THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
205 
not rest until they have obtained an Act that will do for their colony what has 
been more or less successfully achieved in Victoria ; and in this effort they may rest 
assured of the sympathy and support of all who have the true interests of Aus- 
tralasian pharmacy at heart. 
mx Wucttix h 
“ Lanolin, its Preparation and Properties/* was the title of a paper read at 
a recent meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. Lanolin, it would 
appear, is a substance which is destined at no distant date to take a high 
place as an agent in skin diseases and dermatological applications generally. 
The annual business meeting of the Edinburgh Chemists’ Assistants and 
Apprentices’ Association was held on 14th April, when Mr. J. T. Grant was 
announced the winner of the Ainslie Pharmacy Prize Competition, and was 
presented with the prize by Mr. Ainslie, to whom a cordial vote of thanks was 
passed for the deep interest he had taken in the welfare of the Association. 
At the last annual meeting of the Glasgow Auxiliary of the Society for the 
Suppression of the Opium Trade, the following motion was adopted: — ‘‘That this 
meeting calls upon Government to remove all pressure from China in regard to 
the opium trade, and allow her to take whatever steps she may think proper for 
dealing with the drug.” 
At a recent meeting of the Manchester Section of the Society of Chemical 
Industry it was stated that M. Chevreul, who had recently celebrated his 
hundredth birthday, had intimated his intention to revise and complete his 
researches on fats, “ after which he proposed to devote his spare time to the 
neglected correspondence of fifty years.” As Dominie Sampson would say, this 
is truly “ prodigious.” 
The Law Committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland reported to 
the monthly meeting of the council, on 7th April, that a Pharmaceutical 
Chemists’ Protection Society had been founded in Belfast, of which Dr. Whitaker 
was president, and recommended that the society should be authorised to use 
the name of the Council in prosecutions for illegal trading in suitable cases. 
The report was adopted. 
The Vice-President of the Society of Chemical Industry in Manchester, at 
a recent meeting, exhibited the new compound, named saccharine. Its chemical 
name is benzoyl sulphonic imide. It is a white powder, and crystallises from 
its aqueous solution in thick, short prisms, sparingly soluble in cold, freely in 
warm water. Alcohol, ether, glucose, etc., dissolved freely, it forms salts, having 
powerful saccharine taste. One part in 10,000 of water gives an intensely 
sweet solution. It is moderately antiseptic, unchanged in the human system, 
and is about 230 times sweeter than cane sugar. Dr. Stutzer, of Bonn, has 
carefully investigated the physiological properties, and says it has no injurious 
effects on the stomach. It has been given to [diabetic patients without their 
feeling any ill effects. 
The report submitted at the last anniversary meeting of the Chemical 
Society, in London, showed a very prosperous condition. The net increase of 
Fellows during the year was 71, bringing the total up to 1431. The number 
of papers submitted had increased from 67 in the previous year to 104, this 
being the largest amount of work accomplished in any year but one during the 
history of the society. The financial statement showed the income from 
invested funds, subscriptions, etc., to be £3742 15s. 4d., and the expenditure, 
£3432 15s. 2d. The following office-bearers were elected for the ensuing year: 
