April 2G, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
853 
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION. 
The undermentioned Certificates were received in lieu 
of this Examination :— 
Certificate of the Law Society of the United Kingdom. 
Howard, Robert .Clitheroe. 
Certificate of the University of Cambridge. 
Naylor, William A. H.Manchester. 
Certificate of the University of Oxford. 
Villar, Arthur .Staplegrove. 
EXAMINATIONS IN EDINBURGH. 
April 1 5th and 1 6th, 1873. 
Present—Messrs. Ainslie, Aitken, Buchanan, Gilmour, 
Kinninmont, and Young. 
A deputation from the London Council, consisting of 
the President, Vice-President, and Mr. Williams, accom¬ 
panied by the Secretary and Registrar, was also present. 
Professor Maclagan attended on the 16th on behalf of 
the Privy Council. 
MAJOR EXAMINATION. 
Four candidates were examined. Three failed. The 
undermentioned passed, and was declared duly qualified 
to be registered as a “ Pharmaceutical Chemist— 
Hyne, Harry .Bristol. 
MINOR EXAMINATION. 
Twenty-one candidates were examined. Twelve failed. 
The following nine passed, and were declared to be duly 
qualified to be registered as “Chemists and Druggists — 
*McCallum, Hugh .Berwick. 
Huggins, Robert.Southampton. 
Hudson, Frank .Clitheroe. 
Graham, William Woodrow ...Dalbeattie. 
Stuart, Thomas Peter Anderson. Dumfries. 
Paterson, Stephen .Edinburgh. 
Whitelaw, James .Glasgow.. 
Lawson, John Robert.South Shields. 
Miller, Kenneth .Wick. 
The above names are arranged in order of merit. 
MODIFIED EXAMINATIONS 
Nine candidates were examined. One failed. The 
following eight passed, and were declared duly qualified 
to be registered as “ Chemists and Druggists 
Cokayne, James ..Newark. 
Colledge, William Robert... Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 
Darling, William .Manchester. 
Fenton, William.London. 
Gallagher, James .Edinburgh. 
Hello well, John .Huddersfield. 
Lawson, Robert .Glasgow. 
Paterson, William .Glen Lean. 
* Passed with Honours. 
SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
The Edible Starches of Commerce, their Production 
and Consumption.* 
BY P. L. SIMMONDS. 
{Concluded from p. 833.) 
Under the name of “ Beychundee ” a starchy product 
is prepared by the Gonds'and sold in the bazaars of Jub- 
bulpore. It is not an arrowroot, but bears some resem¬ 
blance to it when pounded. It is obtained from the stem 
of some wild jungle plant. 
In Akyab a kind of arrowroot, called by the natives 
Rembowah, is prepared from a root called Pemban-oo, 
obtainable in large quantities, and sold at four rupees the 
maund. It may probably be Penda-loo ( Batatas edulis), 
but is most likely to be Pen-bwa ( Maranta ). Starch is 
obtained in Travancore, from the round yam (called Ghana 
in Cochin), Arum Rumphii , or Amorphophallus campanu- 
latus. Imitation sago is made, in Mergui, from Tacca 
pinnatificla. 
In Ceylon there was found great difficulty, at first, in 
inducing the people of the villages to plant the cassava 
and arrowroot. While only 50 lbs. of tapioca were made 
by the natives in 1852, 66,000 lbs. were supplied at 1856 ; 
so with arrowroot, the production increased from 50 lbs., 
in 1852, to 6,900 lbs., in 1856 ; and now, instead of im¬ 
porting arrowroot, exports are made from Ceylon. 
In India a fecula is obtained from the young roots of 
the Palmyra palm ( Eorassus fldbelliformis , Linn.), which 
serves as food to the natives. This palm is very ex¬ 
tended over India, and is one of the most interesting 
trees for study, from the numerous products obtained 
from it. At Goa they prepare a farina and fecula from 
the v r ild palm. Sago is obtained from Caryota urens, 
in Mysore, and pearl sago, tapioca, and tapioca flour were 
sent to the Paris and other Exhibitions from Mysore, 
Singapore, and Penang. 
The trunk of the Japan fern-palm ( Cycas revoluta, 
Thunberg) is rich in sago-like starch. 
In a paper which I read before the Society in 1861, 
“ On the Trade and Commerce of the Eastern Archi¬ 
pelago,” I gave the following details on the manufacture 
and commerce of sago. 
« Singapore is at present the chief place of manufacture 
and the principal mart for granulated sago and ‘sago 
flour,’ as it is termed in commerce, but which is, in fact, 
the fecula, or ungranulated starch. The granulated fe¬ 
cula, or sago, of a dirty brown colour, used to be exported 
from the Archipelago in small quantities, but when the 
trade to Europe was thrown open, in 1814, the Chinese of 
Malacca began to prepare a superior starch, known in 
commerce under the name of pearl sago. 
“ There are four or five species of palms which yield 
sago; those most cultivated are, however, the Sagas 
Konigii and the Sagus Icevis. These palms arefoimd in 
every part of the Malayan Archipelago and Philippines as 
far as Mindanao, wherever there is a genial soil for them, 
and this consists of a marsh or bog, composed of decayed 
vegetables, near the sea. They are most abundant in the 
eastern parts of the Malay Archipelago, at the Moluccas 
and neighbouring islands, with New Guinea and Borneo, 
and in the Philippines at Mindanao. In all these sago 
is more or less the bread of the inhabitants. These palms 
propagate themselves by lateral shoots as well as by seed, 
and they die after producing fruit. 
“ The sago tree, when cut down and the top severed 
from it, is a cylinder about 20 inches in diameter, and 
from 15 to 20 feet in height. The contents would, there¬ 
fore, be nearly 26 bushels, and, allowing one-half for 
woody fibre, there will remain 13 bushels of starch. 
* Lecture delivered before the Society of Arts, March 26, 
1873, Mr. T. Greenish, F.C.S., M.R.C.S., in the chair. 
