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time when man began to cook his food, thereby giving his teeth less 

 work to perform. Had we continued to grind our corn with our 

 molars, and to tear the raw meat from the bone with our canines, 

 we should still possess the useful but less ornamental jaws of our 

 remote ancestors. Oscar Schmidt tells us that as our mental 

 powers improve the work performed by our teeth will diminish, 

 probably by the increased use of artifically digested food, and that 

 the "coming man " will only possess a short receding chin with 

 hard toothless gums, somewhat like the sharp cutting jaw of the 

 turtle. 



Chemists continue as indefatigable as ever, and are constantly 

 adding to our medical and dietetic resources. One wishes some- 

 times that they were less industrious, at any rate when their 

 researches enables tradesmen to supply us with margarine in place 

 of butter, with wine which has never known the grape, and sweets 

 and confectionary flavoured with more or less poisonous derivatives 

 of fusil oil. We have now a new candidate for commercial favour 

 in the form of saccharin, a substitute for sugar, which is called in 

 accordance with the simple chemical nomenclature now in 

 fashion — Anhydro-ortho-sulphamine-benzoic-acid, a derivative of 

 Orthotoluene sulphonamide ! This new substance possesses the 

 most powerful sweetening properties, one part in 10,000 of water 

 being sufficient to render it perceptibly sweet. Professor Stutzer 

 has been making a series of experiments on animals by sweetening 

 their food with saccharin, and can trace no injurious consequences 

 to its use. It would be interesting to know if the same views are 

 taken by the dogs and rabbits on which he experimented. 

 Saccharin will doubtless be largely used for sweetening confec- 

 tionary, syrups, &c., and may perhaps be beneficially employed in 

 medicine. It is said too that quinine can now be manufactured 

 synthetically at the price of 3d. per ounce. This would render us 

 independent of the cinchona tree, and would be an immense boon 

 to thousands, as Quinine at present costs about ten shillings an 

 ounce, only 5 per cent, being extracted from the bark, the other 

 95 parts being wasted. Thus we may fairly say that although 

 1886 has witnessed no very brilliant or startling discoveries. Science 

 has been by no means at a standstill. Advances have been made 

 all along the line, and scientists have been as energetic and 

 indefatigable as in bygone years. 



A cordial vote of thanks having been accorded to the President 

 for his able and interesting address, the election of officers was 

 proceeded with. The president was re-elected, and the Vice- 

 presidents, and also the committee, with the addition of the names 

 of Mr. Knight, and Mr. A. H. Ullyett. Mr. Hy. Ullyett was re- 



