86 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
March, 1880. 
BALLARAT. 
BALLARAT DISTRICT CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
The monthly general meeting of the association was held at 
Lester’s Hotel, Sturt-street, on Wednesday night, 17th March. 
There was a fair attendance of members ; Mr. J. T. Thomas, of 
Melbourne, a member of the Pharmaceutical Council, was 
present as a visitor. The President (Mr. T. P. Palmer) 
occupied the chair, and called upon the hon. sec. to read the 
minutes of the previous meeting, which were confirmed. 
Mr. Macgowan, hon. sec., then gave a resume of the business 
transacted at the annual meeting of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, held in Melbourne on 12th March ; and stated as it 
had happened there were for members of the Pharmaceutical 
Council six vacancies and six nominations, he had been elected 
a member without a contest. 
Mr. Towl introduced the subject of dispensing for Friendly 
Societies, and remarked upon the low prices at which chemists 
sometimes tendered for dispensing ; and gave notice of his 
intention to bring forward a motion at the next meeting for 
fixing a minimum price for all future tenders. 
Mr. Macgowan stated that in an interview which he had 
had with Mr. Shillinglaw, hon. sec. of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, that gentleman had very kindly offered to lend the 
association some of the leading English, American, and 
foreign periodicals and journals for perusal, the same to be 
returned in a month or six weeks. 
There being no further matters of business to bring forward, 
the meeting closed with the usual vote of thanks to the chair. 
The next meeting of the association will be held on Wednes- 
day, 21st April, at nine p.m. 
For the period of the year from 1st April to 31st October 
the chemists of Ballarat will close their establishments at nine 
p.m. 
flotcs ant Abstract*. 
Aniline Red in Wine. — B runner has given a new test for 
the presence of aniline red in wine. Digest the wine with a 
piece of stearin. After cooling, the latter will be found to be 
coloured violet. 
Protection of Iron Castings. — R ub I part of graphite to 
a powder, add 4 parts of sulphate of lead, 1 part of sulphate of 
zinc, and 16 parts of linseed oil varnish ; mix well and boil. 
This forms a varnish which no weather will wash off. 
Balsam of Peru in Pruritus.— D r. Auerbach, of Berlin, 
has for some time past treated pruritus by balsam of Peru 
with the greatest success. After the first rubbing into the 
part affected, great relief is obtained, and in a few days a cure 
results. 
Growth of Vines from Seed. — D r. A. Blankenhorn main- 
tains that the constitution of European vines is exhausted, 
owing to their continued propagation by layers and cuttings. 
He recommends propagation by seed as a defence against the 
phylloxera . 
Black Polish on Iron. — F or those who wish to obtain 
that beautiful deep black polish on iron or steel which is so 
much sought after, all that is required is to boil 1 part of 
sulphur in 10 parts of oil of turpentine, the product of which 
is a brown sulphuric oil of disagreeable smell. This should be 
put on the outside as lightly as possible, and heated till the 
required black polish is obtained. 
Disguising the Odour of Iodoform (see also Am. Jour. 
Pharm ., 1879, p. 190). — The addition of oil of peppermint was 
successfully resorted to by Vulpius. Dr. Lindemann prefers 
oil of cloves and balsam of Peru, and prescribes two parts of 
the balsam to one pint of iodoform. L loform ointment is 
prepared either with lard, glycerin, ointment, or soft naraffine ; 
and a liquid preparation is made with glycerine, alcohol, or 
collodion, as follows : — 
R Iodoform ... ... ... ... ... ... j.q 
Balsam of Peru ... ... ... 2*0 
Lard (or glycerine ointment or soft paraffine 8*0 
Or, R Iodoform j.q 
Balsam of Peru 3 .Q 
Alcohol (or glycerine or collodion) 12*0 
Mix, in both cases, the iodoform first with the balsam and 
then add the vehicle.— Pharm. Ztg ., 25th Oct., 1879. p 663 : 
Ally. Med. Central Ztg. 
