April 19, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
839 
studied by us, the right name was hit upon. There are a 
few exceptions to the general excellence of the illustra¬ 
tions, however,—notably in the case of starches. In one 
case, calabar bean, the drawing is execrable in execution 
and hardly faithful to fact. The next drawing (103) errs 
the other way ; it is too artistic, but is otherwise very 
good, and would probably give a novice a better idea of 
the appearance of starch by polarized light than any other 
drawing with which we are acquainted. 
The author’s remarks on certain cell-products, as ra- 
phides, starch, inulin, fats, and the perplexing protein 
compounds are interesting, and so far as we can see quite 
to date, albeit some portion may be open to discussion. 
This, however, cannot be done here. 
Taking the book as a whole, there can be but one ver¬ 
dict, that it is incomparably superior to anything we have 
in England, and that the pharmaceutical student who 
wishes to begin at the foundation, and make it safe, in 
raising the superstructure of his business education, would 
find it worth while to learn German, in order to read it. 
There is one point more in which the book differs from 
our usual textbooks,—one which will commend it to 
the attention of every histologist, whether his work lie 
chiefly in the animal or vegetable kingdom,—and that 
is the admirable list of reagents, and running commen¬ 
tary thereon, with which the author concludes his book. 
Many of them are old friends, some two or three are new 
to us, one at least is novel of application—namely, 
cupric tartrate, which Ritthausen proposes as a test for 
albumen in living cells. Of those that are new to us it is 
not fair to speak by way of criticism, nor fair to the 
author to extract his novelties and lessen the interest of 
his book to any great extent. We recommend them one 
and all to the careful study of the experimental botanist 
and histologist. 
<®bitacg. 
JOHN GARLE, F.S.A. 
“On the 7th instant, at his residence, Chiselhurst, 
John Garle, Esq., in his 59th year.” Such is the pith of 
a paragraph which, under the formality characteristic of 
the first column of the Times, presented a special interest 
to many of its readers who are connected with the Phar¬ 
maceutical Society. Mr. Garle joined the Society at its 
formation, his name occurring in the first list of members, 
published in 1841. Since that time he has laboured 
lovingly and faithfully in its interest, serving the Society 
as a member of the examining board from the time of the 
institution of that body down to the present year. It is 
no exaggeration to say that his kindly disposition and 
amiable qualities greatly endeared him to his friends and 
colleagues, by whom his loss will be most seriously felt. 
Notice has also been received of the death of the 
following :— 
On the 25th February, 1873, Mr. Thomas Hall, Phar¬ 
maceutical Chemist, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Mr. Hall had 
been a member of the Pharmaceutical Society since 1853. 
On the 19th March, 1873, Mr. William Fingland, 
Chemist and Druggist, of Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. 
On the 7th April, 1873, Mr. John Hopwood, Chemist 
and Druggist, of Burnley. 
gtotes anii (Queries. 
[335.] —BLACKFRIARS OINTMENT.—Will any 
correspondent favour me with a formula for “ Blackfriars 
Ointment E. JONES. 
[336.]—COUGH PILLS.— C. P. wishes for the for¬ 
mula for “ Sir Astley Cooper’s Cough Pills.” 
*** No notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer; not necessarily 
for 'publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. 
The Benevolent Fund. 
t Sir,—Mr. Clark is, no doubt, prepared to answer a ques¬ 
tion or reply to comments upon his letter, which is in. 
reality a bill of indictment against the present and past 
administration of our Benevolent Fund. I would therefore 
ask him how he reconciles the declaration of his “ having 
long since resolved to withhold his mite, etc.,” with the 
fact of his name appearing to an annual subscription of 5s. 
in the Calendars 1871 and 1872 ? Without some explana¬ 
tion this appears to be a chronometric error, and if so, it is 
a bad beginning from a correspondent claiming to put others 
right. 
The Pharmaceutical Society is arraigned as “ deaf to 
the voices around, and hoarding up money.” If by this is 
meant that the Pharmaceutical Council is deaf to those in 
need, the accusation strikes at the root of benevolence; 
and is so grave that, in the interests of true charity, Mr. 
Clark ought to merge from a mere assertion and proceed 
to proof forthwith. If he be able to produce such proof 
he will earn the thanks of contributors and recipients; 
whilst should he fail, justice to the Fund would demand 
of him a withdrawal as public as the calumny would be 
flagrant. 
It may be that his judgment on pharmacists of the pre¬ 
sent day would prove as little warranted as that he pro¬ 
nounces against those of former days. Few will deny he pays 
a sorry compliment to the founders and early supporters of 
the Fund. Their aim was to provide for a less fortunate 
brother a haven in which he could rest after an unpros- 
perous though hard-fought career. Their scheme was to 
invest £10,000, and to grant annuities—thus secured—as 
interest upon capital. It is now written of them, “ They 
doubted the generosity of the men of to-day.” 
Many of them are gone from us, but our annuitants live 
and will ever live, the embodiment of their wise, their 
generous sympathy, reverencing their memories when this 
sneer is forgotten, or let us hope, repented of. Against the 
present efforts of the Council to grant annuities and tem¬ 
porary aid from the Benevolent Fund, a counter-proposition 
is set up by Mr. Clark, and here it is,—“ The members in 
each town should unite their subscriptions, taken away 
from the Benevolent Fund, to relieve the destitute of their 
own neighbourhood.” 
It is only fair to the proposer of this scheme that we 
should test the working of it touching his own City of 
Leicester, thus :—Amount of Benevolent Fund subscribed 
in Leicester as stated in 1 Calendar,’ 1872, £1 11s.: 1873, 
£1 16s. 6d. The amount of subscriptions thus taken from 
the Benevolent Fund and available for the relief of the 
destitute in Leicester would amount to £3 7s. 6d. for 
twenty-four months. Calculating the exact form or 
amount of relief this sum would provide by the most 
sagacious management, it cannot bear comparison with 
the fact that the Benevolent Fund, under the old and 
abused system, has provided for the widow of a chemist 
whose application came from Leicester, through the 
Society’s local secretary, Mr. Cooper, and was recom¬ 
mended by another Leicester chemist, an annuity of £30 
since 1865—amounting at the present time to upwards of 
£ 220 . 
Those who advocate breaking up the integrity of our 
Fund and substituting for it a federalizing relief system, 
must furnish more convincing statistics. And let me add, 
before the Pharmaceutical Council is adjudged unworthy 
to represent, or incompetent to interpret, the sentiments 
of their fellow-subscribers, it must—and more especially 
the Benevolent Fund Committee must—be put upon its 
trial. Fortunately the Fund possesses in the person of our 
Secretary, an officer whose warm interest and indefatigable 
energy on behalf of our less fortunate brethren no one can 
gainsay. I have understood he has ready, and would 
gladly produce, full particulars of every case that has been 
presented to him, together with the decision of the Council 
thereon. This material, and the opportunity of reviewing 
