812 
LETTER FROM MR. DICKINSON. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
gj r _Hearing that some disapprobation was expressed at my not attending the de¬ 
claration of the Scrutineers of votes for Members of Council yesterday, I wish to explain 
that I did not absent myself in order to avoid the situation I had placed myself in, 
from any desire not to tkke the full responsibility of my conduct in the matter. I was 
put on the scrutiny against my expressed objection ; I was totally ignorant of the me¬ 
thod by which the scrutiny was taken, and honestly set to work to do the duty , but 
finding the system was liable to errors, in a moment of somewhat excited feelings I re¬ 
solved so far to vitiate the return as to obtain an alteration of so unsatisfactory a P ian - 
I entirely repudiate any premeditation or malice ; it was accidentally commenced, and 
continued without any attempt at concealment, fully believing that anything I did 
would not alter the return of any one to the Council. The distribution of the votes was 
purely a fancy; the subtraction from Mr. Evans was by no means on personal grounds, 
for I do not know him, and to him I owe an apology. I absolve, in the fullest degree 
all others; and to my Co-Scrutineers I tender my regret and apology U ar 
them so much trouble, annoyance, and painful feeling in the business. To the Soc e y 
1 shall tender my resignation through the proper officer. I have no wish to prolong any 
hostility to it, but had long since resolved never again to interfere or attend any ot its 
proceedings, and was betrayed into attending this Annual Meeting on grounds that 
could be from circumstances of no personal or pecuniary advantage to myself, I hastily 
say this in good faith, and leave the subject to the lenient consideration and judgment 
of the Members of the Society. c . 
I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 
William Dickinson. 
May 25th, 1860. 
PROVINCIAL TRANSACTIONS. 
BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
Mr. Schacht read a communication upon linimentum saponis and linimentum 
potassii iodidi c. sapone ; in the course of which lie exhibited various samples both of 
the hard soaps of commerce and of the oleic acid,—hard soap prepared accordm to 
the suggestions of Mr. Wood ; and explained the essential differences in them to be 
due to the varying proportions they contained of stearate of soda and oleate i of soda. 
He showed, experimentally, how imperfectly the former, and how perfectly the latter 
dissolved in the weak spirit ordered to be employed, and that consequently pure oleic- 
acid hard soap was the best to be used in making linimentum saponis. On the other 
hand, he exhibited several samples of linimentum potassii iodidi c. sapone, Prepared 
with the above varieties of soap, and these clearly proved that linimentum potass 
iodidi c. sapone was best made with the soap richest m stearate of soda, viz. good coin- 
mercial^curd^oap^A^E N TE E , B.A., B.Sc., delivered a lecture upon the elementary 
principles of spectrum analysis, explaining its uses and its extreme delicacy in the de¬ 
tection of minute quantities of metals, etc. 
Having first briefly given the history of the subject from the well-known experi¬ 
ments of Sir I. Newton in 1675, to the recent observations of Loekyer and Hug„ms, 
the lecturer described the three orders or groups of spectra, viz. 
1. Continuous, unbroken spectra, produced only by incandescent solids or hquids. 
S. Spectra of coloured lines of light separated from each other produced only bj 
an incandescent yas. The spectra of the elements and of certain nebulie belong to this 
° l S^Spectra broken by dark lines, not produced by the source of light, but by other 
vapours or media which absorb certain portions of the light in its passa 0 e. 11 
spectra of the sun and fixed stars belong to this order. 
