206 
THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
Vice-presidents — Mr. David Howard and Professor J. Dewar, M.A., F.E.S., in 
room of Dr. E. Schunch and Mr. W. Weldon (deceased). As members of 
Council — Messrs. J. A. II. Newlands, S. W. Pickering, M.A., W. Eamsay, Ph.D., 
and Thomas Stevenson, M.D., in room of Messrs. E. Atkinson, Ph.D., G-. C. 
Foster, F.E.S., Ludwig Mond, and C. O’Sullivan, F.E.S. 
little Urcrm c $&ux;xv&i&+ 
According- to the National Druggist there are now pharmaceutical associations 
in upwards of thirty States of the American Union. 
The American Pharmacist for April reprints from our February number Mr. 
Bosisto’s paper on “ Shellac/’ but— we have no doubt unintentionally — omits to make 
the usual acknowledgment. 
“Nature ” states that a spring of mineral water was recently discovered in the 
very centre of St. Petersburg. In composition the water resembles Staraya Eussa, 
or Kreutznach, and in taste it is quite similar to natural seltzer. 
From a London paper we learn that a “ Homoeopathic League is being 
organised, with the object of making known, by lectures, public meetings, and the 
distribution of literature, the advantages of homoeopathic treatment.” 
An American paper states that the Sultan of Turkey has recently engaged 
two German pharmacists to devote themselves entirely to the service of his court, 
the salary of each being equal to £1000 a year, with board and lodging in the 
palace. 
According to a writer in the Bibliotheca Sacra , £25,000,000 were spent for 
opium in China during 1884. Over fifty millions of people are computed to be using 
this drug. Seven thousand tons of opium were sent during the year from India 
to China. 
The Birmingham correspondent of a London paper writes : — “ The profit on a 
patented soap must be enormous. We hear that a local firm of soap manufac- 
turers have recently engaged a Eoyal Academician to paint a special picture for 
reproduction as a show-card.” 
At Sunderland recently, a drug and patent medicine dealer told his assistant to 
paint some window tickets, and on the latter refusing, on the ground that it was not 
his work, discharged him. The assistant sued his late employer for 12s. 3d. wages 
due, and obtained an order, but without costs. 
Some idea of the importance of the cultivation of olives in the south of 
France may be formed from the fact that the average value of the crop in the 
five departments where they flourish best is £1,200,000. This year it will be in 
excess of that amount. The olive tree requires very little attention, and attains 
a great age. 
The appointment of Sir II. E. Eoscoe, M.P., as President of the British 
Association for 1887 is spoken of by a London contemporary as beyond doubt the 
best appointment in every respect. The meeting is to be held in Manchester; and 
Sir H. Eoscoe’s position as a scientist of the first order, his connection with the 
Victoria University, and the work he has done with regard to the education question, 
eminently fit him for the post of President of the Manchester meeting. 
Speaking of the Victorian Court in the Colonial Exhibition, “Paracelsus” 
(British and Colonial Druggist), writes : — “The collection of specimens illustrating 
the Eucalyptus series will undoubtedly be found the most important and complete 
ever seen in Europe, and should place before pharmacists an amount of practically 
useful information, o?. which the value can scarcely be assessed. The “Bosisto” 
exhibit of raw and manufactured products alone will take more than one day tu 
