December li, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
471 
f Mimral terartim 
NOTTINGHAM AND NOTTS CHEMISTS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
The first meeting of the session of this society was 
held in the new rooms of the association, Exchange 
Buildings, on Friday evening, the 18th October; Mr. 
J. H. Atherton, F.C.S., the President, in the chair. 
Several members were elected, and donations to the 
library and museum announced. 
The President said that arrangements had been made 
for a course of lectures on “ The Chemistry and Botany 
of the Pharmacopoeia,” by Dr. Souter, to be held in the 
rooms of the society every Tuesday afternoon, and he 
hoped that all the associates would avail themselves of 
this opportunity of acquiring the sound and practical 
knowledge which Dr. Souter was so well calculated to 
afford. He explained that the time for the classes had 
been altered from nine o’clock r.M. to the afternoon for 
several reasons, chiefly because it afforded an opportunity 
for young men in the neighbouring towns and villages to 
avail themselves of the lectures and other advantages of 
the association, many applications from such places 
having been made; and another reason was, that by 
holding lectures in the afternoon they had a better at¬ 
tendance of the pupils, and their minds were more 
capable of receiving instruction in the afternoon than 
when wearied with the exertions and toil of a day’s 
business. 
The President also congratulated the society on 
having obtained such very convenient and commodious 
rooms at a more moderate rental. They must now devote 
their energies to the enlargement of the museum, so as 
to give every possible facility to the associates for ac¬ 
quiring a practical knowledge of the articles used as 
medicine. 
The President then delivered the “inaugural address” 
of the session, referring at some length to the question 
of provincial education, and stating that he still adhered 
to his ^original opinion, that the establishment of large 
centres of education would not at all meet the wants of 
the country. That provincial societies could not afford, 
and ought not to be called upon, to defray entirely out of 
their own pockets all the preliminary expenses of forming 
museums, libraries, etc. That the question of aid from 
the Pharmaceutical Society ought to be considered as 
only of a temporary nature. That the elaborate schemes 
introduced by various gentlemen during the past year 
did not at all help the Council in their decision on the 
subject; that, in fact, their work was retarded in his (the 
President’s) opinion. The matter being only temporary, 
the more simple the arrangement the better. If pecuniary 
aid was needed at all, it was needed at once; and he 
thought the Council should give grants where local 
societies were doing good work; where the necessity was 
felt for education, arrangements would be made in other 
parts of the country either for establishing classes for 
themselves, or arranging with the nearest provincial 
association. If the necessity was not felt, there was 
nothing to be done; even if the masters did not care to 
face the difficulties of forming an association in populous 
places, the assistants could form one for themselves, and 
receive aid where necessary. He thought that pecuniary 
grants should be given according to the number of young 
men in the district, and ostensibly for aiding local 
societies in forming museums, libraries, and the means 
of carrying on the educational work. He (the Presi¬ 
dent) quite believed that in a few years if there existed a 
proper means of having good and well-illustrated lec¬ 
tures, a useful museum and a good library, the lec¬ 
tures could be made self-supporting, and in that case the 
local funds would be adequate for all ordinary expenses ; 
there would then cease to be any necessity for using the 
funds of the Pharmaceutical Society. 
The President then alluded to the method by which 
the utility of the Society could be spread over an area of 
thirty miles, at very little more expense to those living in 
towns a short distance from Nottingham. 
Other matters were alluded to, such as the Adulteration 
Act, the Juries Bill, Co-operative Stores, the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Conference, the Examinations, and Mr. Atherton- 
concluded by dwelling on the uses and advantages of as¬ 
sociations of a like nature, and making a strong appeal 
to the members to support the society not only by their 
subscriptions, but to do so by their presence, as an en¬ 
couragement both to the young men, and to the officers- 
of the society. 
After some discussion, a cordial vote of thanks was 
passed to the President for his comprehensive address. 
SUNDERLAND CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
On Wednesday evening, Nov. 13, Dr. Donkin, late 
Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at the University of 
Durham, delivered a lecture to the Sunderland Che¬ 
mists’ Association, in the long room of the Athenaeum, 
the subject being “ Arsenical Poisoning,” with reference 
to the “ Cotton Cases,” which have raised much interest 
on the subject in the country. Alderman Thompson, 
presided. The following is an abstract of the lecture :— 
The ancient Greek; and Roman physicians were 
familiarly acquainted with two compounds of arsenic and' 
their poisonous properties; these were the red and the 
yellow sulphurets of arsenic. To the red they gave the 
name of sandaracha or realgar, while the yellow was- 
named arsenicum or auripigmentum, now contracted into 
orpiment. Dioscorides, the father of the materia medica, 
who wrote towards the end of the first century, as well 
as his successors iEtius, Actuarius, Galen, and later still, 
the Arabian physicians, especially Avicenna, have given 
an account of the symptoms and treatment of arsenical 
poisoning; and they used the same remedies which are 
now considered most effectual against this poison, 
namely, emetics, demulcents, such as milk, and barley 
water in large draughts, linseed tea and laxatives. 
Pliny the naturalist also describes the sulphurets of 
arsenic, and applies the term arsenicum to the yellow 
variety. Both the red and the yellow sulphurets of 
arsenic owe their poisonous properties to the large 
quantity of free arsenious acid they contain, amounting 
sometimes to 30 per cent, of their weight. Owing to 
the brilliant colours of these compounds, they are much 
used at the present day in dyeing, paper) staining, and 
painting, and, what is still worse, in colouring toys and 
sweetmeats for children. When solid arsenic is found 
in the exhumed body which has been long buried, it is 
generally in the form of orpiment, or yellow sulphuret, 
produced by the chemical action on the arsenic originally 
administered of the sulphuretted hydrogen generated 
by the process of decomposition. Arsenious acid, com¬ 
monly called arsenic, was first produced in the eighth cen¬ 
tury by Geber, an Arabian chemist, to whom we are also 
indebted for the discovery of corrosive sublimate, nitrate 
of silver, and other valuable compounds. To arsenious 
acid he gave the name of “ sublimed arsenic,” and Avi¬ 
cenna, an Arabian physician, afterwards named it white 
arsenic, its common modern appellative ; he knew it to 
be a most virulent poison, and says of it 1 interficit 
homines' The native physicians of India administered 
it internally as a valuable remedy for diseases of the 
skin, and for intermittent fever, long before its introduc¬ 
tion into European medical practice as a therapeutic 
agent. Arsenic is thus a poison and a medicine of great 
antiquity, and as such has been long known in China, 
where the prohibition of the sale of arsenical compounds 
is somewhat similar to that now in force in this country. 
But the penalty for infringing the law is somewhat dif¬ 
ferent ; inasmuch as both the seller and buyer suffer de¬ 
capitation if the effect of the poison is fatal ; but if not 
fatal they are obliged to undergo the pleasant alterna¬ 
tive of being strangled! Metallic arsenic, like all other 
