98 
THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
journals. Tlie nomination has been ratified by cablegram, and Mr. Jackson will 
leave England for Melbourne in April next. The first term of the 1886 session 
of the College of Pharmacy will be under the direction of Mr. C. R. Blackett 
(Chemistry and Materia Medica) and Mr. D. McAlpine, who will undertake 
Lectures on Botany until the arrival of Mr. Jackson. 
Thomsen has called attention to the fact that the conclusion reached by 
Raoult in his researches on the freezing point of saline solutions, that water 
possesses, in the condition of liquid, twice the molecular weight which it has in 
the condition of vapour, coincides with the conclusion to which he himself had 
come from his investigations on the constitution of hydrated salts. In his 
thermo- chemical researches, Thomsen says : — A glance at the table of heat of 
hydration of hydrated salt shows that the water molecules enter often in pairs 
with the same heat change ; a fact explicable either by supposing that the 
molecules of water are symmetrically placed in the molecule of the salt, or, and 
perhaps more probably, that the molecular weight of liquid water is twice that 
of water vapour. The similarity of these conclusions, from widely different 
fields of investigation, is noteworthy. — Ber. Berl. Chem. G-es., xviii., 1088, April, 
1885; G.F.B., Amer. Jour. 
The appeal case, Abraham v. M‘Quade, in which the well-known chemist, Mr. 
J. S. Abraham, of George -street, sought to reverse the former decision of the 
court, came on on Tuesday, the 23rd February. The defendant, who owns the 
premises occupied by Mr. xlbraham, had offered to sell the property for a sum 
of £10,000 to him, the offer being accepted ; however, after thinking over the 
matter, Mr. M'Quade decided not to sell at that price, deeming it insufficient. 
Mr. Abraham placed the matter in the hands of his lawyer, but the case 
went against him, and in the appeal the previous judgment of the court has 
been upheld. 
Taking example from their English brethren, the graduates and members 
of the Scottish Universities have decided to hold a first annual dinner on the 
15th inst. Sir John Hay will occupy the chair, and a number of prominent 
Scottish ’Varsity men have signified their intention to be present. 
Dr. Thomas Dixson, lecturer on materia medica at the Sydney University, 
has returned to Sydney after an absence of two years. Dr. Dixson received 
two years’ leave of absence from the senate, in order that he might visit the 
principal schools in Great Britain and on the Continent, and thus be able to 
introduce into the medical school of our University the more recent improve- 
ments and discoveries in his special branch. 
Dr. Roth, whose lectures on the subjects of hygiene and the general laws of 
health, in the course of scientific lectures lately delivered at the Technical College, 
proved so attractive, has been appointed by the Government to periodically lecture 
at Hurlstone College to the lady students who are qualifying themselves there for 
positions as teachers under the National Department of Education. Hygiene will 
in future be one of the subjects taught in our public schools. 
On Thursday, 24th February, the monthly meeting of the Linnean Society of 
N.S.W. was held at the society’s hall. There was a large attendance; Professor 
Stephens in the chair. Amongst those present were the Hon. Win. Maeleay, 
Mr. Wilkinson (Government geologist), Mr. Ramsay (curator of the museum), Mr. 
