146 



Poisons and Pharmacy Act, 1908. [may, 



to 14,333 tons, as against 15,279 tons in the preceding year. The 

 decrease is largely due to diminished imports into the United Kingdom, 

 which were only 5,029 tons in 1908, as compared with 6,341 tons in 

 1907. During the last ten years the total exports have more than 

 doubled, the figure in 1898 being 6,902 tons. Consignments by parcel 

 post are not included in these figures. 



Pea! for Fuel and other Industrial Purposes. — An officer of the 

 Canadian Department of Mines (Mr. E. Nystrom) was recently 

 instructed to investigate the peat industry in various European 

 countries, and his report, which contains numerous illustrations of the 

 machinery employed, gives a detailed account of the methods of 

 manufacturing air-dried and other forms of peat fuel, as well as of 

 peat moss litter and other peat products. 



Cider in France. — The Journal Officiel of December 30th, 1908, gives 

 the total production of cider in France last year as 371,200,000 gallons, 

 The production varies greatly, that of 1907 being only 60,300,000 

 gallons, the lowest for ten years, while the highest during that period 

 was in 1904, 792,000,000 gallons. 



International Cold Storage Association. — As an outcome of the 

 recent Congress of the Cold Storage Industries, an International Cold 

 Storage Association (Association Internationale du Froid) has been 

 formed, with its headquarters in Paris. The objects of the Association 

 are generally to promote the progress of the refrigerating industries 

 and to act as a centre for the discussion of matters relating to it. It 

 will arrange for the holding of International Congresses, and endeavour 

 to secure the carrying out of their recommendations. The publication 

 of a Bulletin and the formation of a Library is contemplated. The 

 subscription for ordinary members is 20 francs. 



OFFICIAL CIRCULARS AND NOTICES. 



The attention of sellers of insecticides, fungicides, sheep dips, and 

 weed-killers, which are poisonous by reason of their containing arsenic, 

 tobacco, or the alkaloids of tobacco, is drawn 

 Poisons and to the provisions of the Poisons and Pharmacy 



Pharmacy Act, 1908. Act, 1908 (8 Edw. 7, c. 55), with respect to 

 the sale of such preparations by persons duly 

 licensed by the Local Authority : i.e. the council of any municipal 

 borough in England having a population of more than 10,000 according 

 to the last published census for the time being, the town council of 

 any royal parliamentary or police burgh in Scotland, and, as respects 

 any other place, the council of the county. 



Provisions as to the Sale of Poisonous Substances to be used ex- 

 clusively in Agriculture or Horticulture. — Section 2 of the new Act 

 provides that " so much of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, as makes it an 

 offence for any person to sell or keep open shop for the sale of poisons, 

 unless he is a duly registered pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and 

 druggist, and conforms to regulations made under Section 1 of that 

 Act, shall not apply in the case of poisonous substances to be used 

 exclusively in agriculture or horticulture for the destruction of insects, 

 fungi, or bacteria, or as sheep dips or weed killers which are poisonous 

 by reason of their containing arsenic, tobacco, or the alkaloids of 



