174 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST OF AUSTRALASIA. 
June 1, 1887. 
forated with holes near the base, and furnished with shelves 
or partitions which are also perforated. On these shelves 
rest the shavings, special arrangements being made for slow 
passage of the liquid and abundant access of air. To effect 
this, short hanks of thread traverse the holes in the shelves, 
so that the drainage of one shelf may fall uniformly on the 
next, while four vertical glass tubes, inserted through each 
shelf (the upper orifice just rising above the layer of shavings), 
allow free circulation of the interstratal air. The fluid is 
passed several times in succession through the vat, and in a 
day and a half (instead of many weeks, by the British method) 
the conversion of the stale weak wine into vinegar is complete. 
Other precautions adopted are : — The initial saturation of 
the shavings by vinegar, and the addition of a minute quantity 
of yeast, sugar, or malt, to the alcoholic liquor. When this 
process is properly conducted, there is no loss of strength (as 
Liebig pointed out) from volatilization of aldelhyde — a half- 
way product betwixt alcohol and acetic acid. 
The dilution of pyroligneous acid is in no way justifiable, 
although we believe that a good deal of the so-called “ White 
Wine Vinegar” and “French Vinegar ” of the shopsis nothing 
else. Such imitation is cited by “ Kalium ” as one process. 
Three of the candidates speak of the use of a “ rape,” but only 
one mentions what it is. The tests for vinegar were tolerably 
given, yet some peculiar errors were perpetrated. We may 
add that “ qualities ” refer to colour, odour, taste, strength, 
&c., and not to therapeutic properties, in which sense it has 
been solely taken up by each one of the competitors. 
The question on the trees illustrative of the three classes of 
plants is veryimperfectly treated, possibly because it demanded 
some ingenuity on the part of the writers. The subjoined com- 
parison will give the heads of description for the three types. 
Had the page allowed the three schemes to be placed side by 
side, the features would be more conspicuous, yet as the points 
of comparison follow in the same numerical order, there should 
be no difficulty in grasping resemblances and differences. 
A. Aspect of Tree Fern. 
1. Stem, a slender shaft, cylindrical throughout. Occasion- 
ally slightly conical from adventitious roots, at base of trunk, 
£.g. East Indian tree fern (Alsopliila.) 
2. Fibrous exterior, constituting a false rind, and promin- 
ently marked by rhomboidal scars, the marks of the fallen 
leaves. 
3. Branches terminal only, since there is no provision for 
lateral buds. Occasionally the stipe divides dichotomously. 
4. Plant dies down if cut off at summit. 
5. No increase in diameter from year to year (acrogenous 
growth). 
6. Twining plants cause no injury in consequence. 
7. Stipe grows 50 to 60 feet high. 
8. Summit crowned by a beautiful cluster or rosette of um- 
brageous foliage. 
9. Leaves or fronds much divided and chacterised by furcate 
venation. Leaf stalks covered by ramentaceous hairs. 
10. Being a Cryptogram there are never any flowers but 
fructications on the margins or underneath the sequents of the 
leaves, which latter are from this property, correctly termed 
fronds. 
B. Aspect of Palm Tree. 
1. Uniformly cylindrical and narrow, rarely tapering as 
Screw pine (Pandanus). 
2. Hard outside, resisting the blow of hatchet, and exhibit- 
ing faint transverse rings. No true bark and what answers 
for one never splits. 
3. No lateral branches, but sometimes the stem is dicho- 
tomous or forked, as inDoum Palm of Egypt (Drac®nas and 
Yuccas are endogenous stems which do the same). 
4. Tree perishes if truncated, since it can produce no lateral 
•buds. 
5. No sensible increase in diameter (a marked exception 
from our type exists in the famous Dragon trees). 
6. Twining baulimias and other lianas do not groove the 
trunk in any way. 
7. Average height, 60 to 70 feet. 
8. Resembles the tree fern in respect to foliage, bearing an 
elegant tuft of fan-shaped leaves at the apex of stem. 
