-August 31, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
167 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31 , 1872 . 
Communications for this Journal, and boohs for review,etc., 
chould be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, Mew Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes indorsed “ Fharm. Journ 
BRIGHTON AND ITS RECENT VISITORS. 
Now that the British Association, and the British 
"Pharmaceutical Conference have adjourned their 
^pleasant labours until they meet next September, 
i-at Bradford, under the presidency of Dr. J. P. J oule, 
and H. B. Brady, Esq., respectively, it is gratifying 
-to find that the efforts of the people of Brighton 
-worthily to entertain their visitors have been so well 
appreciated. On every hand, the liberality of the 
townspeople, and the thoughtfulness and kindness of 
their representatives, have been the theme of praise. 
Tv r e have already spoken of the hospitality shown to 
the Conference by the local members of the drug 
trade, and the heartiness with which the Association 
lias been entertained, is indicated by the fact, that 
while the promised subscriptions to the local fund 
amounted to nearly £2000, this money has been 
forthcoming without any unseemly coercion. This 
•circumstance is justly the ground of some congratu¬ 
lation on the part of the Brighton press, and we are 
especially glad to notice among the subscribers to 
the fund the names of several well-known pharma¬ 
cists. Financially, the Brighton meeting of the British 
Association has been a great success, the number 
of tickets issued having been 25*33, representing 
the sum of £2,640; 2,403 tickets issued for last 
'year’s meeting in Edinburgh, representing £2,575. 
The Association has thus been enabled this year 
to make grants of money for scientific purposes 
amounting to £2,025. The signatures in the visi¬ 
tors’ book of the British Pharmaceutical Conference, 
were in number more than one hundred. Brighton 
was for many years unsuccessful in inducing the 
British Association to visit her, but now that the 
ice is broken, we venture to predict that she will 
liave a comparatively early opportunity of proving 
the truth of the Mayors axiom, that “ to do a thing 
well, it requires to be done a second time.” 
DEODORIZERS, DISINFECTANTS, AND 
ANTISEPTICS. 
The Public Health Bill, having received the 
.Royal Assent, may by tliis time be looked upon as 
.an established fact, and, as we are informed, it will 
•come into operation almost immediately. This Act 
.is very important to all who are qualified to conduct 
the operations of analytical chemistry, because it 
indicates indirectly a vast systematic application of 
science to sanitary matters with which they must, as 
a necessary consequence, be intimately concerned. 
If the medical inspectors who are to be appointed 
under the terms of this Act do their duty, it should 
soon, among other things, be practically discovered 
which are the most efficient deodorizers, disinfectants 
and antiseptics for common use; which of the ma¬ 
terials used for such purposes are the most generally 
useful, most harmless, and cheapest. We may take 
it that the deodorizing and antiseptic properties of 
any agent can be proved without much difficulty, 
but it is still open to doubt whether, in the present 
state of physiological science, conclusive proofs 
of the disinfecting properties of any article can 
be produced. It is pretty well known to our 
readers that chlorine and ozone are classed as 
the best deodorizers; that common salt, chloride of 
zinc, corrosive sublimate, cold, carbolic acid, and 
heat (above 140° Fahr. with exclusion of air), are the 
best antiseptics; and that the permanganates,chlorine, 
ozone, sulphurous acid, animal charcoal, and lime 
rank highest among so-called disinfectants. We are 
neither prepared nor inclined to discuss the respec¬ 
tive merits of the last-named series. But it is a 
remarkable fact, and one worthy of attention, that 
a special preparation called chloralum does not 
receive the general attention that it would seem to 
deserve, if the advertising columns of the daily news¬ 
papers, weekly journals, and monthly magazines are 
to be taken as the gauge of its merits. No chemical 
or pharmaceutical article has ever been so copiously 
urged upon the attention of the public, not except¬ 
ing even the chlorodyne of Dr. Collis Browne 
or the corn flour of Mr. Polson. We know 
that chloralum has been authorized by the Presi¬ 
dent of the Board of Trade, and has now there¬ 
fore to be carried in the medicine chests of all mer¬ 
chant ships (to the exclusion of Sir Wm. Burnett’s 
solution of chloride of zinc), although no directions 
of any sort or kind are given as to its use in the ‘ Ship 
Captain’s Medical Guide,’ authorized by the Board. 
We have indeed heard it stated by public officers and 
others interested in sanitary matters that they have 
vainly endeavoured to find out the merits of tins so 
called deodorizer, disinfectant, and antiseptic. Medi¬ 
cal men and professional chiefs of public departments 
tell us that they know little or nothing about it. But 
it is most humiliating to those engaged in the promo¬ 
tion of sanitary science, to medical men, and to all 
occupied in work connected with the prevention of 
disease, that no one even now can say or has said 
ex cathedra whether this preparation is good, bad, 
or indifferent. There are things that are true, and 
tilings that are new. We want to know if the new 
thing in tliis case is a true thing, and most naturally 
■ appeal to the Medical Department of the Local 
Government Board, or—if such an officer exist to 
; the medical adviser of the Board of Trade. 
