14 
THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
The gauge-testing apparatus (for pressure and vacuum gauges) are in constant 
requisition. As a guarantee of the safety of the public it would be well if all gauges 
were regularly tested in this way, and each gauge verified and provided with a table of 
corrections. 
In the School of Pharmacy a complete course of instruction is given. Students may 
attend any one class or compound for a three years’ course, embracing all the subjects of 
Pharmacy examinations. 
The classes have been in occupation of the large new chemical laboratory since the 
beginning of the year. It is already fitted up to accommodate 32 first "and second 
year students and 16 advanced students. The old laboratory contains places for 27 
chemical students and 8 places for blowpipe students. 
Special lectures for Pharmacy students are given on Tuesdays and Fridays, from 3 to 
4, on Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Physics. On Tuesday evenings the Materia 
Medica and Practical Pharmacy Class is held. The class-room is provided with a most 
complete set of Materia Medica samples and medical plants, which the students are 
exercised in describing and distinguishing. They are also assisted by charts prepared 
by the lecturer, constituting a complete digest of the Pharmacopoeia, In the Botany 
Class the students go through a full course of instruction in general botany and medical 
botany, illustrated by specimens from the Medical Garden of the School, and varied by 
excursions to the Botanical Gardens, various private gardens in the neighbourhood or 
into the bush. As the Railway Commissioners have made such liberal concessions to 
students of the School as to reduce the fares from stations within 60 miles of Ballarat 
to a nominal amount, apprentices and assistants have now full opportunity of availing 
themselves of the School’s instruction. During last year 11 certificates of competency 
were issued in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Materia Medica, and Botany ; and eight 
students have passed the examinations held during this year.. 
Examinations in all subjects are held half-yearly — for the stage certificates by the 
examining board of the School, and for certificates of competency by outside examiners. 
Several students are availing themselves of the advantages offered by the establish- 
ment of student assistantships. These students, from whom a premium is required, are 
indentured for a three years’ course, under the direction of the professors, for the 
professions of analyst, metallurgist, geologist and mining surveyor, or electrician, 
and, when successful, receive the diploma of Associate of the School. 
State School teachers are instructed free in the subjects already mentioned, their classes 
meeting chiefly on Saturday. 
The Free Lecture Classes for State School pupils are now constituted into a well 
organised system. From 100 to 120 are taught in a junior lecture class. Those of this 
class who pass satisfactorily at the half-yearly examinations are drafted into a senior 
class, and those of the senior class who acquit themselves sufficiently well are awarded 
free instruction scholarships, entitling them to attend the regular School classes free. If 
these scholars take honours at the first stage examination, in the subject chosen, their 
scholarship is renewed for another year, and so they may arrive from stage to stage at 
certificates of competency entirely free. This system of continued selection has been 
found to work admirably. 
An important class, for the training of mining managers in the art of surveying 
mines and drawing mine plans, has been in operation for some months, and is doing 
excellent work, under the direction of one of the professors. 
The School has also undertaken, through one of its professors, the position of public 
analyst to a number of boroughs and shires, and to the city and town of Ballarat. 
It may be fairly gathered from the foregoing notes that the energetic Councillors of 
the School are making a brave effort in the cause of scientific education, and the fact 
that last year the public subscriptions amounted to over £400 is evidence that it has a 
fair share of public favour. 
Bottle Glue. — A good bottle glue, insoluble in water, and particularly suitable for sealing 
bottles containing volatile liquids, such as chloroform, ether, alcohol, etc., may be prepared 
by soaking glue or gelatin in water, dissolving it in glycerin, then adding tannin (about 2 oz. for 
every pound of glue), and heating the mixture on a water bath until perfectly homogeneous, and as 
free from excess of water as possible. It may be coloured if desired. When wanted for use, it is 
melted and applied to the mouth of the bottles. 
