VoL. i. No. 1. 
THE CHEMIST AND DEUGGIST OF AUSTEALASIA 
15 
Messrs. Crowder and Letchford have purchased the mineral 
waters and cordial factory established in Mount’s Bay Road, 
Perth, by Mr. F. W. Holland. 
The Perth Inquirer states that opium is largely smuggled 
by the Chinese arriving at Freemantle. 
Among the tenders invited for general supplies for the 
colonial service, advertised in the Government Gazette, was 
one for leeches at i^er dozen. 
VICTORIA. 
(from our own correspondent). 
The Melbourne University receives from the Government 
this year an additional £3500. This is to be devoted to the 
payment of the salaries of a new j>rofessor of natural science, 
a demonstrator of biology, a demonstrator of experimental 
physics, a lecturer in therapeutics, dietetics, and hygiene, and 
other officials. Dr. Williams has been re-appointed lecturer 
on materia medica, therapeutics, and medical botany. The 
successor to the chair of practical chemistry and metallurgy, 
vacated by the death of the late Professor Kirkland, is to be 
appointed by the Council of the University from among five 
candidates, who are to be selected from the applicants 
by Mr. Murray Smith, in London, with the advice of Sir 
Chas. Cameron, Sir Henry Roscoe, Professors Irving, Crombie 
Brown, Bloxam, Valentine, and Church. Local applications 
are to be sent home to be submitted to the committee. 
At the annual meeting of the Society for the Promotion of 
Morality, on December 7, the report contained the following 
allusion to opium : — Your committee took occasion during the 
visit to this colony of Mr. Quong Tart, a Chinese merchant of 
New South Wales, to support him in his endeavours to obtain 
intercolonial legislation for the general prohibition of the im- 
portation of opium into these colonies. The visitor just 
named, who claimed to speak with authority on the subject, 
affirmed that the banishment from the colonies of the drug (of 
which the consumption in China is almost confined to the 
very lowest orders) would lead to the early exodus of the low, 
vicious class of Mongolians (not a large one) who disgrace 
their reputable and industrious fellow-countrymen by their 
lottery, gambling, and vice, and to w’hose victims its inhala- 
tion becomes a necessity of existence. 
In an article on Sale, Gippsland, in the Melbourne Argus 
for December 12, “ The Vagabond” says: — “ Sale is essentially 
a sober and moral place. It will be renowned in the future as 
the birthplace of a new temperance drink. The Hop Bitters 
• Company of New York set an example to Mr. Trood, and the 
Gippsland Hox) Bitters has become a popular drink all over 
Victoria. This is really a good and healthy beverage. Its 
success has been so great that Sale has suffered thereby. For 
the factory is now being removed to Melbourne, the proprietor 
finding that he can save £2,000 a year in the matter of 
carriage from, to, and beyond the metropolis. The freight on 
a few bales of hops from Gippsland to the cax>ital will be but 
a small item. But will the Gippsland hop bitters of the future 
always be manufactured in Melbourne of Gippsland hops ? 
That is a question which racks the heart of Sale. With the 
defection of Mr. Trood another hop bitters factory is talked 
about.” 
Mr. Nimmo, M.L.A., Victoria, said in the course of a four 
hours’ speech on the Sludge Bill,: “ I am arguing for the right 
of every man to enjoy \vater in equal parts of oxygen and 
hydrogen as it falls from the clouds, without alcohol and 
without mud.” It is rather fortunate for the honourable 
member that the water he enjoys so much has not exactly the 
comx>osition he claimed for it. Otherwise he and all his 
comj^anions would have been prematurely white-headed, 
bleached by the showers of peroxide of hydrogen. 
The Victorian Government Statist, Mr. H. H. Hayter, reports 
that two cases of death from x>oison occurred during November. 
Goulburn, Victoria, is said to be so healthy that the doctors 
rely on the natural increase of population for a living ! People 
are neither in a hurry to be sick nor to die. 
The business, stock, fixtures, and lease of the xDremises in 
Collins-street East, Melbourne, carried on for so many years by 
the late Mr. Chas.Ogg, are now offered for sale by private tender, 
by Messrs. Rocke, Tomx>sitt and Co., on behalf of Mr. W. W. 
