March, 1882. 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
87 
3. 1 minim of water weighs *91 grain Troy : how many 
minims are there in a pint of water which weighs 1J lbs. 
avoirdupois ? 
4. Find the value of ^ of (7] + If — ? V) : an d if the 
unit were £5, what would be the money value of the fraction ? 
5. Reduce to a single decimal in its ( 5*015 — 3*05 
lowest terms ... j 3 + 1*895 
6. Reduce 16s. 8d. to the fraction of £5. 
7. If 2 cwt, 3 qrs. 14 lbs. of an article cost £6 14s, 2d., how 
much can be bought for £14 17s. 6d.? 
English. 
1. Write down — The possessive case, singular, of “man.” 
,, „ The possessive case, plural, of “lady.” 
,, „ The objective case, singular, of “ who.” 
,, ,, 3 sing., past, indie., active, of “ break.” 
„ „ 2 sing., pres., indie., passive, of “send.” 
„ ,, 2 sing., pres., imperative, active, of “drive.” 
2. Therefore, the poet 
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods ,* 
Since none so stockish, hard, and full of rage, 
But music for the time doth change his nature. 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. 
Parse the words in italics in above. 
3. Write a short piece of composition on either of the sub- 
jects — “ Recreation” or “ Habits of Order,” attending carefully 
to spelling and punctuation. 
THE SALE OF POISONS IN OPEN SURGERIES. 
We are by no means surprised to find that the fatal cases of 
poisoning at Poplar have again drawn the attention of medical 
men to the reprehensible practice of keeping shops in all 
respects like those of chemists and druggists, where, in virtue 
of the exemption of medical practitioners from the provisions 
of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, poisons are sold without proper 
care. The assistants employed in these shops are often persons 
who have neither a medical nor a pharmaceutical qualification, 
and under such circumstances it cannot be wondered at that 
disastrous consequences sometimes ensue. 
In regard to this matter, it may not be out of place to point 
out that the Apothecaries’ Act of 1815 contains a specific pro- 
vision that it shall not be lawful for any person to act as an 
assistant to any apothecary in compounding or dispensing 
medicines without having the qualification prescribed by that 
Act. To some extent this provision of the 17th section 
of the Act seems to furnish means of repressing the evil of 
unqualified assistants in shops kept by medical men, and it 
may be worth the consideration of the Medical Defence Asso- 
ciation whether the section of the Act could not be turned to 
good account in that way. — JPharmacexitical Journal. 
(Eot'uaipnknxc. 
To the Editor of The Australasian Supplement to the Chemist 
and Druggist. 
Sir — I am in receipt of a prospectus issued by the Melbourne 
School of Pharmacy, and feel at a loss to understand how ap- 
prentices are to avail themselves of the advantages of a course 
of lectures and attendance at the laboratory at the hours men- 
tioned — viz., half-past eight to half-past ten a.m. for four days 
in the week. 
Up-country residents are entirely excluded by the regula- 
tions adopted. I, for one, would gladly send a student ; but 
on calculating the expense of a six months’ sojourn in the 
city, and considering the numerous temptations offering in the 
city to youths only partially employed, am at once deterred 
from sending him. 
I trust that the Pharmacy Board will see how extremely un- 
likely it is that the classes will be well filled under existing 
rules, and that ere long a course of two lectures a day (on 
different subjects), extending over a period of, say, six weeks 
or two months, will be available, in which case a youth at the 
end of his apprenticeship, or during the course of it, might be 
enabled to spare the time and money to attend the school. 
As it is, an up-country apprentice must obtain his master’s 
leave for six months ; whilst his expenses, at the least, will 
amount to — School of Pharmacy, £12 ; board and lodging, six 
months, £36 ; incidentals, £12— total, £60. 
Leaving the further consideration of the matter in your 
hands, I am, sir, yours truly, Chemist. 
2nd March, 1882. 
REMINISCENCES OF A PHARMACIST. 
(By J. B. Mummery.) 
It has often struck me whilst perusing the pages of this 
journal that a little light matter interspersed amongst the 
heavier and more valuable, would make its pages more interest- 
ing to general readers, without in any way diminishing its 
usefulness. 
Such matter has occasionally appeared in its columns since 
I have been a reader ; and I presume the reason we have not 
had more is that there are few articles of such a kind sent in. 
Under these circumstances, I have penned a few lines for in- 
sertion in the journal if you deem them suitable, and will con- 
tinue the same as opportunity may offer ; but as my time is 
pretty well taken up in attending to the requirements of my 
business, my moments of leisure are few and far between. I 
have been somewhat puzzled for a title, and have at last hit 
upon the one which heads this paper, which, if you think 
proper, you can retain, or alter to any one you may deem more 
suitable. 
I shall commence my recollections with the case of 
Tawell, the Murderer. 
The career of this individual is known, I dare say, to many 
of your readers ; but there are some amongst the younger 
members of our calling, I doubt not, who have never heard of 
the wretch whose infamous deed created a great stir in 
England at the time of its occurrence, not only from the 
heinousness of the crime and the social position of the 
murderer, but from the fact of its being the first instance in 
which the electric telegraph was brought into play for the 
purpose of arresting a criminal in his attempted flight. 
Somewhere about the year 1844 a man named John Tawell, 
who was, or pretended to be, a member of the universally 
respected Society of Friends, left Sydney with the intention 
of spending the remainder of his days in the mother-country. 
He had amassed a considerable fortune as a pharmaceutical 
chemist in Pitt-street, in the first chemist shop opened in 
Sydney. I am not quite sure whether he was the first phar- 
macist who practised his profession there ; but, considering 
the date of his departure, and the same of the establishment 
of the colony, it is quite within the bounds of possibility that 
he was. 
Amongst the passengers by the ship in which Tawell took 
his passage to England was a young and pretty widow, with 
two or three children ; and as the ex-chemist was either a 
bachelor or a widower, it is by no means wonderful that an 
intimacy should spring up between them, as it did — an inti- 
macy which ended in a union by no means creditable to either 
party. 
On reaching England, Tawell took a pretty little cottage at 
Slough, near Windsor, in which he placed his paramour and 
her children, and where he paid her frequent periodical 
visits. 
This state of things continued for some time, when Tawell 
fell in love with a young lady of good position, when, as a 
matter of course, his visits to Slough became less and less frequent, 
partly from the effect of counter attractions, and partly from 
a dread that they should become known to his intended, 
and be the means of breaking off the engagement, until at 
last this dread haunted him to such a degree that he formed 
the horrible resolve of putting his first love out of the way. Id 
furtherance of this design, he prepared himself for a last 
visit, taking with him a bottle of prussic acid. 
Tawell was received with more than usual kindness by the 
poor woman, who fancied that his love had been growing of 
late somewhat cold, and the heartless wretch, better to disarm 
any suspicion on the part of his inamorata, treated her 
with feigned increase of affection, and (as seemed to have 
been his wont) sent one of the children for some porter. 
This having been procured, the murderer managed, during 
the woman’s temporary absence, to introduce the fatal dose 
into her glass. Quite unsuspectingly, the poor victim 
swallowed the poison, and in a few minutes was stretched 
lifeless on the floor. 
The cottage in which this dreadful deed was accomplished 
was situated at about a quarter of a mile distance from the 
“ Slough” railway station, from which place to the metropolis 
an electric telegraph had just been erected. 
As soon as the wretched man saw that his foul deed was 
fully accomplished, he made at once for the railway station. 
In the meantime, the cries and screams of the children brought 
some of the neighbours on to the scene, and amongst these 
was a man who had a little knowledge of chemicals, who 
