208 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [September 14,1S7& 
Attfield, and on the 11th July lie forwarded a letter 
containing a list of the apparatus, with a notification 
that it would be sent off in a few days. To this letter 
lie has now received the following reply 
Chicago, Illixois, Uxited States, 
August 17, 1872. 
Prof. J. Attfield, Ph.D., 
Treasurer and Scctg. of the Chicago College Fund. 
Sir, TV e have the honour to acknowledge the receipt 
o* your letter of. July 11th, announcing the result of the 
subscription which has been contributed by British 
pharmacists and now so generously presented to the 
Chicago .College of Pharmacy. 
As officers and trustees of the College we have ob¬ 
served from time, to time the great efforts and the un- 
tinng zeal .our friends in England and elsewhere have 
manifested in the endeavour to aid us in re-establishing 
our College, so the receipt of your communication was 
an absolute surprise, but, sir, the perusal of the 
letter, showing, as it does, the extent of the donation, 
the.peculiar care and judgment that has been exercised 
m its selection, and the large number of contributors, 
comprising not only pharmacists and scientists, but even 
their assistants and apprentices, from every part of 
Great Britain and Ireland, combine to excite in us feel¬ 
ings of profound amazement and gratitude. 
May we hope, sir, that all who have contributed to 
this I und wall believe that we duly value and appreciate 
the sacrifices they have made for us, and all be pleased 
to receive, in the name of the Chicago College of Phar- 
macy, our sincere acknowledgments and thanks; al¬ 
though we would not have one contributor feel that w*e 
underestimated the service he had rendered us, we 
should think our duty incomplete did we not specially 
thank you, sir, the various members of Committees, and 
all wdio took the initiatory steps in this matter; you 
have indeed cause for congratulation that such marked 
success should have attended your efforts. 
TV e accept your munificent gift as a valued trust, to 
be carefully and sacredly administered for the benefit of 
all who shall seek improvement within the walls of our 
College. TV e hope to hand it down to our successors 
complete and unimpaired, except as time and good usa^e 
shall cause them to decay; and when the student, as he 
seeks or follows the inspiration of knowledge now dwell- 
mg upon the page of lettered science, or holding, with 
unpractised hand, the instrument that shall °unfold 
wonders to his full, eager mind, he, and all, shall know 
that these aids to knowledge were placed within his 
reach b^ brother pharmacists of Great Britain and Ire¬ 
land, and given in the holy names of sympathy and 
brotherly love. J 
Reciprocating these sentiments— 
TV e have, the honour to remain, sir, 
Your obedient servants, 
George Buck, President, 
formerly M.P.S.G.B. 
T. H. Pattersox, 1st Vice-President. 
Jas. TV. Mill, 2nd Vice-President. 
Albert E. Ebert, 
Corn. Scctg. 
TVe understand that the second edition of Pro¬ 
fessor Attfield s Manual of Chemistry, published 
in this country, as well as the third edition, published 
in America, having been exhausted, it is intended to 
issue a new English edition in October, and a new 
American one as soon as possible after the issue of 
the new United States Pharmacopoeia. 
pwetliinijs nf gficntifif ^raefits. 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE:. 
Wednesday , August 14 th, 1872. 
. (Second day.) 
The proceedings were resumed this morning at about 
ten o’clock. 
Electiox of IIoxorary Members. 
The Presidext said that the Executive Committee had. 
just determined to bring forward the name of Dr. Carl 
Schacht as an honorary member of the Conference. 
That gentleman was the chairman of the German Phar¬ 
macopoeia Committee, and also a member of the technical 
commission appointed to assist the German Government 
in matters connected with pharmacy. 
The name of Dr. L. A. Buchner,'' of the University of 
Munich, was submitted by Mr. Hanbury. Both gentle¬ 
men were unanimously elected honorary members. 
Sixty candidates for election as members of the Con¬ 
ference were then submitted to the meeting, and their 
election was unanimously agreed to. 
A paper on “ Calabrian Manna ” w*as then read by Mr. 
Daniel Hanbury, F.R.S. At the request of the author, 
the publication of this paper 13 delayed for a short time. 
The next paper read was— 
Ox the occurrexce of Maxgaxese ix Plaxts, espe¬ 
cially ix Drugs of the Zixgiberaceous Order. 
BY professor fluckiger, berx. 
Black oxide of manganese was known to the ancients r 
but considered to be an ore of iron ; that it is a com¬ 
pound of a peculiar metal was one of the splendid dis¬ 
coveries of the most eminent pharmacist who ever lived. 
r Ihe laboratory of the small pharmaceutical establish¬ 
ment at Ups ala, where in 1774 the great Scheele first 
pointed out the existence of manganese, w r as probably 
of the most humble character. There he not only traced 
the prominent characters of that metal, or at least of 
its oxygenated compounds, but he was already aware 
that it is in some instances a constituent of the ash of 
vegetables. He says that some chemists before his 
time had frequently observed that the ash of what they 
called alkaline salts assumed a bluish or greenish colour. 
But they were unable to explain the reason, whereas. 
Scheele, in his famous paper on peroxide of manganese, 
dc’v oted to this tact a chapter entitled “ Presence of" 
Brunsten, or Magnesia nigra (as he called the peroxide), 
in the Ash of Plants. ’ He showed that the green ash 
} ields an aqueous solution of the same colour, which, on 
addition of any acid, turns red, and after some time 
deposits a brown powder. Scheele was quite correct in 
attributing these reactions to the presence of manganese; 
he observed very little of it in the ash of Serpyllum ,. 
more of it in the ash of wood.* 
Since Scheele’s time, manganese has been very fre¬ 
quently met with in plants, most commonly in company 
with iron. The latter metal is one of the indispensable 
elements of vegetable life, at least in phanerogams, 
whereas manganese is wanting in many plants. No 
plants, how r ever, have ever been proved to perish by 
want of manganese which they actually do so soon as- 
lron is absolutely excluded. Whether, on the other hand, 
the iron in plants can or cannot be replaced by man¬ 
ganese has likewise not yet so far as I know been 
determined. 
In numerous instances, the amount of manganese in 
the ash is exceedingly small; in several plants belonging* 
to various natural orders, however, it has been met with. 
* C. G. Scheele, Opuscula chemica et phgsica, i. (1778) 
281.—German translation by Ilermbstadt II. (Berlin, 
1/93) 85-87. Cap’s ‘Biographical Notice on Scheele/in. 
Journal de Fharmacie et de Chimie, 43 (1863), 337. 
