LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
51 
in search of a new plant or insect. These facts interested Dr. Clarke and his companions 
so much in behalf of the poor little Pyppon, for that was his name, that they showed 
him much kindness. But the hour of separation from his kind stranger-friends came all 
too soon, and the little naturalist, shedding abundance of tears, bade them farewell, mak¬ 
ing this touching request at parting, “If you should remember me when you arrive in 
your own country, send me Drosera longifolia; I am told it is a common plant in Eng¬ 
land.” 
While speaking of Sweden, I am naturally reminded of little traits in the life of the 
great naturalist who, amid the dry plodding work of the formation of a new classification, 
and the attaching of appropriate names to plants, alighted occasionally on some little 
circumstance which relieved the monotony of his labours; and for classical allusion and 
romantic feeling a more striking example cannot be given than the naming of the plant 
Andromeda polifolia. It is stated that in traversing the uncultivated wilds of Lycksele, 
Lapland, whither, while yet a young man, Linnaeus was sent by the Koyal Society of the 
University of Upsal on a tour of scientific research, he found this plant in great abun¬ 
dance, decorating the marshy grounds with its delicate blossoms. It is a beautiful little 
flower, somewhat resembling one of the Heaths, the buds of a blood-red colour before 
they expand, but when fully blown the corolla is of a flesh colour. In contemplating 
the delicate blossoms of this plant, the imaginative mind of the naturalist was struck by 
a fanciful resemblance in the appearance and circumstances of it to the story of Andro¬ 
meda, as related by the ancient poets. Andromeda, you will recollect, was the daughter 
of Cepheus and Cassiope, king and queen of Ethiopia, and she, contending with the 
nymphs for the prize of beauty, and, in consequence of her mother proudly preferring 
hers to theirs, she was bound by the nymphs to a rock, to be devoured by the sea-monster; 
but Perseus slew the monster, loosed her, and married her. Linnaeus observed that this 
lovely little flower is her vegetable prototype. Scarcely any painter could imitate the 
beauty of a fine female complexion, still less could any artificial colour upon the face 
bear any comparison with this sweet bloom. He adds, it is always fixed upon some turfy 
hillock, amid the swamps, and its roots bathed by their waters. In these marshy and 
solitary places toads and venomous reptiles abound; and just as in the case of Andromeda, 
Perseus coming to deliver her from her dangers by chasing away her foes, so does the 
summer, like another Perseus, arrive, and drying up the waters that inundate the plant, 
chase away all her aquatic enemies, and then she carries her head (the capsule), which 
before had drooped pensively, erect, and displays her beauties to the sun. Pleased with 
the idea, he chose for this flower, which formed a new genus in the botanical system he 
was then arranging, the name of Andromeda. 
At the commencement of the session I looked forward to the publication of the Na¬ 
tional Pharmacopoeia before our meetings were brought to a close, but in this respect we 
have not been gratified. You are aware that it was intended to change the value of the 
grain-weight hitherto in use, and the new formulas were proposed accordingly ; last year, 
however, about the time of our first meeting, the Pharmacopoeia committee reconsidered 
the intended change, and I am happy to say that we shall now retain the standard 
grain intact, the only alteration being the adoption of avoirdupois weight instead of the 
apothecaries’, and which change, I have no doubt, will meet with the approval of chemists 
and druggists. It is perhaps partly to this circumstance that we may attribute the delay 
of the publication of the work, the formulas of course requiring revision ; and while on 
the subject of the Pharmacopoeia, I would just observe that the Medical Council, having 
decided to publish the work in the English language,—a decision which must commend 
itself to the approval of all, when we consider that perhaps in nineteen cases out of 
twenty the English translation of former Pharmacopoeias has been made use of by the 
chemists and druggists in preference to the Latin edition,—might, I think, advance a step 
beyond their province, and recommend physicians to write the directions of their prescrip¬ 
tions in English. This is a subject which has been discussed before; and while I con¬ 
sider it very advisable, or even essentially desirable, that the formulas should be written 
in Latin, as has hitherto been the practice, I cannot see any valid reason why the direc¬ 
tions should not be written in English. Not that I entertain the least doubt of the ge¬ 
neral competency of pharmaceutists having the responsibility of dispensing prescriptions 
to translate them correctly, but it would, I feel assured, in very many instances, prove a 
source of satisfaction to the patient or those in attendance, in case of any doubt, to verify 
the correctness by reference to the original. Instances have occurred where, in the press 
