INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
I Q 2 i 
<31 
■contaminated with coloured matter which could only have arisen from de¬ 
composition. Dr. Attfield argued that it was almost as impossible to limit 
the subliming-point of a solid as the evaporating-point of a liquid, and in¬ 
stanced iodine, camphor, naphthaline, mercury and ice as solids, volatile at 
all temperatures. But arc strychnia and morphia analogous with these, and 
is there any evidence that these latter are at all volatile except at an elevated 
temperature ? 
But I must pass from this interesting subject, only noticing that we have 
further to thank Mr. Waddington for remarks on the preparation of micro¬ 
scopic crystals, a communication of great interest to any one desirous of pur¬ 
suing the subject, the practical value of which has been illustrated by our 
colleagues Messrs. Stoddart, Deane and Brady. 
The analysis of potable water, more especially with a view to the determi¬ 
nation of the organic matter it contains, continues to attract the attention of 
chemists both in England and on the Continent, and the various methods 
proposed for arriving at results more accurate than those hitherto attained 
have been vigorously discussed. Dr. Frankland’s paper on water analysis 
in the Pharmaceutical Journal for February last, gives some idea of the 
elaborate pains required for arriving at satisfactory results. 
And let me here notice the extremely" interesting account of a medicinal 
spring in Jamaica given by our friend and colleague Dr. Attfield. The 
water of this spring is remarkable not only for the excessive amount of saline 
matter it contains, but likewise from this saline matter consisting exclu¬ 
sively of the chlorides of calcium, sodium and ammonium, the first named 
being in the proportion of 1510 grains in the imperial gallon. Assuming 
the flow of the spring to be as stated, about 70 gallons per hour (certainly 
no vast quantity^) the amount of chloride of calcium outpoured in the course 
of 24 hours would be equivalent to 303 pounds. Ho other example is known 
of water so rich in this mineral constituent. 
Apropos to this subject I must draw your attention for a moment to the 
volume on the table,—an essay on water, in which that ancient element is 
scrutinized and considered in every possible way. This fine work, a quarto 
of 400 pages, emanates from a Brazilian, a member by examination of the 
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Senhor Antonio Alves Ferreira, of 
Bio de Janeiro. 
Experiments on the therapeutic action of drugs to be of real value must 
be carried on with so many precautions, so much patience, and a considerate 
attention to so many collateral circumstances, that practitioners of medicine 
as well as pharmaceutists may well be indebted for information such as that 
communicated by Dr. John Harley in his Lectures on the action and uses of 
Oonium, Belladonna and Ilyoscyarnus. Dr. Harley’s experiments on Conium 
seem to me a model of careful therapeutic research. The results are of 
much interest, proving conclusively that the drug is an active medicinal 
agent, but one of which the pharmaceutical preparations have been so de¬ 
fective and uncertain that the efficacy of the medicine had come to be re¬ 
garded as very" questionable. The dried leaf of hemlock was found by Dr. 
Harley to be of little if any value ; the tincture whether made from leaf or 
fruit, to be inert (except from its alcohol) ; and the extract to be so weak 
n conia that it required to be given in doses of 30 to 40 grains to produce 
the least effect. The only preparation which retains the active principle 
of the drug in sufficient quantity, is the preserved juice, which given in the 
dose of from 2 to 8 drachms, is a safe and valuable medicine. As to Bella¬ 
donna, Dr. Harley" considers that its medicinal powers are wholly resident 
n atropine, a substance which I as a druggist may remark, is far more satis- 
actory to handle than a liquid like conia or a highly" deliquescent solid such 
