NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
447 
upon according to the first part of his process, with sulphurous acid alone, he appears 
to have also contemplated the use of the sulphites without the preliminary use of the 
free acid. There is no doubt that the sulphurous acid is the efficient agent in this 
process, whether it be used in the free state or in combination with a base; there is 
no doubt also, for the purposes contemplated by Mr. Rattray, namely, the preservation 
of animal and vegetable substances generally, including raw hides, that any of the 
alkaline and earthy sulphites might be used, and he was, therefore, right in claiming 
them, if at all, as a class, the efficacy of which depended on the sulphurous acid, 
which he also claimed. We believe Rattray’s patent would not have stood a contest, 
because he claimed more than he was entitled to as an original invention ; but whether 
his patent was good or bad, it has ceased to exist, and is only of importance now in 
showing what was known and practised at that time, and which being no longer new 
cannot now be secured by a patent. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
A Manual of Inorganic Chemistry, Arranged to Facilitate the Experimental Demon¬ 
stration of the Facts and Principles of the Science. By Charles W. Eliot, Pro¬ 
fessor of Analytical Chemistry and Metallurgy, and Frank H. Storer, Professor of 
General and Industrial Chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
Second Edition (Revised). London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row. 8vo. 
Pp. 605. 1868. 
Owen’s Conspectus; or Students’ Remembrancer, showing in a tabular form, the 
Latin name (with its correct termination) of each article in the British Pharmacopoeia, 
1867, its English name, together with its synonyms ; with a list of preparations into 
which it enters, and its proportion thereto; to which are added the dose, operation, 
and use; specific gravity, and chemical composition; articles newly admitted to the 
Pharmacopoeia, as well as those in which any change has taken place, either in name 
or composition, are carefully distinguished. London : Longmans, Green, Reader, and 
Dyer. 1868. 
The above descriptive title sufficiently indicates the nature of this little work, which, 
with its blank ruled interleaved pages, forms a useful companion to the student as well 
as to the dispenser. 
Chemical Notes for the Lecture-Room on Heat, Laws of Chemical Combination, 
and Chemistry of the Non-Metallic Elements. By Thomas Wood, Ph.D., F.C.S. 
etc. Second Edition. London : Longmans, Green, and Co. 1868. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Persons having seceded from the Society may be restored to their former status on 
payment of arrears of subscription and the registration fee of the current year. 
Those who were Associates before the 1st of July, 1842, are privileged (as Founders 
of the Society) to become Members without examination. 
The General Index to the first fifteen volumes of the Pharmaceutical Journal may 
be had of the Secretary, price 2s. 8 d. post free. 
The Catalogue of the Library may also be had of the Secretary, price Is. Id. post 
free. 
“Associate ” (Leicester).— (1.) Sulphur Pastilles are made by Messrs. Duncan and 
Flockhart, Edinburgh. (2.) See Beasley’s ‘ Pocket Formulary.’ 
Messrs. Mottershead and Co. (Manchester) are thanked for specimens of chemical 
labels according to the nomenclature used in Roscoe’s f Elementary Chemistry.’ 
M. P. S. (Crediton) states that he has been informed that the so-called Extract of 
Meat sometimes contains a great proportion of lean-meal, and wishes to know whether 
any other druggist has met with a similar complaint. 
