890 
PROTECTION FROM ROBBERY. 
“ Antiseptics. —Antiseptics, such as corrosive sublimate, arsenious acid, essential oils, 
carbolic acid, etc., act as such by destroying all source of decay and decomposition ; 
that is to say, they will destroy or prevent the formation of the germs of putrefaction 
and fermentation, without acting upon the mineral or vegetable matters present. The 
advantage of their use is, therefore, that they act, when used in small quantities, upon 
all organic matters in a state of decay. Further, they are deodorizers, for they prevent 
the formation of offensive odours, and consequently they may be considered as antisep¬ 
tics, disinfectants, and deodorizers. The great advantages which carbolic acid possesses 
over all other antiseptics are, that it cannot be used for any illegal purpose, as arsenic 
and corrosive sublimate ; and further, that its antiseptic properties are so powerful that 
a few thousandths of it will effectually prevent the putrefaction of substances, such 
glue, blood, urine, faeces, and the fermentation of all vegetable matters, such as flou 
starch, sugar, etc. 
“ Owing to the inducements which have been held out by some traders, large quan 
tities of a fictitious mixture have been sold to the public as carbolic acid. To enable 
purchasers to protect themselves from fraud, the following test is supplied on the 
authority of Mr. W. Crookes, F.R.S. :—‘ Commercial carbolic is soluble in from twenty- 
five to seventy parts of water, or in twice its bulk of a solution of caustic soda, while oil 
or tar is nearly insoluble. To apply these tests—1. Put a teaspoonful of the carbolic 
acid in a bottle ; pour on it half a pint of warm water ; shake the bottle at intervals for 
half an hour, when the amount of oily residue will show the impurity. 2. Dissolve one 
part of caustic soda in ten parts of warm water, and shake it up with five parts of the 
carbolic acid. As before, the residue will indicate the amount of impurity. These 
tests are not given as having any pretension to scientific accuracy, but as a lording per¬ 
sons who are in the habit of using carbolic acid a rough and ready means of seeing that 
they possess the right article.’ ”— Half-Yearly Abstract of the Medical sciences, from 
British Medical Journal. 
THE SUPPLY OF CHEMICALS. 
A case has recently been decided in the Sheriff’s Small Debt Court, Glasgow (Miss 
Glover and Trustees, Lessees of the Theatre Royal, v. The Glasgow Apothecaries’ Com¬ 
pany'), in which the sum of £12 was claimed for loss and damage sustained by the pur¬ 
suers, who had sent to the defenders’ premises to purchase a certain quantity of two 
chemical substances, viz. Gibs, of chlorate of potash and 3lbs. of black oxide of man¬ 
ganese, to be used for the purpose of generating oxygen gas, and that the defenders 
wrongly and negligently delivered a chemical substance similar in appearance but of a 
different nature, and highly explosive, in the use of which an explosion occurred which 
caused the damage for which compensation was sought. 
The defenders denied their liability. 
After the pursuers’ evidence had been concluded, the sheriff remarked that he did not 
think it necessary to hear any evidence from the defenders, because assuming that the 
pursuers’ evidence was correct, and that a mistake had been committed by the apothe¬ 
caries salesman, that mistake was followed up by another on the part of the pursuers’ 
property manager, he having frequently used these chemicals for the same purpose; and 
although he remarked from the weight of the packet delivered to him that it was some¬ 
what different from previous packages used, he might have seen from the colour that it 
was not the article sent for, yet he had carelessly put it into the retort, and an explosion 
was the result. Under these circumstances, he did not think there was any case agains 
the defenders, and assoilzied them. 
PROTECTION FROM ROBBERY. 
A Society for Protection from Robbery has recently been established by the wholesale 
druggists, who for a long period have suffered from this kind of depredation; and it is 
stated that there is seldom a receiver of stolen goods, whose store is examined, without 
articles being discovered which have been abstracted from houses in the drug trade. 
