May 31, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
9G3 
vate Pharmacy Bill.” The cost of the Bill, if passed 
through Parliament as a private measure, would be £300. 
The motion, with the amendment added, was earned. 
It was also resolved that the trusteeship of the funds 
be left in the hands of the officers of the Society for the 
current year. 
Mr. AVragge moved that a special meeting be called to 
consider the desirability of increasing the number of the 
members of the Council. 
Agreed to. 
The following members of the Council retired by 
effluxion of time :—Messrs. Bosisto, Ford, AVragge, and 
Irvine. They were now candidates for re-election, and 
Messrs. Guthrie and Plunkett were also candidates. A 
ballot was taken in connection with the four vacancies, 
and the retiring members were re-elected. 
Messrs. Kingsland and Long were re-elected auditors. 
A vote of thanks was passed to the President for his 
services during the past year. 
AMERICAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF 
SCIENCES. 
At the tenth annual session of the American National 
Academy of Sciences, recently held in AVashington, the 
President, Professor Henry, who is also executive head of 
the Smithsonian Institution, called attention to the fact 
that there is a rapidly increasing appreciation of abstract 
science in the United States, in proof of which he men¬ 
tioned that in supplying vacancies in the learned institu¬ 
tions of the country effort is made to obtain men who to 
skill in teaching join talents for original research. He 
also alluded to a liberal grant made last session by Con¬ 
gress ostensibly for practical results, but which will never¬ 
theless tend to advance knowledge. Besides these illus¬ 
trations, he recounted the following instances of indi¬ 
viduals who had sought to promote the progress of science 
by generous gifts. A gentleman of Massachusetts, Mr. 
John Anderson, has presented to Professor Agassiz an 
island off the coast of New England, valued at 100,000 
dollars, besides 50,000 dollars in money, for the establish¬ 
ment of a school of investigation in natural history. Mr. 
James Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, lately left a bequest to 
the Smithsonian Institution for the promotion of science. 
Dr. J. M. Toner, of AVashington, has devoted his fortune 
to the establishment of a series of lectures to encourage “the 
discovery of new truths ” for the “ advancement of medi¬ 
cine.” Professor Tyndall, before leaving America, placed in 
the hands of trustees the sum of 13,000 dollars to advance 
science in that country by assisting students in prosecuting 
their studies in Europe. A citizen of San Francisco has 
given land valued at 140,000 dollars to the Academy of 
Natural Sciences of that city. Part of the income derived 
from the bequest of the whole of his property by the late 
Alexander D. Bache to the cause of science has been de¬ 
voted to a series of observations to obtain data for the 
preparation of a magnetic map of the United States, and 
another portion to the delineation of sun spots, lunar pro¬ 
minences, and the lunar surface. The results of these 
expenditures are to be published in a series of memoirs. 
The members of the Academy removed by death during 
the past year were five :—Professor John Frazer, of the 
University of Pennsylvania, a successful teacher in the 
chairs of natural philosophy and chemistry, and many 
years editor of the Franklin Journal; Professor James 
Coffin, of Lafayette College, in Pennsylvania, who ac¬ 
quired an extended reputation by his labours in the line 
of meteorological computation, mathematics, astronomy, 
and physics ; Dr. John Torrey, a celebrated botanist, and 
for many years Professor of Chemistry and Botany in the 
New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Pro 
fessor of Natural History in the College of New Jersey ; 
Dr. AVilliam Stimpson, of Chicago, a naturalist of high 
standing; and Professor Hadley, of Yale College, philo 
logist .—Abstracted from the Athenaeum. 
fidwnmrfitti attlir fato fwrmlmtgs. 
HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
Thursday, May 22nd. 
The Adulteration Act. 
Lord E. Cecil asked the Attorney-General whether, 
having reference to a paragraph which appeared in the 
Pall Mall Gazette on the 17th May, inspectors of markets 
nuisances, or weights and measures, as the local authority 
may appoint, are not bound to prosecute under the terms 
of the Adulteration Act, 1872, upon receiving a certificate 
from the local analyst; and, whether under such circum¬ 
stances an analyst was not abusing the confidential nature, 
of his position in sending notice of the adulteration to the 
seller. The paragraph to which he referred was as fol¬ 
lows :— 
“ Dr. Corfield has just presented his first report as Food 
Analyst to the Vestry of St. George’s, Hanover Square. Of 
fifteen samples of ground coffee only four were genuine, 
while nine were adulterated with chicory, caramel, etc. 
He had analyzed twenty samples of milk, and found five 
only genuine. Two or three were deteriorated, some were 
adulterated with water, besides having been skimmed. 
He proposed to send notice of the adulteration to the 
seller. The report was ordered to be printed.” 
The Attorney-General said the Act seemed clearly to 
lay down that when an analyst had cases of adulteration 
brought before him it was his duty to lay them before the 
magistrate, who would issue a summons, and with whom 
the matter would then rest. As to the other part of the 
question, he was sure the noble lord would see that he 
could give no authoritative answer. Nothing in the Act 
of Parliament forbade an analyst from sending notice of 
the adulteration to the seller; he could only say that if 
he were the analyst, he should not do it. 
Snake Bites in India. 
In reply to a question by Sir J. Hay as to the number 
of persons killed annually in India by snake bites, and 
whether any more active steps were about to be taken for 
the destruction of poisonous reptiles as well as for ascer¬ 
taining methods of cure,— 
Mr. Grant Duff said that it would appear that 14,529 
persons had lost their lives by snake bites alone in the 
year 1869. Later returns had not distinguished deaths 
caused by snakes from deaths caused by other dangerous 
animals, but in 1871 the total deaths caused by dangerous 
animals amounted to 18,078. The subject of the destruc¬ 
tion of snakes and of the medical measures to be adopted 
in consequence of snake bites is occupying much attention 
in India, and he thought Dr. Fayrer’s remarkable book, 
of which 340 copies have been sent to India for distribu¬ 
tion, is likely to produce excellent results. 
Juries Bill. 
The Committee on the Juries Bill is fixed for Thursday 
next, June 5, and is placed first in the orders of the day. 
Trade Marks’ Registration Bill. 
The Second Reading of the Trade Marks’ Registration 
Bill is deferred until Monday, June 9. 
Shop Hours’ Regulation Bill. 
The Second Reading of the Shop Hours’ Regidation 
Bill is fixed for Tuesday, June 24. 
AVeights and Measures (Metric System) Bill. 
The Second Reading of the AVeights and Measures 
(Metric System) Bill is fixed for AVednesday, July 16. 