New Method of Capsuling Bottles.— T he London 
Chemist and Druggist says : — A new system of capsuling 
bottles has come into fashion from France. It is much more 
rapid than the method of affixing lead capsules, and some may- 
think that it gives more elegant effects. The medium for 
forming the capsulage is a viscous volatile liquid, into which 
the top of the bottle is dipped, and immediately withdrawn 
with a slight rotatory motion. It leaves a transparent capsule, 
and the effect is better if a label bearing a monogram or trade- 
mark had been previously attached to the top of the bottle. 
We find the following formula for the liquid, given by M. 
Soulan, of St. Emilion : — 
Parts. 
Yellow resin 20 
Ether ... ... ... ... ... ... 40 
Collodion 60 
Fuchsine or other tint, q. s. 
Fucus Vesiculosus (Anti-Fat).— Now that this remedy is 
so universally used for the reduction of obesity, it may interest 
the profession to recall to mind another use found for it in 
1826. Laennec having observed that on the coast of Brittany, 
where the air is more humid, but at the same time milder and 
more equable than in the interior of France, the number of 
phthisical patients was comparatively small ; and having also 
seen that young men from Brittany became consumptive dur- 
ing their sojourn in large cities, and recovered on returning to 
their native province, came to the conclusion that the peculiar 
atmosphere of the sea coast had something to do in these 
results. He, therefore, tried to imitate it, in some measure, 
by placing near the beds of the patients certain fresh marine 
plants. He brought together, into two small wards, a number 
of phthisical patients, and surrounded their beds with the fucus 
vesiculosus , causing them to drink also an infusion of the same 
plant. None appeared to suffer from this mode of treatment, 
as long as the fresh fucus could be procured. The cough be- 
came less frequent, the breathing less confined, the expectora- 
tion less in quantity. In the greater number the hectic fever 
ceased, and the progress of emaciation was arrested. In 1826 
th q fucus caused fattening and arrest of emaciation ; now it 
produces emaciation, or rather it reduces bulk, according to 
testimony of many writers, who, perhaps, do not take into 
account the diet they adopt, or the hygiene they follow, as 
being a more important factor in the matter. We do not hear 
now of fucus in consumption. In fifty-three years’ time shall 
we hear of anti-fata. — Med. Press and Circ ., 'Dublin . 
Remarkable Explosions. — Attention was recently directed 
in the French Academy to a case of explosion of carbonic acid 
which occurred in July last in one of the coal pits of Roche- 
belle (Gard). The coal strata there are much dislocated, and 
the carbonic acid generated plentifully in the neighbourhood, 
and finding its way through natural passages, seems to have 
accumulated in certain parts with sufficient tension to explode 
with two loud detonations, driving a large quantity of fine 
coal into the galleries. Three men were asphyxiated, and two 
others were only able to throw themselves in a swooning state 
into the cage and be hauled up. That no flame was present 
(as in explosions of fire damp) is proved by the absence of 
burns on the bodies of the victims, the fact that blasting cart- 
ridges did not go off, &c. The gas is thought to have arisen 
from sulphuric acid (produced through oxidation of a stratified 
mass of pyrites) dissolving in subterranean waters, and finding 
its way down to triassic limestone. In the works of M. 
Kuhlmann lately an alembic of platina, about 90 centimetres 
diameter, used for producing daily some 6000 to 7000 kilo- 
grammes of concentrated sulphuric acid, was exploded, the 
component pieces being shattered and thrown out, with bricks 
of the fireplace, 20 to 30 metres in different directions. For- 
tunately a slight hissing was observed a few seconds pre- 
viously, so that the workmen had time to escape a terrible 
fate. The nature of the explosion M. Kuhlmann supposes to 
be as follows : — This platinum apparatus was being cleaned ; 
some 30 to 40 kilogrammes of concentrated sulphuric acid 
had been left in it ; on this some water had been admitted 
through the siphon, and the whole had been gently heated 
three or four hours. It is known that mixing sulphuric acid 
with water produces a good deal of heat ; in the present 
instance combination is thought to have taken place instan- 
taneously at a pretty high temperature, generating a large 
amount of vapour. From data furnished by Fabre and Silber- 
man, it appears that 40 kilogrammes of acid at 18 deg., with 
water, is capable of producing instantaneously 18 to 20 cubic 
metres of vapour, and this is sufficient to explode a platinum 
