56 
PHARMACY AT THE DUBLIN EXHIBITION. 
of one magnesium and one zinc wire gives a light of great brilliancy at, of 
course, less cost than if the alkali-metal alone is employed. This statement, 
however, requires confirmation. 
I fear if I were to digress into the topics which each branch of the precious- 
metal industry, exemplified by Messrs. Johnson and Matthey, suggests, I should 
soon exhaust the space at my disposal. I must therefore content myself with 
enumerating such of the objects exhibited as are most interesting to myself, in 
the hope that my readers may agree with me. 
The lightness of Aluminium , and the marked difference between its specific 
gravity and that of silver, are very strikingly illustrated by two bottles, one of 
which contains six leaves of the former, and the other six leaves of the latter 
metal. The silver weighs 22 grains, the aluminium 1 grain. 
There is, on one of the shelves of the case, a saucer of Platinum Black , and, 
I suppose it was because I had never seen so much of the metal in this form be¬ 
fore that the idea occurred to me, that with the aid of an ounce or two of pla¬ 
tinum black, an apparatus might be easily constructed for oxidizing a sample of 
a preparation supposed to contain methyl-alcohol, and thus obtaining formic 
acid , the presence of which could be demonstrated by the method of Mr. Miller. 
The collection of the rare metals in this cas<ris of especial interest. It comprises 
Osmium (alloy of osmium and iridium), Tellurium , Rhodium , Ruthenium , and 
Palladium (chloride, ammonio-chloride). There are also beautiful specimens 
of Silicium (this very like resublimed iodine), and Boron (just as closely resem¬ 
bling the iodine of commerce). If I stop for a moment to recall one or two 
other objects, with the mention of which, to conclude my hasty summary of this 
most fascinating case, I iuvoluntarily conjure up the remembrance of the beau¬ 
tiful feathery crystals of the Iodide and Bromide of Cadmium , the splendid 
golden-yellow of the Nitrate of Uranium , and the gorgeous, diaphanous, vivid 
green of its protosulphate. 
Johnson and Sous, Basinghall Street (22), show many of the pieces of plati¬ 
num apparatus which are exhibited by their competitors. They have also some 
prettily-finished spoons, etc., for blowpipe analysis, Cadmium and Bismuth in 
ingot, (IIow is it, par parenthese, that it is so difficult to obtain bismuth in com¬ 
merce free from copper ?) and tough-points of nitrate of silver, understood to be 
obtained by adding a little hydrochloric acid to the fused salt, and so contami¬ 
nating it with a trace of chloride. The only novelty here is Sulphate of Zinc 
Points, prepared by fusion. 
Palmam qui meruit ferat , might as appropriately be the motto of Price’s 
Patent Candle Company as of the medal which it will doubtless obtain at the 
hands of the jury. When one remembers how* comparatively short a time has 
elapsed since palm oil was considered to possess little or no commercial value, 
the progress which has been made in the practical applications of this substance 
becomes remarkably interesting. There are, I imagine, few readers of the 
‘Pharmaceutical Journal’ who are not familiar with the process patented by 
Mr. Wilson, by which the oil is decomposed into its constituent fat acids and 
glycerine. Those who are not, may be reminded that this is done solely by the 
use of steam at a high temperature—“ superheated,’’ as it is called—and that the 
fat acids distil over together with the glycerine, but no longer chemically com¬ 
bined with it. To the pharmaceutist this process is of especial interest, as being 
the source of the first—as it is still the best— pure glycerine which was to be 
obtained in commerce, while it gives the candle maufacturer a series of fatty 
acids of a degree of purity before unexampled. 
The specimens exhibited in the beautiful case of the Company (31, nave) 
almost exhaustively illustrate the technology of palm and cocoa-nut oils. With 
the former we have as a starting-point the palm nuts themselves, then palm oil , 
palm-oleic acid , and palmitic acid ,—this last in crystalline masses of snowy 
