation and partial decomposition must be owing to a 

 mechanical defect in the arrangement for heating the substance. 

 That the subliming and decomposing points of many substances 

 approximate very closely is most probable, for when the heat 

 has been most carefully applied, it has often happened that 

 a sublimate has been contaminated with coloured matter which 

 could only have arisen from decomposition. Dr. Attfield argued 

 that it was almost as impossible to limit the subliming point of 

 a solid as the evaporating point of a liquid, and instanced iodine, 

 camphor, naphthaline, mercury, and ice as solids, volatile at all 

 temperatures. But are strychnia and morphia analogous with 

 these, and is there any evidence that these latter are at all 

 volatile, except at an elevated temperature ? 



I must pass from this interesting subject, noticing only that 

 we have further to thank Mr. Waddington for remarks on Mr. Wadding- 

 the preparation of microscopic crystals, a communication of /on * 

 great interest to any one desirous of pursuing the subject, 

 the practical value of which has been' illustrated by our 

 colleagues Messrs. Stoddart, Deane and Brady. 



The analysis of potable water, more especially with a view Water Analy. 

 to the determination of the organic matter it contains, continues sls - 

 to attract the attention of chemists both in England and on the 

 Continent, and the various methods proposed for arriving at 

 results more accurate than those hitherto attained, have been 

 vigorously discussed. Dr. Frankland's paper on water analysis, 

 in the Pharmaceutical Journal for February last 1868, gives 

 some idea of the elaborate pains required for arriving at satis- 

 factory results. 



Let me here notice the extremely interesting account of a Attfield's 

 medicinal spring in Jamaica, given by our friend and colleague a ^g^ s j u ai a 

 Dr. Attfield. The water of this spring is remarkable, not only spring. 

 for the excessive amount of saline matter it contains, but like- 

 wise from this saline matter consisting exclusively of the chlorides 

 of calcium, sodium, and ammonium, the first-named being in the 



