110 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[ August 10, 1872. 
factored at an illicit distillery recently discovered 
by tlie Revenue officers in the east of London. It 
is so unlikely that perfumed spirit should have been 
purified for sale to manufacturing chemists for their 
own use, that to believe such a statement stronger 
proof is required than we have been able to obtain. 
As, however, truth is sometimes stranger than fic¬ 
tion, the charitably disposed, and those from whom 
the spirit has been seized, may still cling to the hope 
that it is perfumed spirit, even though it be in dis¬ 
guise ; but we fear that, at no distant day, it will be 
proved to demonstration in one of our law courts that 
this cheap spirit is none other than illicit spirit of 
home manufacture, and that the Customs regulation 
as to sending into consumption perfumed spirit with¬ 
out certificate has been made a cover for fraud. 
We would once more direct attention to the dan¬ 
ger there always is in purchasing commodities much 
below the regular market price. Usually, there is 
sufficient competition in all branches of trade to 
keep prices down, and the spirit trade is not an ex¬ 
ception to this rule. To be able to purchase spirits 
of wine of full strength at a little more than the 
duty is certainly remarkable, and such an offer 
should always be looked upon with suspicion as not 
being a legitimate transaction. One of two things 
must necessarily be the cause, either that there is 
reckless trading, which must end in ruin, or the re¬ 
venue is being defrauded of the duty on the spirit. 
As we have before stated, we believe in the case 
of tins perfumed spirit the revenue has been de¬ 
frauded ; and if this be so, we should have been glad 
to have seen proper punishment overtake the real 
offender onty; but we fear innocent persons will 
also suffer for the faults of others, and the Revenue 
authorities will probably place the receiver of illicit’ 
spirit on the same footing as the actual manufacturer 
of them. 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
There is every indication of a large gathering 
of members at the Annual Meeting of the Conference 
on Tuesday and Wednesday next at Brighton. 
The Executive Committee will assemble in the Con¬ 
ference Meeting-room in the Royal Pavilion at Seven 
p.m. on Monday. The President will deliver an 
address on Tuesday at Pen a.m., and the reading of 
papers will follow. The sittings will be continued 
fiom 10 to 4.30 on Tuesday and "Wednesday, an 
adjournment from 12.30 to 2 taking place each day. 
On Tuesday evening there is to be a supper. We 
are informed by Professor Attfield that the follow- 
ing papers are in hand or already promised :— 
Pharmaceutical Education; Mr. Julius Schweit¬ 
zer, Brighton. Notes on Education; Mr. B. S. 
Proctor. Pharmaceutical Education; Professor 
Attfield. General Discussion on Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Education. Calabrian Manna ; Daniel 
Hanbury, F.R.S. The Occurrence of Manganese 
in Certain Drugs; Professor Fluckiger. S hocus 
Scapi Taraxaci ; Mr. H. Barton, Brighton. Pill 
Coatings ; Mr. T. Haffenden, Brighton. Notes on 
Green Extracts; Mr. Richard W. Giles, Clifton. 
Pharmaceutical Ethics; Mr. S. R. Atkins, Salis¬ 
bury. Guaiacol; Mr. J. Williams, F.C.S. Labo¬ 
ratory Notes; Mr. Edward Smith, Torquay. Al¬ 
chemy; Mr. W. D. Savage, Brighton. On Tinc¬ 
tures ; Messrs. Stoddart and Tucker. Trade 
Specimens of Sulphate of Copper; Messrs. Stod¬ 
dart and Tucker. Qua Quondam ; T. B. Groves, 
F.C.S. OnKamala; T. B. Groves, F.C.S. New 
Derivatives from Morphia and Codeia; Professor 
Wright, D. Sc. Orris Root; Mr. Henry Groves,. 
Florence. On Tincture of Percliloride of Iron; 
Mr. T. Hustwick, London. Koegood; a new 
Drug from South Africa; Mr. G. A. Keyworth,. 
Hastings. Pharmacy as a Pursuit; Mr. G. A. Key- 
worth, Hastings. Researches on the Constituents, 
of Aloes : Part I., Dr. Tilden ; Part II., Dr. Til- 
den and Mr. Rammell. A Cheap Disinfectant; 
Edward C. C. Stanford, F.C.S. 
fransMtos of % fljwntOTtol 
MEETING OF COUNCIL. 
August 7th, 1872. 
MR. A. F. HASELDEN, F.L.S., PRESIDENT IN THE CHAIR* 
PresentMessrs. Atherton, Baynes, Betty, Bottle,. 
Greenish, Hampson, Hills, Owen, Radley, Sandford, 
Savage, Schacht, Shaw, Stoddart, Sutton, Urwick and 
Williams. 
The minutes of the last meeting were read and con¬ 
firmed. 
A letter from the Privy Council was read approving" 
the appointment of the Boards of Examiners in England 
and Scotland. 
The President read the following letter from Profes¬ 
sor Fluckiger, of Bern, acknowledging the receipt of his: 
diploma of Honorary Membership of this Society:— 
“Bern, 22)1 d July, 1872. 
“ Dear Sir, 
“I have for many years attentively noticed the- 
admirable progress of the Pharmaceutical Society of 
Great Britain, and have been highly satisfied to see how 
much they have improved the pharmaceutical profession 
in its scientific as well as in its practical and social 
direction. No other pharmaceutical association, as far 
as I know, has succeeded in obtaining so happy and so- 
vigorous an influence on the development, both educa¬ 
tional and legal, of pharmacy. 
“ These considerations have since long led me to- 
devote my full sympathy to your Society. I, therefore, 
accept with the most grateful feelings the diploma, and 
beg to inform the Council of them. I am proud indeed 
to be associated in this way to English pharmacy in 
addition to personal friendship with several of its mem¬ 
bers. 
“ The Society may he sure that I regard the diploma 
as a permanent stimulus in endeavouring to become more- 
