Ill 
BOOKS RECEIVED. * 
Who Discovered Anaesthesia? By S. Parsons Siiaw. Manchester: Palmer and 
Howe; London: Trubner and Co. 1868. (Pamphlet.) 
On Aniline and its Derivatives. A Treatise upon the Manufacture of Aniline and 
Aniline Colours. By M. Reimann, Ph.D., L.A.M., etc. The whole revised and edited 
by William Crookes, F.R.S., etc. London: Longman, Green, and Co. 1868. 
The Half Yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences. Vol. XLVII. January- 
June, 1868. London: John Churchill and Sons. Edinburgh: Maclachlan and Co. 
Dublin: Fannin and Co. 
The Medical Profession, and its Educational and Licensing Bodies. By E. D. 
Mapother, M.D., etc. (First Carmichael Prize.) Dublin: Fannin and Co. 
London: Longman and Co. Edinburgh: Maclachlan and Co. 1868. 
Medical Education and Medical Interests. By Isaac Ashe, A.B., M.B., etc. 
Dublin : Fannin and Co. London: Longman and Co. Edinburgh: Maclachlan and 
Co. (Carmichael Essay.) 1868. (From the Publishers.) 
Water Analysis : A Practical Treatise on the Examination of Potable Water. By 
J. Alfred Wanklyn, M.R.C.S., etc., and Ernest Theophron Chapman. London: 
Trubner and Co., Paternoster Row. 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 Decimal System .—The following, from Mr. Ernest Agnew (Paris), is in reply to 
Mr. Howden’s question in our last issue:—“ That a question may be answered by a ques¬ 
tion, we have on divine authority. Have you in Great Britain any coins or whole 
numbers to express the value of an article bought at the rate of five for a duodecimal 
shilling ? But such arguments are puerile. The duodecimal system is a convenient one 
in certain respects. Twelve is a number divisible by four factors, hence its utility. 
But our incongruous system of weights, measures, and coinage is only partially duo¬ 
decimal. That the decimal is and always will remain the simpler as long as ever the 
present numeral notation will exist, is due to the fact that the very system of notation 
by means of cyphers or written figures is decimal or digital in origin, in expression, in 
entirety. To argue further would be useless. Practical experience of both systems is, 
after all, the best method of judging. Did you live in a country where the decimal 
system existed, I am sure that you, with an Englishman’s idea of order and method, 
could not fail to appreciate the complete harmony and symmetrical simplicity of the 
system. Your questions can be answered with greater ease, applying to a decimal 
coinage, than to a hybrid one such as ours, and moreover convey a more distinct im¬ 
pression of the exact cost of each article. That 3’3 represents ^ of 10 is more evident 
and palpable to the internal sense of calculation than that 4 d. is e of a shilling. More¬ 
over, you err in your last statement; i of a franc is a whole number of centimes 
(25), ^ of 10 francs is 1-25 francs, etc. T am not ambitious of confuting the “ex¬ 
perience of ages,” but the decimal system entails the purchase of bottles, fruits, and 
hosts of other articles by the 100 and 10 instead of by the dozen and gross.” 
Preservation of Liquorice Root .—In reply to a query in a former number, Mr. E. 
Tebbutt (Kiiburn) recommends the following plan, which, he says, is perfectly successful: 
—The vessel used is a common earthen bread-pan, large enough to hold about 7 lbs. of 
root. Four inches from the rim is placed a false bottom, thickly perforated with large 
holes upon which the root is placed, filling up the space between the two bottoms with 
water. The consequence of the arrangement is a constantly damp atmosphere within 
the jar; a small hole is made in the lid to prevent mouldiness. 
“ Matico ” wishes to know the means of bleaching the tops of meerschaum pipes, 
without injury to the material. 
T. J. M. (Ireland).— (1.) Syr. Ferri Phosph. Quince et Strychnia. A syrup now in use 
