THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
187 
Division No. III. — Chemistry. 
Time allowed, two Fours. 
(1) Na 2 S 2 0 8? Give methods of preparation, and uses in pharmacy. 
(2) Benzoic acid. Give, in equations, its composition, also its preparation 
and properties. 
(3) State the chemical results in the practice of “ tanning.” 
(4) State the amount of phosphoric anhydride in 4<7‘348 grains of tri-calcic 
phosphate. 
(5) How would you decide whether a solution contained quinine sulphate 
or chinchonine sulphate ? 
(6) Give the combining weights of CaC0 3 , EeC0 3 , K 2 C0 3 , Na 2 C0 3 , 10H 2 O, 
MgC0 3 , C0 2 . 
(/) Give the chemical reactions of albumen with aqueous solutions of some 
of the metals. 
(8) Calculate the amount of 2Mg0P 2 0 5 which could be produced from 
13‘271 grammes of MgC0 3 . 
Note. Candidates must only attempt six of the above questions, and shall 
receive for complete answers maximum marks as follows : — 
No. 8, 20; Nos. 2 and 6, 17 each ; the remainder, 15 each. 
In the whole of the papers it will be noticed that there is an evident bias 
in the direction of purely memory questions, as witness questions 5, 6, and 7 of 
the practical pharmacy paper and questions 4 and 6 of the materia medica and 
botany paper. But it is in the chemistry paper that the pharmaceutical Stokes 
would shine. There is a tendency amongst many teachers and examiners to value 
the name of the thing more than the thing itself, and it is only by persistent 
effort on the part of the best English and Continental thinkers that this error, 
formerly general, has in a measure been corrected. 
Yet, notwithstanding all that has been written and said about this matter, 
the very first question in the chemistry paper of the examination just concluded 
does not even use a name, but opens the ball with a hieroglyphic. 
In question 2, how is the candidate to give, in equations, “ composition .... 
and properties ” of benzoic acid P 
In the third question the candidate is evidently expected to have a general 
knowledge of technical processes other than those purely pharmaceutical. Surely 
“tanning is an art or trade, and can only be spoken of as a “practice” when 
exercised by a schoolmaster or a parent. 
It seems unnecessary to review the paper further, but we should bear in 
mind that, however open to criticism may be the work of our examiners, they 
are but novices in that capacity ; and at least it is a good thing that a number 
of gentlemen can be found willing to devote much valuable time to an office 
which is often unpopular and never satisfactory. 
The New Zealand Smelting Company, which was formed to buy the 
gold- smelting process, the patents for which are held by Mr. La Monte, have 
refused to take over from him the furnace and refinery which he had erected at 
the Thames. The terms he made were that he erected the necessary plant, ran 
the same for 60 days, and saved 90 per cent, of gold and silver at a cost of two 
pounds per ton. The actual cost came out six pounds fifteen shillings per ton. 
The Pharmacy Bill, in a slightly different form, will be brought before the 
House this session, but it would be better perhaps if the matter were allowed to 
stand over until the Intercolonial Pharmaceutical Conference has been held. Here 
