336 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 26, 1872.. 
by H 2 0 and 0. By heating with soda-lime and zinc, 
small quantities of indigotine are produced. The pro¬ 
cess is in no sense commercial; but neither was that by 
which alizarine was first produced. The way being 
pointed out, probably improvements will be introduced, 
and indigo become a product of our own country. Ben¬ 
zoic acid is now made in quantity from naphthaline, a 
product of coal tar, so the new colouring matter is re¬ 
lated to that exhaustless store of valuable chemical 
treasure. 
On the other hand, conine, which was supposed to have 
been formed artificially, has eluded the chemist’s grasp. 
The new product, though closely resembling the natural 
alkaloid, and having the same atomic constitution, is 
only isomeric with it and not identical. 
A new process for estimating morphine in opium de¬ 
serves attention. It depends on the well-known reaction 
of morphine on iodic acid, by which I is set free; the 
I is taken up by chloroform or CS 2 , and the liquid 
compared as to colour with a solution of a known quan¬ 
tity of iodine or morphine treated in like manner. In 
conclusion, I would urge on the members more earnest 
interest in the association. Its success is in their hands, 
and they will reap the benefit. I hope to see the day 
when it will include on the roll the chemists of Liver¬ 
pool as a body. There is no ground for jealousy; we 
make no exclusive claims or interfere with any man’s 
private arrangements. No purely trade questions are 
discussed, but on the points common to all chemists we 
invite the fullest inquiry. In these days private claims 
are often overlooked; a large body alone is listened to, 
and its influence felt. In the past your association has 
done good work in upholding the interests of chemists, 
and in the future it will not fold its hands. 
I ask your aid in fulfilling the arduous duties of your 
president. I promise my best exertions, and trust that 
this year will be one of unusual success. 
Mr. J. Abraham, in moving a vote of thanks to the 
President, remarked that, concurring with all that he 
said, he felt there was rather a want of pupils than 
means of instruction ; he hoped, however, that this state 
of things would soon be changed. 
Mr. A. H. Mason seconded the motion, and said that 
the Council of this Association had provided, and would 
continue to provide, ample accommodation for pharma¬ 
ceutical students, and for the instruction and interest of 
members at the general meeting. The motion was then 
carried. 
IjramMitfs fff Snentifit Societies. 
ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF 
HEALTH. 
RECENT SANITARY LEGISLATION. 
On Saturday evening, October 19th, the Association 
of Medical Officers opened its session at the Hall of the 
Scottish Corporation, Crane Court, Fleet Street. 
Dr. Letheby took for the subject of his'Inaugural Ad¬ 
dress, “ The Sanitary Legislation of 1872.’’ He observed 
that foremost among the labours of the session was the 
Public Health Bill. He recapitulated the provisions of 
the Aefi and pointed out that the appointment of sani¬ 
tary officers was made compulsory, instead of permis¬ 
sive, and not the least important ot these was the medi¬ 
cal officer of health. The trust thus reposed in the pro¬ 
fession demanded the most anxious consideration as to 
the manner in which it ought to be fulfilled; for al- 
though the Act merely directed that the medical officer 
ot health should be a legally qualified medical practi¬ 
tioner, yet it was obvious that the duties t of the office 
required something more than the mere knowledge of rou¬ 
tine medical practice. He was very strongly of opinion 
that the medical officer of health should be entirely free 
from the conflicting interests of private medicaf prac¬ 
tice, for it might well happen that the worst places in, 
the worst districts would be the property of men who- 
were the best patients of the sanitary officer. Too- 
often, also, the owners of unwholesome tenements, or 
the managers of offensive trades, or the dealers in adul¬ 
terated food, force themselves into Local Boards for no 
other purpose than to protect their own interests, and 
to check, as far as they could, the application of sani¬ 
tary measures ; and if the medical officer of health wao 
dependent to any large extent on the income of private 
practice, he could not venture to be meddlesome.. 
That difficulty was in some degree provided for by the 
10th section of the Act, which gave the Local Govern¬ 
ment Board control over the appointment and dismissal 
of an officer of health, when any portion of his salary 
was paid out of money voted by Parliament. That 
kind of protection might, perhaps, be advantageously 
extended, although he was far from thinking that a cen¬ 
tral sanitary authority was as capable of managing the 
sanitary affairs of the country as the local authorities of' 
the districts, and he should be sorry to see an excessive 
centralization in this respect. Another effort at legis¬ 
lation during the year was “the Act to amend the Law 
for the Prevention of Adulteration of Food and Drink 
and of Drugs.” Its object was to amend the Act of 
1860, which was found to be a dead letter, for the adop¬ 
tion of it by local authorities was entirely permissive and 
optional, and, even where it had been adopted, as in the 
City, it was wholly inoperative from the circumstance- 
that the public, and not the local authority, were to put 
its provisions in force. Looking back at his own expe¬ 
rience in the City, where for the last twelve years he 
had been the food analyst under the Act of 1860, he per¬ 
ceived that although every inducement was offered to* 
the public by the Commissioners of Sewers for the 
effective working of the Act, as by distributing circulars 
among the citizens inviting them to put it into force, 
showing them how it was to be done, and even giving 
them discretionary power to make analyses for the poor 
without charge, yet in the whole of that time only 57 
analyses of food and drink had been made, and he se¬ 
riously believed that not one of them was called for for 
the purposes of the Act. That was rather dishearten¬ 
ing, considering how sensationally loud had been the 
cry about adulterations during the whole of that time. 
In some respects the new Act was an amendment of 
the old, for it made the appointment of analysts al¬ 
most compulsory, and it threw upon the legal autho¬ 
rity the duty of conducting all proceedings under the- 
Act. The 5th section provided that the City Commis¬ 
sioners of Sewers, the Vestries and district Boards of the 
metropolis, and certain local authorities in the United. 
Kingdom might, and when required so to do by the 
Local Government Board, should, appoint for tbeir re¬ 
spective districts one or more persons possessing compe¬ 
tent medical, chemical and microscopical knowledge, as 
analysts of all articles of food, drink, and drugs pur¬ 
chased within their respective districts, paying them 
such salary and allowances as they might think fit. It no- 
longer rested with the public to initiate an inquiry, for 
the inspectors of the district could procure articles of 
food and drink, or drugs, suspected to be adulterated, 
and deliver them to the analyst, who, if he found them 
adulterated, would instruct the inspectors to summon 
the offender before a justice of the peace. Any pur¬ 
chaser of such articles might apply to the analyst for 
an analysis and obtain it on the payment of a fee not 
exceeding half-a-guinea and not less than half-a-crown, 
and in cases of adulteration might institute proceedings 
against the dealers. But the question was—-What is. 
an adulteration ? That was left in very nearly the 
same condition of doubt as it remained in the old Act. 
The third section, however, of the new Act made it 
illegal for “any person to sell any article of food or 
drink, or any drug, knowing the same to have been 
mixed with any other substance, with intent fraudulently" 
