THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
267 
Pharmaceutical Society without at the same practising what they had been taught. 
He might be excused for not saying more, but he did desire, as a thorough 
Australian, to thank the company for having been permitted to express the 
feelings of his heart with reference to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great 
Britain. This was the first time for forty years that he had been able to do 
so, and he knew that it would be the last, as he should shortly return to his 
duties in Victoria. He heartily thanked them for the way in which the toast 
had been drunk, and begged to assure the Pharmaceutical Society that its 
work was recognised in the colonies, and that they were determined to follow 
in its footsteps in order to bring forward young pharmacists in such a way 
that they should represent pharmacy there in the same way as the Pharma- 
ceutical Society represented it in England.” 
Professor Saunders, Ontario, and Professor Remington, Philadelphia, also 
responded to the toast, with which the proceedings terminated. 
A CURIOSITY. 
Messes. Heron, Squire and Francis have forwarded for the Museum of the 
Pharmaceutical Society of Australasia, through Mr. Henry Francis, of Bourke- 
street, Melbourne, a splendid specimen of gum benzoin, of which the history is 
given below: — 
A REMARKABLE SAMPLE OF GUM BENZOIN. 
tty this mail we have taken the liberty to forward you a sample of gum 
benzoin, which, it will no doubt interest many of your readers to hear, has been 
imbedded under sand and sea for nearly two centuries. In the olden times, as 
you are aware, this was the calling port of most of those richly freighted Dutch 
East India Company’s merchant ships, and there is no doubt whatever that this 
gum was being carried from the East to the European markets by a vessel 
belonging to that company, when she became a wreck on the shores of Table 
Bay. Besides the gum a large quantity of pure copper in bars has lately been 
recovered by divers, together with china, earthenware, crockery ware, etc. 
The lids of two cases in which the gum was packed have been recovered 
(one is in our possession), and they are not only, like the gum, in a state of 
perfect preservation, but they bear very plainly upon their surface the marks and 
numbers painted on in 1691. It seems almost incredible that after a lapse of 195- 
years, being exposed to the action of sea water during the whole of that time, 
the wood (cedar) should be quite sound and the letters distinctly legible. 
The following is a 
copy of the marks on the lid referred to, viz. 
Hetto 
w 
Ho. 143 oyc a* 1691 
Cabeff Benzuin. 
. 300 lbs. 
Tarra 
■ 
61 
Bruto 
. 361 lbs. 
Here we have the company’s mark V.O.C. (Vereenigd Oost (India) Companie), 
the number of case, year in which it was packed and probably shipped, contents, 
and weight. Perhaps some of your subscribers will give us information regarding 
the word “Cabeff.” 
Having thoroughly exhausted a sample of the gum with S.V.R. we found it 
left a residue of only 7'7 per cent, of wood, etc., whereas a sample of “elect” 
benzoin as found in commerce at the jiresent day, similarly treated, yielded no 
less than 34'9 per cent, woody matter. 
