88 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
March, 1881, 
should not be continued too long, else the yield will be 
diminished. Thirdly, that the transformation of part of the 
pericarp into oil was due to the development of a mycoderm 
of the germs penicillium on the surface of the olive. 
Lastly, the author refrains from giving practical directions 
about the manner of treating the olives for commercial purposes, 
assuring the reader that each olive proprietor will be sure to 
adopt such methods as will best suit his individual wants. — 
Sleeman's Circular. _ 
ftotes anb Abstracts. 
According to the Boston Herald , an establishment for the 
manufacture of “ bogus diplomas” has been discovered in that 
city. It is supposed to have manufactured about one hundred 
doctors, at prices varying from 100 to 145 dollars each. 
An eminent physician of Dublin, referring to “ those erratic 
medical hybrids, the lady doctors,” very justly remarks — 
“ There are some masculine woman just as there are some 
effeminate men. Neither are good types of their kind ; and 
it needs no serious argument to prove the futility of any 
attempt founded on such exceptional cases, on the part of 
either sex, to fill the place and assume the functions of the 
other.” — Journal of Science. 
When Scientists Ought to be Killed.— Professor 
Huxley says he has long entertained the conviction that any 
man who has taken an active part in science should be 
strangled at sixty. In his experience ninety-nine men out of 
every hundred become simply obstructionists after that age, 
and not flexible enough to yield to the advance of new ideas. 
They are, in short, “ old fogies,” and he thinks the world 
would be benefited by the operation he suggests. It may be 
interesting to note, by the way, that the learned professor 
himself is fifty-five. 
Castor Oil applied Externally— Mr. M‘Nicoll and 
Dr. Hilliard (British Medical Journal ) both report that they 
have found purgative results follow the inunction of castor oil. 
The latter says — “ I have frequently applied castor oil to the 
abdomen, under spongiopiline, or other waterproof material, 
in cases where the usual way of administering by the mouth 
seemed undesirable, and with the happiest results. Within 
the last few days, in a case of typhoid fever, I applied half- 
an-ounce of castor oil in this manner, under a hot- water 
fomentation, which relieved the constipation and tympanitic 
distention that had been present, without undue purging or 
irritation of the bowels.” 
Detection of Iodine in Bromine and Metallic 
Bromides. — A few drops of the bromine in question are 
placed in a small porcelain capsule, 30 c.c. of a solution of 
potassium chlorate, saturated in the cold, are added, and the 
liquid is boiled till colourless. The solution is then poured 
into a test-tube, allowed to cool, mixed with a few drops of a 
solution of morphine sulphate and a little chloroform. If the 
chloroform takes a violet colour, iodine was present in the 
sample. The morphine solution is prepared by dissolving 0*5 
grm. morphine in an excess of dilute sulphuric acid, and 
diluting to 50 c.c. In examining potassium bromide the solu- 
tion is mixed with two or three drops of pure bromine water, 
and a few c.c. of a cold saturated solution of potassium 
chlorate, and further treated as above. — Zeitschrift fur 
Amedytische Chemie. 
/ Wood Books as Botanical Specimens.— In the museum 
at Hesse Cassel there is a library made from five hundred 
European trees. The back of each volume is formed of the 
bark of a tree, the sides of the perfect wood, the top of young 
wood, and the bottom of old. When opened, the book is found 
to be a box, containing the flower, seed, fruit, and leaves of 
the tree, either dried or imitated in wax. At the Melbourne 
Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866, Col. Clamp exhibited speci- 
mens converted into small boxes of book form, according to a 
design adopted by him at the Victorian Exhibition of 1851, 
and then suggested by Baron Mueller. Australia alone could 
furnish a collection of over a thousand such books. At the 
Paris Exhibition of 1867 Russia showed a similar collection 
of wooden books, cleverly designed, showing the bark as the 
binding, and lettered with the popular and scientific names of 
the wood. Each book contains samples of the leaves and fruit 
of the tree and a section and shaving or veneer of the same. 
Alcohol a Stimulant or Narcotic.— Alcohol, says Dr. 
