876 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
from the latter place were upon the second 
half of the memorial sheet. 
Yours truly, 
John Throssell. 
10, Magdalen Street, Oxford, 
Jxme 2nd, 1870. 
Tablespoonsful or Tablespoonfuls P 
Please give opinion in next issue of 
Journal which of the phrases is correct, two 
tablespoonsful or two tablespoonfuis. 
Yours, etc., 
Query. 
[We think the latter the more correct.] 
Pharmacy and Medical Reform. 
Sir,—Now that medical reform is occupy¬ 
ing some attention, permit me to suggest 
that it would be very desirable for the in¬ 
terests of pharmacy, if something like the 
following regulations could be carried :— 
1. That pharmacists preparing for a medi¬ 
cal qualification shall be allowed a reduction 
of one year’s time. 
2. That no medical practitioner shall use 
the title of doctor of medicine, or physician, 
while in the habit of dispensing. 
I am, Sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
Montague J. R. Hosking. 
Southampton, June ls£. , r r 
Should Cough Lozenges be Labelled 
“ Poison ”P 
Dear Sir,—Oblige by stating if it is ne¬ 
cessary to label cough lozenges, containing 
a preparation of morphia, “ Poison.” 
F. M. R. 
[We think the best answer to this ques¬ 
tion is the reply of the medical officer to the 
Privy Council to a communication from the 
Council of the Pharmaceutical Society, which 
will be found at p. 567 of Vol. X., n.s., of 
this Journal.] 
“A Poor but Genteel Chemist ” suggests 
as a remedy for the depressed state of the 
drug trade, especially in suburban districts, 
that the sale of drugs should be confined to 
registered chemists and druggists. 
“Inquirer .”—We know of no authorized 
formula for liquor ferri ammonio-citratis. 
Beasley, on the authority of Beral, gives a 
formula for liquor ferri citratis. Our cor¬ 
respondent asks for the best scientific ac¬ 
count of the exhibition known as “ Pepper’s 
Ghost”? 
B. R. (Plymouth ).—Brown Hair Bye. 
In reply to our correspondent, we give the 
following from the ‘Chemical News:’— 
“ On a Brown Hair-dye. G. M‘Donald.— 
Under this title the author, in reality, makes 
known a fact which is worthy of notice; he 
says, the well-known fact that a soluble 
compound of lead and sulphur could not be 
obtained by the decomposition of a soluble 
lead salt by a soluble sulphuret, or, in other 
words, the insolubility of the sulphuret of 
lead was regarded as an indubitable proof of 
the folly of undertaking to search for a com¬ 
pound containing sulphuret of lead in a 
soluble state, and yet so as to be innocuous 
to the system. There is a class of salts 
known as hyposulphites, many of w’hicb are 
freely soluble in water, and which are readily 
converted by absorption of oxygen into sul¬ 
phate of the base and free sulphur; it is in 
the use of these salts that the key to the 
enigma lies. Chemical text-books state that 
hyposulphite of lead is insoluble in water, 
wdiich is quite correct; but, like many other 
precipitates insoluble in water, it is readily 
dissolved by an excess of the precipitant; 
thus, if we add to a solution of three parts 
of acetate of lead, two parts of hyposulphite 
of soda, we shall have a curdy white preci¬ 
pitate of hyposulphite of lead, insoluble in 
water; but if we add to this ten parts more 
of hyposulphite of soda the precipitate will 
be re-dissolved, and a perfectly clear solution 
will be the result; this solution, when ap¬ 
plied to the hair, is decomposed by absorp¬ 
tion of oxygen; one of the results thereof is 
the formation of the dark brown sulphuret 
of lead; it is to the formation of this com¬ 
pound in the hair that all lead and sulphur 
dyes owe their efficacy.” 
“A Victim ” “wishes to caution our 
readers against an agent of a Life Insurance 
Company, who is actively engaged in call¬ 
ing upon medical men and chemists about 
London, and requesting them to become 
medical referees or local agents, as the case 
may be, of a particular district, making it a 
sine qua non that a policy of insurance be 
effected upon the life of the party affected.” 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the transmission of the Journal 
should be sent to Elias Bremridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington Street, London, W. 
