39G 
THE PH ARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 12, 1870, 
ulcer in the plaintiff’s throat, and the general condition 
of the said plaintiff. The Assistant-Barrister, before 
whom the case was tried, said that it was evident that 
by some mistake the plaintiff got the wrong medicine, 
and, under the circumstances, he would give a decree for 
whatever amount ho had been out of pocket by the 
transaction, viz. £6, plaintiff's cost, and £10 Dr. Maw- 
limney. 
One of the medical periodicals, in commenting upon the 
foregoing, says that there was no evidence to show that 
the patient’s salivation was caused by mercury at all, and, 
that if it were so, there Was no evidence to show that the 
powder supplied by Dr. Barnes contained any mercurial; 
also that the amount which it could convey was obvi¬ 
ously insufficient to cause such a result in a healthy con¬ 
stitution. It then goes on to pass some strictures upon 
Dr. Barnes for allowing an unqualified person to dis¬ 
pense medicines,—it having appeared in evidence during 
the trial, that a young woman, a sister of Dr. Barnes, 
occasionally made up her brother’s medicines. 
DR. THOMAS ANDERSON, E.L.S., F.B.S.E. 
Dr. Anderson was educated at Edinburgh. "Wishing 
to follow up the study of natural history, he entered the 
service of the East India Company, and proceeded to 
India. He succeeded Dr. Thomson as Superintendent 
of the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, and has well sustained 
the reputation of an office rendered memorable by the 
great botanists who have held it. He was for some time 
Conservator of the Assam Forests, and, at his death, 
Superintendent of the Darjeeling cinchona plantations, 
where his labours had met with marked success. 
About two years ago, owing to a dangerous illness, he 
had tol eave his family in Calcutta at a few hours’ no¬ 
tice, arriving in England in a very low state. His 
health greatly improving, ho set to work upon his long- 
deferred ‘Flora of India,’ which promised ere long to see 
the light; his favourite subject of cinchona cultivation 
also received a large share of his attention, especially the 
■ chemical portion of it. In the midst of his valuable 
work he had a relapse, and left Kew for Scotland, where 
it was hoped rest and quiet would restore him, but he 
never rallied, and died on the 26th of October last at 
Edinburgh. Besides his valuable reports, he published 
many papers on systematic botany. His enumeration of 
the Acanthaccce , an Order previously a source of much 
tixmble to systematic botanists, has been highly praised 
and admired for its lucidity and philosophical treatment. 
The cinchona question in him has lost an able worker, 
especially from a botanical point of view, for much good 
must have accrued from the study of them in situ by 
such an accomplished botanist. 
lelmto. 
Concentric Calculators : A New and Rapid Method 
of Ascertaining Equivalents, without stating the Sum 
in Writing. By John Bellows. Gloucester. 1870. 
The very ingenious contrivance published by the 
author under the above title is one which, although diffi¬ 
cult to describe in a manner that is intelligible to the 
reader, requires but a few minutes’ study to enable any 
person with an arithmetical turn of mind to appreciate 
it as an instrument by which a great deal of time and 
trouble may be saved. At the same time it is so very 
simple in its arrangement that it might be correctly used 
by a child. It is adapted by the author to a series of 
tables, to suit all classes of persons who may require 
such information as is generally found in the most com¬ 
plete ready reckoners and interest tables. Series A, 
which is specially adapted for the use of chemists, medi¬ 
cal students, etc., contains four tables for the conversion 
of (1) grammes into grains; (2) kilos and grammes into 
pounds and ounces avoirdupois ; (3) divisions of the litre 
into fluid ounces, drachms and minims, and (4) hecto¬ 
litres and litres into gallons and pints. No. 1 mav be 
described briefly thus. It consists of four concentric 
circles revolving on a pivot, each circle containing the 
numbers 1 to 9 in large figures, arranged at equal dis¬ 
tance aroimd the inside of it. In the outside circle these 
figures represent decagrammes, or tens of grammes, and 
against each figure is placed its equivalent in grains, 
printed in smaller type. In the next circle inwards the 
large figures represent grammes, with their equivalents; 
in the next decigrammes, and in the inside circle centi¬ 
grammes. By turning these circles on their pivot, until 
the large figures representing the number of grammes 
of which the equivalent in grains is required are in a 
line when read towards the centre, the sum of the smaller 
figures by their side will give the required answer. 
Thus, for example, were the equivalent in grains of 
| 65-83 grammes required, by bringing the necessary largo 
figures in a line as described above, the following sum 
J will be presented:— 
05 
925-941 
01 
77-162 
00 
12-346 
05 
•463 
1015-912 grains = 65-83 grammes. 
The Calculators are very portable and extremely well 
got up. The arrangement of the type is very good, and 
the general appearance is all that could be desired. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Jahresbericbtt uber die Fortsciiritte der Chemie 
UND VERWANDTER TlIEILE ANDERER WlSSENSCIIAFTEN 
fur 1868. Giessen. 1870. 
Address on Certain Aspects of Medical Reform. By 
D. Campbell Black, M.D. Read before the Medico- 
Cliirurgical Society of Glasgow. Glasgow, 1870. 
Aesculap Tidskrift for Pharmaci ocn Narbeslag- 
tade Fack. 
Reen og Sund Luft. Efter et Foredrag af Otto Ulo. 
Copenhagen, 1870. 
The Liverpool Medical and Surgical Reports. 
Edited by P. M. Braidwood, M.D., and Reginald 
Harrison, F.R.C.S. London: John Churchill and Sons, 
New Burlington Street; Liverpool: Adam Holden, 48, 
Church Street. 1870. 
Medico-Chirurgical Transactions. Published by the 
Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. Yol. liii. 
London: Longmans. 1870. 
Carbonic Acid.—In a paper read in Section D of 
the British Association, entitled “New Physiological 
Researches on the Direct Action of Carbonic Acid,” Dr. 
B. W. Richardson showed that the result of subjecting a 
vegetable alkaline infusion to the action of carbonic acid 
under pressure was a thick fluid substance, resembling 
the fluid which exudes from some trees. When gently 
dried it became a semi-solid substance, which yielded 
elastic fibres, and somewhat resembled caoutchouc. 
When the serum of blood was treated with carbonic 
acid under pressure and gentle warmth, 96° F., the col¬ 
loidal part was separated; but when the blood, with the 
fibrine removed from it, was treated, there was no direct 
separation, the blood corpuscles seeming, for a time, to 
engage the gas by condensation of it. But blood con¬ 
taining- fibrine, and held fluid by tribasic phosphate of 
soda, was at once coagulated by the acid. The bronchial 
secretion is thickened by carbonic acid, and a tenacious 
fluid is obtained, resembling the secretion which occurs 
in asthma and bronchitis, while secretions on serous, 
surfaces are thickened and rendered adhesive. 
