27 G 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 1, 1870. 
Mr. Greenish objected to the special character of the 
latter part of the resolution, and considered that there 
was no necessity for alteration of name so long as granu¬ 
lar effervescent citrate of magnesia was only a commer¬ 
cial article, and one never prescribed; if difficulties were 
thrown in the way of its retail sale by chemists, grocers 
would necessarily take it off their hands. 
Professor Atteield thought this a very difficult ques¬ 
tion to deal with by any formal resolution. Should we 
not have “soda-water,” “seidlitz-powders” and such 
articles, next brought under similar condemnation ? 
Mr. Umney considered that the pharmacists were in 
the hands of the physician for such granular preparations 
as effervescent “nitrate of potash,” and in those of the 
public for the popular “ citrate of magnesia.” 
Mr. Savage (Brighton) said whilst the discussion was 
-one of some importance, it seemed to him undesirable 
to make any alteration of a name so well known to the 
public, and the best course to adopt would be to avoid 
committing this Conference to any resolution not likely 
to be generally adopted. 
Mr. Reynolds (Leeds) thought that the second part 
of Mr. Dymond’s motion deserved support fully as much 
as the first, since prescribers were liable to overlook the 
large quantity of alkaline citrate and tartrate united 
with the remedy they prescribed, but not indicated by 
the name employed. 
Mr. Abraham (Liverpool) suggested that the term 
“ citro-tartrate of soda,” commonly called citrate of mag¬ 
nesia,” should be used. He objected to the term “ granu¬ 
lar effervescent aperient,” inasmuch as no pharmaceutical 
description was comprised in such a name. 
Mr. R. M. Atkinson (Leeds) thought it was no secret 
.that the article was entirely wanting in both citric acid 
and magnesia, as citrate of magnesia could not be made 
at the price at which this was offered in the market; he 
therefore considered it an imperative duty of the Con¬ 
ference, if it wished to hold an honourable position and 
retain the confidence of the public, that not only in the 
present instance, but for the future, it should condemn 
*11 such impositions when brought before it. 
Mr. J. H. Richardson (Cork) said he entirely ap¬ 
proved of the resolution. 
Mr. Mackay (Edinburgh) felt a difficulty about the 
second part. 
Mr. Ince (London) took the same view, and the 
mover having consented to an alteration, the motion 
was carried as follows:— 
“ That this Conference is of opinion that the term 
* citrate of magnesia,’ as applied to the ordinary 
granulated preparation of commerce, is a misno¬ 
mer,'and ought to be discouraged as inconsistent 
with the true interests of pharmacy.” 
SOCIETY OF ARTS.* 
On Fermentation. 
BY PROFESSOR A. W. WILLIAMSON, F.R.S. 
Lecture III. 
In referring, at our last meeting, to the place in 
nature which ought to be assigned to these little orga¬ 
nisms of which we have been speaking,—the ferments,— 
I stated one ground which appeared to me conclusive, or 
very nearly so, in favour of placing them in the animal 
and not in the vegetable kingdom. That ground was a 
chemical one, viz. that these organs assimilate, or, to use 
a homely phrase, they feed upon very complex sub¬ 
stances, and they give off, during their vital functions, 
less complex substances. That circumstance appears 
chemically conclusive in favour of their being rather 
animals than plants, for plants build up complex sub¬ 
stances, and animals assimilate the products which plants 
have formed, and break them up into simpler ones. 
* Cantor Lectures. 
There are, however, two other considerations which I 
think are of such importance that it would be undesir¬ 
able to pass them over, which tend in the same direc¬ 
tion, and are striking confirmations of the conclusion to 
which we then came. The one is, that whereas plants 
require for their growth the light of the sun—in fact, 
their very growth is a process of absorption of heat by 
their leaves from the rays of the sun—and plants by 
doing so render heat latent, as we sometimes express it, 
that is, they cause an apparent disappearance of heat, 
and lower the temperature of the surrounding space; 
animals, on the contrary, give off heat during the exer¬ 
cise of their vital fimetions, and do not need to be exposed 
to heat or to continuous light for their growth. Now, in 
both these respects, as in the other respects, these little 
cells, the ferments, appear to be distinctly animals. I 
do not know of one case of a ferment requiring or using 
for its vital processes the light of the sun ; they usually 
grow, and they seem to thrive quite well in the dark. 
Again, there are well-known cases in which, during 
their vital functions, they evolve or give off heat, so 
that I think these are very overwhelming reasons for 
not considering them as vegetables in their functions, 
but rather as animals or animal atoms. I have on the 
table here three or four liquids, which are in states of 
fermentation, of which I have already had occasion to 
speak several times. This first carboy contains an ex¬ 
tract of malt, to which common cane sugar has been 
added, and some brisk, thriving yeast was then intro¬ 
duced. Effervescence is now rapidly going on, as you 
may hear by the gas—carbonic acid—which is escaping 
through the bent tube into the vessel containing lime- 
water. This liquid contains little soft, nearly round 
particles, which I "was just speaking of as animals, 
though they certainly do not look like animals. The 
second flask contains another substance, of which I also 
spoke the other evening. There is here what I might 
call gastric juice—it is a mixture made for the purpose 
of getting lactic acid from sugar. Some pepsine was 
made to digest a certain quantity of white of egg, and 
that mixture, whilst still acid, I mixed with some com¬ 
mon cane sugar, and put into it some alcoholic ferment, 
or common yeast. A good deal of the yeast was di¬ 
gested, it disapp eared and was dissolved. I thereupon 
put in more and more, until there was an excess of it 
left in the flask. It was then kept for upwards of a 
week in a box which I have been using for the purpose 
of these fermentations—a metallic box, which is kept, 
by means of a regulated gas-burner, at a temperature of 
about 30° Centigrade, or a little above blood heat. Dur¬ 
ing that time the substance has been gradually under¬ 
going a change or fermentation. It became strongly 
acid, and I then added a base, at one time potash, and 
afterwards powdered marble or carbonate of lime, which 
was dissolved by the acid, and thus a quantity of lactic 
acid was formed. Here also there are little cells, which, 
under the microscope, can be seen to be different from 
those in the first mixture. They are smaller in their 
dimensions, but yet they present no very marked indi¬ 
vidual characteristics by which they can be identified. 
Indeed the chief, or, I may almost say, the only thing 
by which we can certainly identify any one of these 
organisms is by setting it to work, and by seeing what 
work it performs. In the third carboy I have a mixture 
which had gone through the phase I have just been 
speaking of; it contained some sugar with lactic fer¬ 
ment, but when all the sugar had disappeared, and was 
transformed into lactic acid, I left the carboy in the same 
warm chamber, and another fermentation has set in, and 
there is already a considerable quantity of the substance 
called butyric acid present, and the greater part, if not 
the whole, of the lactic acid has already passed over inly 
this butyric acid. Here, in this glass dish, there is 
another ferment still, although, unfortunately, it has got 
disturbed in coming here. It contained a decoction of 
yeast, with which was put about 2 per cent, of pure 
