262 
BETTS’S PATENT CAPSULES. 
quum animadvertisset P. Crassus adolescens, qui equitatui prgeerat, quod expe- 
ditior erat, quam hi qui inter aciem versabantur, tertiam aciem laborantibus 
nostris subsidio misit. Ita prselium restitutum est, atque omnes hostes terga 
verterunt; neque prius fugere destiterunt, quam ad flumen Rhenum millia pas- 
suum ex eo loco circiter quinquaginta pervenerunt.” 
Or, the following from the London Pharmacopoeia:— 
“ Gummi-resinse pro optimis habendse sunt, quae veniuntadeo sincerse, ut nulla 
purificatione opus sit. Quae vero minus purse esse videantur, in aqua coquendse 
sunt, donee mollescant, et prelo exprimendse per pannum cannabinum; dein 
seponendse ut pars resinosse subsidat. Liquorem supernatantem effusum balneo 
aquoso consume, adjecta sub finem parte resinosa, quse cum parte gummosa in 
unum coeat.” 
ARITHMETIC. 
1. Express the following vulgar fractions in decimal, viz. ■£•, f, J, if. 
2. Multiply 8-38 pounds avoirdupois by 65, and give the product in hundredweights, 
quarters, and pounds. 
3. A fluid ounce of water weighing 837‘5 grains, what will be the weight respectively 
of an imperial pint and a fluid drachm ? 
ENGLISH COMPOSITION. 
1. Write some remarks upon one of the following subjects:— 
A. The advantages of a knowledge of chemistry. 
B. The ballot. 
BOTANY AND MATERIA MEDICA. 
1. Define the following:—Root, stem, tuber, rhizome, corm, and bulb. 
2. Give a general sketch of the structure of an acotyledonous stem. 
3. How would you distinguish Russian, East Indian, and English rhubarbs from each 
other ? 
4. How would you distinguish aconite root from horseradish root? Mention their 
botanical sources. 
CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACY. 
1. What are the principal products of the combustion of coal gas ? 
2. Explain what occurs in the slaking of lime, and state the cause of the heat produced 
in the process. 
3. What is the acid contained in lemon-juice, and how may this acid be obtained in a 
separate state ? 
4. What is the composition of carbonic acid, and how would you distinguish it from 
nitrogen ? 
5. Describe the processes of the British Pharmacopoeia for the preparation of Liquor 
Arsenicalis, and state the proportion of arsenious acid contained in it. 
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Goodall exhibited and explained the construc¬ 
tion and use of his drug-grinding machine. 
BETTS’S PATENT CAPSULES. 
On Thursday, October 5, a public meeting of Chemists and Druggists, Patent Medi¬ 
cine Vendors and Perfumers, was held at the house of the Pharmaceutical Society, to 
take into consideration the present position of these trades with respect to the sale of 
capsuled articles; Mr. Peter Squire in the chair. 
The Chairman, having read the notice convening the meeting, observed that it was 
for them to discuss the question, and adopt such resolutions as they might consider 
necessary with reference to the object they had in view. 
Mr. Daubeney moved the first resolution. He said, there could be no doubt that the 
law, as it at present stood, with reference to the use of these capsules, was very in¬ 
jurious to retailers of capsuled articles. There were several manufacturers in England 
and France who made capsules precisely similar to Betts’s, with no distinguishing mark, 
except in some instances an infinitesimal letter, which was only to be discovered when 
carefully examined with a glass. He had one of Betts’s capsules which had no distin- 
