186 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
be room for the improvement; and it has already received many testimonials 
from medical gentlemen and others who have used the apparatus. 
The vapour bath, etc., is packed in a compact japanned box, and is sold at 
the moderate retail price of thirty-five shillings. 
REMARKS ON A SPECIMEN OF SEAWEED CHAR. 
BY EDW. C. C. STANFORD, F.C.S. 
Mr. Stanford introduced to the meeting an interesting specimen of charcoal, 
obtained by the carbonization of tangle. This substance consists of the long 
stems of Laminaria digitata , which are thrown up in great abundance on the 
western shores of the outer Hebrides. These are collected in the winter and 
dried in the air; and, when first thrown up, present long fleshy stems, 7 to 8 feet 
in length, and about the thickness of the wrist, but, when dried, form hard, 
horny, flexible rods, about the size of the finger. These, when carbonized, swell 
out into a highly porous charcoal, about three times their original volume. 
The char contains about 40 per cent, of salts, free from sulphides and very 
rich in iodine. 
After lixiviation the residual char has the following composition ; it varies 
slightly, and the average proximate analysis, in the dry state, is here given :— 
Carbon.50 
Phosphate of lime .... 4 
Carbonate of lime .... 20 
Carbonate of magnesia . . 6 
Silicic acid.5 
Alumina.-2 
Sulphate of potash .... 5 
Chloride of sodium ... 5 
and about P25 per cent, ammonia. 
It generally contains about 15 per cent, of water, which it is very difficult 
to separate, the charcoal having a most powerful affinity for moisture. 
Attention was called to the remarkable analogy between the chemical com¬ 
position of this char and that of animal charcoal, which appeared to class it with 
that substance, and distinguish it from any char of a vegetable origin. This 
char cannot be used for sugar refining, on account of the large percentage of 
carbonate of lime ; but it possesses decolorizing and deodorizing properties, supe¬ 
rior, weight for weight, to the best animal char; tested with solution of caramel 
it decolorizes 25 per cent, more than animal char under the same conditions. 
It has been subjected to continued filtration of the thickest town sewage, for 
several months, without the least clogging, and its efficacy after this treatment 
remained unimpaired. 
This communication was merely preliminary, the author promising the re¬ 
sults of further investigation on this and other specimens of seaweed char. 
The tangle char was brought before the meeting as a cheap and efficient sub¬ 
stitute for animal char in its applications other than that of sugar refining; 
and its introduction excited an interesting discussion. 
In a brief discussion in which Mr. Mackay and Mr. f oung expressed much interest 
in the subject introduced, and sanguine hopes of its importance to pharmacy, amongst 
other uses,—Mr. Stanford stated hat he could supply the chair at half the price of 
bone charcoal. 