Wilks, in the Monthly Magazine of Pharmacy , is stated to be 
a stimulant. If a man is jaded and tired, it affords a tem- 
porary support ; a little later he is depressed, the stimulant 
lasting only a short time. It produces dilatation of the 
vessels and warmth of the surface, but at the expense of 
internal heat. The fact is, alcohol is not a stimulant at all, 
hut a depressant and a narcotic . If the name were changed 
we should get a proper notion of its character, and Dr. Wilks 
believes that such a change would tend more than anything 
else to make people cautious in its imbibition. Alcohol is 
taken for the same reason as chloral or opium in other 
countries, and if regarded as a narcotic the consequences of its 
use would be better understood. It has a sedative effect, and 
is therefore useful in severe neuralgia when chloral and opium 
fail. It benumbs the sense of touch as well as that of sight 
and taste ; but if it were a stimulant, then sense of taste 
ought under its influence to become more refined. 
Manufacture of Quinia in the United States. — An 
article in the New York Times of 13th January, which has 
evidently been written by one well informed on the subject, 
refers to the price of quinia, which last year averaged 2 dols. 
90 cents, the maximum figure being 3 dols. 25 cents., the 
minimum 2 dols. 50 cents. This is about equal to the quotations 
between 1873 and 1876, previous to the removal of duty from 
quinia. All articles essential for the manufacture of quinia 
are taxed, such as soda, fusel oil, alcohol ; by our navigation 
laws the valuable barks from the East Indian plantations are 
diverted to Europe, a discriminating duty of 10 per cent, 
being imposed upon them here. American manufacturers are 
thus compelled to use barks very poor in quinia, but richer in 
cinchondia, which latter alkaloid is protected by a duty of 
40 per cent. Prior to 1879, about 900,000 ounces of quinia 
sulphate was manufactured in the United States ; last year it 
was not over 500,000 ounces. The largest quinia manufactory 
is stated to be at Milan, Italy, carried on by a joint stock 
company, which supplies under contract East India and 
Russia, and produces annually about 1,200,000 ounces, or about 
one-third of the entire consumption of the world. — American 
Journal of Pharmacy. 
Sal- Soda Crystals by the Old and the New Process. 
— The sal-soda, made after the new ammonia process, begins 
to find its way in commerce. As it is purer than the old 
product, a 'ready way to distinguish one from the other 
from their appearance is of some interest. The sal-soda, 
made according to the old, or Leblanic, method is in hard, 
compact, heavy, and lustreless lumps. Unless much effloresced 
the crystals show 32 to 33 degrees of the alkalimetric scale, 
corresponding to 32 or 33 per cent, of caustic soda in combina- 
tion. The carbonate of soda obtained by the new or Solvay 
process is in porous, friable, light, and shining lumps. Without 
any efflorescence they mark 34 to 35 degrees. They are free 
from chlorides, sulphates, and free alkali. Their very porosity 
renders them easily freed from mother waters when they are 
drained. They consist, therefore, of almost chemically pure 
carbonate of soda. The force of habit, nevertheless, induces 
buyers to prefer the old kind of sal-soda ; they think that the 
porosity of the lumps of the new product indicates the presence 
of sulphate of soda, while, in fact, this salt is never formed at 
any stage of the process, and an intentional addition of 5 
or 10 per cent, of it would suffice to render the crystals as 
hard as those of the old kind. Others complain that they do 
not taste sharp to the tongue, while this simply indicates the 
absence of caustic alkali, another impurity almost always found 
in the old sal-soda. 
^OR SALE.— A CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST’S 
-L BUSINESS in a leading street in Melbourne. The 
present proprietor retiring from business. Price, £2000. 
To a good business man there is ample scope for extending 
business. Apply to H. T., care of Pharmaceutical Society, 
Collins-street, Melbourne. 
TJOR SALE, in consequence of the death of the pro- 
prietor, a small BUSINESS in a Good Agricul- 
tural District ; no Chemist within ten miles. A good 
opening for a steady man. Ingoing very moderate. 
Address, Mrs. BAYLISS, care Office of this paper. 
"DUSINESS FOR SALE. Income about £700 a year. 
Good Premises, New Stock, &c. Comfortable 
House, in Mining and Agricultural District, about 130 
miles from Melbourne. Price, about £450. F. F., care 
Office Pharmaceutical Society. 
