54 THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. November, 1880. 
desirous of forming a similar association in Brisbane. The 
honorary secretary said that he had forwarded a copy of the 
rules, and written to Mr. Potts, offering some suggestions 
upon the initiation of the society. 
The president remarked upon the influence the association 
was exercising, even in the other colonies. 
The honorary secretary reported that the Governor-in- 
Council had released Mortensen from gaol before the expira- 
tion of his sentence. 
The committee of the friendly societies had determined 
upon opening a dispensary, and expected to be ready to com- 
mence on 1st January, 1881. They were about to advertise 
for a dispenser. 
A telegram was received from Mr. Shillinglaw, stating that 
Mr. Owen, of Geelong, had been elected to a seat on the 
Pharmacy Board, vice Mr. Kennedy, resigned. 
Some matters of business routine having been transacted, 
the meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chair. 
COSTLESS VENTILATION. 
Mr. Holdsworth sends us clippings from Sleeman’s Export 
Drug Circular , and directs attention to a process of “ costless 
ventilation,” which he says has been used with great success 
in his own house for the last three years, and recommends 
others to try the experiment. Mr. H. says that a room or 
nursery so ventilated have none of the unpleasant smells 
(when entering them from the fresh air) that bedrooms 
usually have, which clearly proves the efficacy of the method. 
Attention is also drawn to an excellent method of disinfecting 
rooms after and during sickness by the means of carbolic acid 
(No. 5 will answer) ; and its efficacy at the present time may 
be clearly proved, in cases of sickness from measles and 
whooping cough — in the latter case especially, as by the 
inhalation of the vapour it produces the same effect that is 
supposed to be produced by taking children to a gas house 
during that malady, which is no uncommon thing on Sand- 
hurst. The simplicity of the process recommends itself as 
much superior to only placing deodorants or disinfectants on 
the floors or furniture of the apartments, as by burning the 
acid on hot coals or embers the vapour reaches the ceiling, 
and every nook and corner of the room. Directions : Take a 
small pan of red hot embers from the fire, and drop upon them 
about a teaspoonful of No. 5 carbolic acid, moving about the 
room during the process. If this is done at night, it can be 
repeated in the morning with excellent effect. Be careful of 
the fingers during the process. 
A constant supply of fresh air is so important to our well- 
being, and in the prevention and cure of disease, that the 
subject needs no comment ; an attendance, however, at any 
public meeting is only necessary to convince how much this 
axiom is ignored — or, if admitted, how unsuccessfully met — 
“crowded to suffocation,” indeed, being the conventional 
term used to express a full assemblage. 
For some time, says Dr. Hinckes-Bird, I recommended to 
my patients the plan of opening the window-sash at the top, 
and stretching out on a frame a corresponding depth of 
tarlatan to intercept blacks and prevent draughts ; but the 
principle is wrong, and the results unsatisfactory, as the 
draught is directed downwards on the sitter, and not upwards 
towards the ceiling ; the screen, too, is anything but orna- 
mental, and becomes clogged with blacks, so as to require 
removal and repair. 
The method I now use is simple, economical, quite free from 
draught, can be regulated to a nicety, and does not get out of 
order. Raise the lower sash of the window, and place in front 
of the opening at the bottom rail a piece of wood of any 
approved depth— from two to three inches is sufficient ; this 
leaves a corresponding space between the meeting rails in 
the middle of the window through which the current 
of air is directed upwards towards the ceiling ; heavy 
blacks cannot ascend with the air, which is driven so high 
as to be warm before it descends ; light blacks are not 
admitted in ordinary conditions of the atmosphere, though 
doubtless they are in cases of violent commotion caused by 
very high wind— the more the lower sash is raised the more 
the difficulty of blacks entering between the meeting rails is 
increased. The principle may be modified in various ways, 
making the lower beading of wire blinds supersede the strip 
of wood, or if this be placed above and the top sash drawn 
down, to a corresponding depth, the same result will obtain ; 
in a word, open the lower sash of the window two or three 
inches, and block it up anyhow, and the air enters the space 
in the middle and is carried to the ceiling. In the Sanitary 
Hints I have circulated in the district to which I am medical 
officer of health, it is more tersely described thus : — “ Raise 
the lower sash of the window two or three inches, and fill the 
opening underneath the bottom rail with a piece of wood — 
this leaves a corresponding space between the meeting rails 
in the middle of the window, through which a current of air 
enters, and is directed towards the ceiling, whence it should 
escape by a valvular opening.” The sand-bag, so frequently 
placed over the meeting-rails to prevent fresh air coming in, 
should, the greater part of the year, be placed under the 
lower sash, so as to allow air to enter at the meeting rails. 
