October 15, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
317 
lectures on botany, chemistry, materia meclica and phar¬ 
macy, and to use the Museum of Materia Medica in the 
Library of the College. 
At the end of each Session, a silver medal and certifi¬ 
cates of honour, if merited, will be awarded, after exami¬ 
nation, to the best students in each of the following 
classes, viz. pharmacy, (practical) chemistry, botany, 
materia medica. 
MEETING FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Thursday, London Chemists’ Association, at 9.30 p.m. “ The 
Double and Triple Salts in General Use.” Ry Mr. M. 
Dell. 
fadiaratag anlr fate fmteMitgs. 
Thames Police Court, October 1 Ith. 
BEFORE MR. PAGET. 
Susan Denman was charged with swallowing a quan¬ 
tity of laudanum with intent to commit suicide. On 
Monday evening the prisoner entered the station-house 
in Arbour Street East, and said she had purchased three- 
pennyworth of laudanum and swallowed it. She ap¬ 
peared in a very bad state, and was immediately con¬ 
veyed in a cab to the London Hospital, where the sto¬ 
mach-pump was used and the poison dislodged. She 
had taken enough laudanum to kill half-a-dozen persons. 
Mr. Paget asked where she had obtained so much lauda¬ 
num. The prisoner replied at the shop of a chemist and 
druggist in Stepney, and she could get as much more if 
she required it. Mr. Paget said this must be looked to 
by the police. The prisoner, who said she was tired of 
her wretched existence, and had bought the poison with 
the intention of destroying her life, was remanded for a 
week.— Times. 
Birmingham Police Court, October 5th. 
A wholesale chemist, Mr. Frederick Green, carrying on 
business in Weaman Street, Birmingham, was summoned 
under the Petroleum Act, for keeping petroleum stored 
on his premises within fifty yards of a dwelling- 
house, without having a licence. An inspector visited 
the shop and found several casks of the oil, some four- 
gallon canisters packed in boxes to be sent away, and 
about 50 or 60 gallons in a cistern; altogether about 
400 gallons. For the defence it was stated that Mr. 
Green had applied for a licence to the Town Council, 
but it had not yet been granted. He thought he could 
sell in the meantime. A penalty of £15 was imposed, 
with costs .—Liverpool Daily Courier. 
Augustus Matthiessen, F.R.S., was born in London, 
2nd January, 1831, and (lied 6th October, 1870, under 
very painful circumstances. He occupied the Chemical 
Chair at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and at the time of 
his death was one of the most distinguished and most 
promising chemists in the country. 
His earliest chemical work, now of about fourteen years’ 
standing, was devoted to an investigation of the method 
of preparing the metals of the alkalies and alkaline earths 
by electrolysis; this was carried out in the laboratory of 
Bunsen in Heidelberg. He was the first to isolate the 
metals calcium and strontium, which he found to be yel¬ 
low, as well as very malleable and ductile. 
A most laborious and protracted investigation into the 
conductivity of metals and alloys was also begun in the 
laboratory of Kirchhoff about the same date. This was 
continued in his own laboratory in London during seve¬ 
ral years ; the results being recorded in nine papers pub¬ 
lished in the Transactions of the Royal Soeiety. 
Some years ago, in conjunction with Mr. Foster, he 
executed a brilliant piece of work on the constitution of 
narcotine, from which iodide of methyl was procured by 
means of the action of hydriodic acid. The real struc¬ 
ture of narcotine seems to have been disclosed by this 
investigation. 
His recent labours on the alkaloids of opium, on mor¬ 
phia and codeia, are also calculated to throw light on the 
constitution of the natural alkaloids. They have, more¬ 
over, furnished a new therapeutical agent, viz. “ apomor- 
phia,” which promises to be of some degree of impor¬ 
tance in medicine. In his last researches he was joined 
by Mr. Wright. 
Dr. Matthiessen was elected a Fellow of the Royal 
Society some years ago. Last year he received a Royal 
Medal for his researches on metals and alloys. He was 
likewise one of the editors of the Thilosophical Magazine , 
and was last year appointed to an exa min er ship in the 
University of London. 
Conservancy of the Thames.—An important step 
has now been taken towards the ultimate purification of 
the Thames. The Twickenham Local Board have been 
informed by the Thames Conservators that efiluent sew¬ 
age water discharged into the Thames must not contain 
more than 3 gr. of suspended and 70 gr. of soluble 
matter, nor more than 2|- gr. of organic matter (2 gr. of 
carbon and f gr. of nitrogen). This standard is to be 
universally adopted in the case of all towns and villages 
draining into the Thames.— Lancet. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘British 
Medical Journal,’Oct. 8; the ‘Medical Times and Gazette,’ 
Oct. 8; the ‘Lancet,’ Oct. 8; ‘Nature,’ Oct. 6; the ‘Chemi¬ 
cal News,’ Oct. 7; ‘Journal of the Society of Arts,’ Oct. 6; 
‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ Oct. 8; the ‘ Grocer,’ Oct. 8 j the 
‘ English Mechanic,’ Oct. 8; the ‘ Produce Markets Re¬ 
view 7 ,’ Oct. 8; the ‘ Archiv for Pharmaci og technisk Cliemi 
med deres Grundvidenskaber,’ for January to June, from Mr* 
S. M. Trier of Copenhagen. 
flotes itnfr f mm. 
*** In accordance with a wish expressed bg numerous 
correspondents , a column will in future be devoted to notes 
and queries , with the object of facilitating the exchange of 
information among members of the trade and students. 
I should be glad to have, through the columns of the 
Journal, an experienced dispenser’s opinion as to how he 
would prepare and send out the following prescription - 
R. Acid. Gallici 5hj 
Sp. Yini Rect. 
Aquas Rosa?, aa 5 V 
Misce, fiat solutio. 
To be used as directed. W. M. 
Will any subscriber inform me how I may mount micro¬ 
scopical objects, especially sections of leaves, wood, etc. ? 
R. J. M. 
Are chemists and druggists having more than one shop for 
the sale of patents compelled to take out separate licences for 
each ? T. Marshall. 
“ Cymri ” desires to learn by what means he can dissolve 
ordinary isinglass without acid, so as to fit it for brewers’ 
finings, in the manner of Coleman’s Tasteless Beer Finings. 
“ Botanist ” desires to be informed where he can procure the 
proper paper for mounting “dried specimens;” also labels 
with the words, Tribe, Habitat, Date, etc., printed on them 
with places to be filled in. 