Caught, who is retiring from the drug business on account of 
ill health. 
The usual quarterly meeting of the General Committee of 
the Melbourne United Friendly Societies’ Dispensary was held 
in their new premises, Bowen-street, on Friday evening last. 
The statement of assets showed £825 5s. 9d. to credit in cash. 
It was resolved that, in order to extend the usefulness of this 
institution, members of duly registered friendly societies may 
be admitted to fully i>articipate in all advantages connected 
with the dispensary by paying an entrance fee of Is. only. 
The Council of the University of Melbourne has resolved, 
on the motion of Professor M‘Coy, to p>urchase at a valuation 
the scientific apparatus of the late Professor Kirkland. 
A NEW Victorian edition of Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller’s 
Select E.vtra-tropical Plants is announced for immediate pub- 
lication. The first Victorian edition appeared in 1876 ; the 
New South Wales edition in 1881. 
A semi - botanical question has been before the public. 
The Full Court of Apx^eal of Victoria was called upon to decide 
on December 7, whether peel was fruit. Drained peeHs the 
rind of lemon ]preserved in brine, and is used in confectionery. 
As preserved fruit it would be dutiable, otherwise it would go 
free. Messrs. Swallow and Ariel had paid duty on a quantity 
under jirotest, and had sued Mr. A. W. Musgrove, Collector of 
Customs for the amount. Mr. Justice Holroyd had decided 
that peel was not fruit, and Mr. Musgrove appealed. Mr. Justice 
Higinbotham, Mr. Justice Williams, and Mr. Justice Cope 
agreed that rind was not a substantial part of the fruit nor 
the whole fruit, and consequently that drained peel was not a 
preserved fruit. The appeal was dismissed with costs. 
Almonds and Olives in Australia. 
In his evidence before the Victorian Royal Commission on 
vegetable j)roducts, Mr. Hardy, the well-known horticulturist, 
of Bankside, Adelaide, stated that the extent of country in 
Victoria suitable for growing almonds well was limited. The- 
cliniate of the neighbourhood of Adelaide appeared to be just 
suitable. A considerable quantity of olives were planted in 
the neighbourhood of Adelaide. The trees bore veryirregularly.- 
He sold his olives to the oilmakers, and got ordinarily about 
£9 j)er ton. Last year he got £8. The trees required plenty 
of room. The average rainfall of Adelaide was 21in. Mr. 
Hardy visited some olive trees in the neighbourhood of Mel- 
bourne. He found that the varieties planted were not suitable- 
to the climate. 
Preservation or Milk. — A correspondent of the Melbourne 
Argus (Mr. Francis J. Stephen) has recommended for thispur- 
X>ose a i:)rocess that is well known in j)rincij>le to x>harma- 
cists. Here is the descrqffion given: — “Clean thoroughly a 
glass bottle, milk from the cow into the bottle until quite full 
to overflowing, Cork the bottle, and tie it down securely. 
Place the bottle in a vessel of water and boil. (To jn’event 
the bottle knocking against the side of the vessel, the bottle 
should be covered with a straw capsule.) After which remove 
the vessel of Avater with the bottle, and let the whole become 
cool.” This x>rocess has been strongly recommended and 
tried with success for the preservation of fresh infusions, fresh 
lemon juice, and the like. It dejpends on the fact that all 
germs of mould, of the lactic acid and other ferments, are 
destroyed at the temx:)erature of boiling water, if immersed in 
fluid. A dry heat, considerably higher, does not always kill 
them. In the absence of these germs fluids that otherwise de- 
compose very readily remain sweet for any length of time. 
The thorough cleansing of the bottle at first removes some of 
the germs, the heating destroys all that remain in the bottle.. 
The milking direct into the bottle is not a necessary x>art of the 
process, and failures will sometimes occur through accidental 
access of air and germs after the cork has been inserted. 
An American farmer has found the x>yrethrum answer well 
for preventing bot and other flies from attacking horses. He 
infuses a drachm of the powder in a quart of water, and 
sponges the horse in several effaces. 
