268 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
competitor was expected to work at a bench for two days, from ten o’clock to 
five, and analyse or manufacture something, the use of books or memoranda be¬ 
ing permitted. For instance, they had to analyse a solution containing any 
common metallic salt used in medicine, and to do the same with regard to a 
powder. Again, different kinds of food were mixed together and poison added, 
and the student was expected to discover what the poison was. Then there 
were quantitative operations to be performed, for which, as they took a good 
deal of time, a whole day was allowed : thus a solution of arsenic or of per- 
chloride of iron had to be analysed, and the exact quantity of the substances 
determined. The results had been reported to the Council, who had awarded the 
prizes accordingly, the first going to Mr. Ingham. This gentleman, having 
been Junior Bell Scholar last year, might have been expected to do great things, 
and it was gratifying to see, as was shown by the prizes he had taken, that 
these expectations had been fully realized ; in the laboratory-class he had ob¬ 
tained the full number of marks possible. Mr. Iredale came next. If this 
gentleman had not met with an accident in performing one of the operations, 
he would have trodden very closely on the heels of Mr. Ingham. Messrs. 
Hickiug, Wyley, and Histed, had gained between 60 and 70 per cent, of the ac¬ 
corded marks, and richly deserved their Certificates of Merit. 
The questions were as follows :— 
1. The “ Solution ” given to you may contain any of the ordinary metallic salts used in 
medicine; analyse it, and state the results. 
2. The accompanying “Powder” is also a mixture of common metallic salts; examine 
it, and report your conclusions. 
3. You are furnished with what you may regard as a “ Vomit ” suspected to contain 
one of the following poisons:—mercury, arsenic, antimony, lead, copper, oxalic 
acid, hydrocyanic acid ; which is present? 
4. A specimen of “ Urine ” is placed before you; is it morbid or healthy ? 
5. “Solution of Arsenic.” Ascertain by volumetric analysis how much arsenic (As 2 0 3 ) 
may be obtained from 100 parts by weight of this liquid. 
6 . “Solution of Perchloriae of Iron.” Estimate, gravimetrically, the percentage of Iron 
in this preparation. 
The Prizes having been bestowed by the Chairman, 
HERBARIA. 
Professor Bentley reported the result of the competition for the prizes and 
certificates offered by the Council for Herbaria of British plants, prizes which 
had been instituted for the purpose of encouraging the study of botany, espe¬ 
cially amongst apprentices and students in the country. Botany, until recently, 
had not been a favourite study, but he was happy to think that a reaction in 
its favour was now setting in, and attention was now being called to it as an 
important branch of study—by such men, for instance, as Professor Huxley in a 
recent number of ‘ Macmillan’s Magazine.’ He believed that in the course of a 
year or two botany would find a place in the course of instruction at nearly all 
the large colleges in England, and already great exertions were being made, not 
only for teaching it to young men but also to ladies, at South Kensington. 
Five Herbaria had been sent in on the present occasion, three of which were par¬ 
ticularly meritorious. The silver medal had been awarded to Mr. H. W. Jones, 
of Birmingham, who, though busily engaged as an apprentice, had found time to 
collect, in the space of twelve months, 470 plants, preserve them, arrange them, 
and mount them in the beautiful w r ay which a few specimens displayed at the 
end of the room would show. The bronze medal was awarded to Mr. Gerald F. 
Stoodley, of Crediton, for a collection of nearly 300 plants, aud a certificate of 
merit was given to Mr. R. T. Linton, of Edinburgh. 
The Chairman then called upon Mr. Henry Deane, F.L.S., to deliver the— 