€ot‘rc$ponl)ence. 
THE CASE OF THE QUEEN V. TURNER, 
To the Editor of The Australasian Supplement to the Chemist 
and Druggist. 
Sir — When a person seeks the advice of an attorney or 
doctor-at-law, or as in the case of the Pharmaceutical Society 
of Victoria did in the above case, you are generally bound to 
accept his advice ; but it appears to me that the privileges 
enjoyed by the druggists of Victoria were not properly under- 
stood by the magistrates who heard the case at Colac. Even 
the Medical Practitioners Statute does not infringe upon 
those privileges, but rather upholds them, in that it provides a 
clause for that purpose. Part 2 section 14 of that Act provides 
that “ Nothing in this part of the Act shall be construed to in- 
fringe on the rights and privileges hitherto enjoyed by 
chemists and druggists and dentists.” Now, I uphold that 
Mr. Turner did nothing at all wrong in prescribing the simple 
remedies he did, and if any one was to be blamed or prose- 
cuted it was the person who employed Mr. Turner, for if a 
child dies without medical attendance a certificate of death is 
1 refused, hence an inquest ; and if neglect can be proved, a 
committal of the parents or guardians follows. Again, even a 
properly qualified medical man is always open for damages if 
mal-treatment can be proved ; but this, even, was not proved 
against Turner ! I for one am not satisfied ; for if a chemist 
can be fined through a clause in the Pharmacy Act, it is like 
being condemned out of the mouth of babes and sucklings. 
J. Holdsworth. 
“DARNEL.” 
To the Editor of The Australasian Supplement to the Chemist 
and Druggist. 
Sir — Mr. Mitchell’s inferential deduction regarding the seed 
of Lolium temulentum causing the death of one and illness of 
other cows because of its having been found in the mash or 
grains obtained from a distillery, and on which the cows were 
fed, has, I think, been drawn a little too precipitately, inas- 
much as the poisonous properties of this grass seed has, 
I think, on the whole, been rather disproved than sup- 
ported. I have heard of its having been given to pigs with 
impunity ; and though this may be no proof it would not kill 
cows, yet the researches which, sometime since, were made on 
the Continent, completely established its perfect harmlessness 
and to this view I incline. 
The contamination of malt with this seed, ergo , affecting the 
beer produced therefrom, I cannot think in any way can be sup- 
ported, doubting whether a hundred grains of it could be found 
in a hundred thousand bushels of any malt used by any brewers 
either in town or country ; for when the barley is steeped any 
light grain such as the darnel (or drake) will always float, even 
if the .barley is of such an even quality as not to require screen- 
ing (the first and usual preparatory step to malting). Now, 
either of these processes should, and I think does, effectually 
remove it from the grain to be malted ; and having seen a good 
deal of malt, I cannot recall one instance of ever seeing darnel 
in it, so that I think we must look further afield than to the 
one in question for the ill effects found in the trashy ales 
alluded to. Darnel is only grown by tyro farmers and dirty 
farming, and will ultimately be as scarce in samples of grain 
here as at the present time it is in those from England or New 
Zealand ; but even now I do not think it a recognised or mar- 
ketable commodity, or ever should or will be, but I should very 
much like to hear of Mr. Mitchell, or other scientist, conduct- 
ing a few experiments, so that its actual properties may be 
elicited beyond a doubt. — Yours, Hordeum. 