9. Leaves entire and parallel veined with sheathing petioles. 
10. Inflorescence in form of huge branched spadix (Raceme) 
enveloped by an herbaceous or nearly woody spathe often en- 
closing 200,000 flowers. 
C. Aspect of Pine or Fir Tree. 
1. Trunk gradually tapering from base to apex, seen best 
when stripped of branches. 
2. Soft ex-terior. Real bark easily separable, and often 
cracked, beang pushed out by fresh layers of wood beneath. 
3. Exhibits both lateral and terminal branches. 
4. Can have its top removed and will still grow as seen in 
pollarded trees. 
5. Stem enlarges from year to year by exogenous growth. 
6. The stem becomes furrowed when woody climbers twine 
round it, and may eventually get strangled. 
7. Frequently attains great altitude (two or three hundred 
feet), as the mammoth pines of Gippsland and the Sequoias of 
California.* 
8. The appearance of the foliage varies greatly, pyramidal, 
dome-shaped, &c., but never can be mistaken for the other 
two kinds of trees in general contour. 
9. The leaves in Conifene are mostly linear or acicular, and 
often fascicled and evergreen, 
10. Inflorescence in cones or catkins, the flowers being 
always unisexual. 
From the above tabulation the students can see their own 
shortcomings. Any account of internal structure was quite 
superfluous. One candidate writes in a grandiloquent style 
on the general aspect of these three types of vegetation. We 
quote a sample of his choice sentences — “ A palm tree is em- 
blematical of the Sunny Sowth and East, and is represented 
in figure as a classical column which was suggested by its 
altitude, roundness, and rectitude ; and every pillar of ancient 
Greece and Rome is a model of the stem of the palm tree in stone.’ ’ 
Such language is worthy of Raskin, and would doubtless score 
high in a prize essay on arboriculture, but a little more techni- 
cality and a little less flowery diction would have been more 
advantageous to the competitor in the present instance. 
The Materia Medica question has been well done by all, as 
regards camphor and cinnamon, but Sassafras and Bebeeru 
bark received but scant notice. Scientia et Potentia makes 
a signal mistake in canfounding the names of the plants with 
those of the drugs. It is striking, also, that no one has ven- 
tured an explicit rendering of the phrase “ truncated stocks,’' 
nor made mention of the liber in respect to cinnamon. 
PRIZE AWARDS. 
The first prize, value 10s., has been gained by John Gent, 
South Melbourne ; the second, os., we award to John A. 
Anderson, Ballarat, and if these gentlemen inform us what 
books they select the same will be forwarded to them. 
COMPETITION, NO 16. 
Replies to the following questions must be sent to our office 
by the loth of July : — 
The report will appear in the ensuing number of this 
journal. 
Rules and regulations as heretofore. 
QUESTIONS. 
1. Define an acid, enumerating the properties of acids, to- 
gether with any exceptions. Also state any bodies that are 
misnamed acids officially or vulgarly. 
2. What is the structure of a cell in its early stage and 
afterwards. Mention the various contents of cells. 
3. Give some account of inspissated juices, and name im- 
portant examples. Tabulate those that find a place in the 
British Pharmacopoeia. 
INSOLVENCIES. 
NEW SOUTH WALES. 
Aughtie, Ed. Tison, George-street, Sydney, chemist. First and only- 
meeting, June 15. 
NEW ZEALAND. 
Hogg, Allen B., Wanganui, chemist. Liabilities, £263 15s. 6d.; assets, 
£85. 
VICTORIA. 
Anderson, Robert, 375a Brunswick-street, Fitzroy, chemist. Causes 
of insolvency : The mortgagees taking possession of his stock-in-taade 
under a bill of sale, and bad debts. Liabilities, £1252 10s. 6d.; assets, 
£106 12s. 8d.; deficiency, £191 7s. lOd. Assignee, Jacomb. 
* Although the celebrated Wellingto7iia gigantea, known as “ the 
father of the forest,” is said to have reached a height of 450 feet, it is 
probable that the estimate is exaggerated. 300 feet high is not an un- 
common dimension. 
