A FEW NOTES FROM PARIS. 
23 
fine set sent by our countryman, Mr. Crookes; but the latter collection is seen 
to disadvantage in the gloomy precincts of the British section. 
It is impossible to separate chemistry from pharmacy ; but we may, never¬ 
theless, direct attention to a few of the cases contributed by French phar¬ 
ma dens, containing specimens, often of great chemical interest, but commonly 
having reference to the treatment of disease. Amongst the less conspicuous 
of these collections is that of M. Vee, of Paris, in which the Calabar bean 
and its preparations are prominent. The active principle of the bean. Phy- 
sostygmine or Calabarine, is shown in the form of pinkish-brown scales, as 
well as several devices for its administration. M. Collas, whose name is 
best known in connection with benzine, has, amongst other things, capsules 
containing iron reduced by electricity; how far this is superior to the old fer 
reduit let doctors decide. Quever.ne’s Iron may be found in a neighbouring 
collection in all sorts of inviting forms,—chocolate, comfits, pastilles, etc. 
M. Albespeyres exhibits, as might be expected, cantharidine and various 
tissues prepared for its easy application. A series of crystallized syrups 
shown by Menier, and, more remarkable, a set of crystallized vegetable ex¬ 
tracts, prepared in vacuo by M. Grandval, of Rheims, seem to require ex¬ 
planation, and it is to be hoped that one or other of our pharmaceutists will 
be able to give some account of the method adopted for the preparation of 
the latter. 
TV hat is the secret of drying leaves and flowers without loss of their natu¬ 
ral colours? How perfectly even delicate colours may be preserved may be 
seen in the jars of hemlock leaves, coltsfoot flowers, and violets, from the 
establishment of M. F. Berjot, jun.; still better in the beautiful dried roses, 
and violets, and yellow mullein, sent by M. Winsback, of Metz. 
But all is not couleur derose, even in the French department. Their phar¬ 
macy is disfigured, even more than our own, by secret and proprietary medi¬ 
cines. With us they exist to an extent possibly as great, but they have not 
the recognition accorded to them by our neighbours, and in our high-class 
pharmacy they are avoided as an unprofessional and unworthy development. 
In France they are regarded differently, and vast displays of Sirop et Pilules 
JDespinoy , Osteine mouries, Perles du Jdocteur Clertan, Globules de Joscphat, 
Quina Laroche, and the like, are thought worthy to be placed side by side 
with the most recherche products of the laboratory, and the results of the 
most patient scientific research. Nor should we have thought that a case six 
feet by two, filled with Insecticide Vicat , w as an object for admission, whilst 
so many exhibitors were denied space they could have filled so much more 
worthily. 
Photography, if it be not pharmacy, is at least applied chemistry, and the 
connection is sufficient to justify a digression, so w T e w ill turn for a moment 
to a neighbouring gallery, where we may see the screens assigned to the 
French photographers. Portraits are in the ascendant, and, reserving 
honours for our English artists in landscape photography, and to some of tlife 
Austrian exhibitors for groups of figures, we must be content to admire re¬ 
spectfully and to wonder at French skill in portraiture. When were such 
portraits seen as those by M. Adam Salomon, for brilliancy, and grace, and 
artistic breadth? But it is not his screen that we seek, nor must we dwell 
upon the enticing displays of M. Reutlinger or M. Disderi, though it is 
difficult to pass them without entirely forgetting the object we are in search 
of. We glance at them and pass on to the counter skirting the wall—to an 
open space occupied only by a small morocco case and a slereoscope. They 
bear the w'ell-known name of Niepce de St. Victor, sufficient of itself to 
assure us that they contain something out of the common w ay, and there is 
a touch of mystery in the care exercised to preserve the objects they con- 
