428 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[November 26, 1870, 
fkomfinjs at % f IpraamttoJ Jwutjr. 
ERRATUM. 
P. 411, col. 2, First or Preliminary Examination. 
for Stefford, Charles, 
read Hefford, Charles. 
EDINBURGH MEETING. 
The First Meeting of the Session took place in St. 
George’s Hall, 119a, George Street, on Tuesday evening, 
21 st November, at 8.30 p.m. ; Mr. Aitken, President, in 
the chair. There was a good attendance. The Secre¬ 
tary announced— 
1 . The following additions to the Library :—Pereira’s 
Materia Medica. Squire’s Companion to the B. P., 7 th 
edition, 1869. Balfour’s Manual of Botany (new edition). 
Animal Chemistry (Odling). Attfield’s Chemistry (1869). 
Bentley’s Manual of Botany, 2 nd edition. Roscoe’s Ele¬ 
mentary Chemistry. Selecta e Prmscriptis, 2 copies. 
2. The following presentations to the Library:—Edin¬ 
burgh Medical Pharmacopoeia of 1722, presented by 
J. Wilson, Perth. Milne’s Materia Medica, 1869, pre¬ 
sented by the publisher. Several Numbers of the ‘Phar¬ 
macist.’ Proceedings of American Pharmaceutical As¬ 
sociation. 
3. Presentations to the Museum :—Two very hand¬ 
some specimens of Sugar of Milk, from J. C. Pottage, 
Edinburgh. Various Articles used in the preparation 
and dispensing of Medicines, from Messrs. Poths and 
Haas, London. A Series of Sixtv-six dried Medicinal 
Plants, carefully laid down on papers from Mr. Ransom, 
of Hitchin. These were very much admired. 
The President then made the following remarks :— 
Gentlemen,—You will have seen from the billet call¬ 
ing this meeting that I am expected to give a few open¬ 
ing remarks. 
I am glad that on the present occasion I am neither to 
be burdened nor to burden you with a long speech, the 
more so, as I doubt not you are looking forward with 
some degree of impatience to the interesting paper we 
are to be favoured with from our esteemed and talented 
friend Dr. Stevenson Macadam. 
Our museum and library are at present in good ’work¬ 
ing order. The curator of the museum will be glad to 
arrange to meet young men who are desirous of becom¬ 
ing acquainted with the specimens there, for an hour-in 
the evenings, and for this purpose, the Secretary will 
receive the names of those who may wish to attend, in 
order that due arrangements may be made, and the time 
fixed. The admittance will be free to all connected with 
the Pharmaceutical Society. 
The catalogue of the library contains a fair number of 
works, on scientific subjects well worthy of your earnest 
attention. The Council, therefore, would be well pleased 
to see those more fully appreciated, and they invite all 
“ To read who have not read before, 
And those who always read to read the more.” 
A complaint very frequently made, by those particu¬ 
larly who would be well pleased to get over their ex¬ 
aminations with the smallest amount of labour or study, 
is that they have not been taught this or that branch in 
early life. It may be so, but we are inclined to think, 
and do consider such excuses as a sort of refug'c for inert 
minds, for generally we find the things a man knows 
best are those he teaches himself when his mind is ma- 
tuied. Much, no doubt, may be done to improve what- 
is termed a neglected education, but we would have you 
beai in mind, education to be efficient can never limit 
itself to the mere giving of information; that the do¬ 
’s elopment ot the mental powers, the guidance of the 
mental tendencies, and the formation of taste, are at 
least of equal importance. It behoves us then to depend 
as much on our own resources as on the tuition of others. 
At the same time we ought to lose no opportunity for 
improvement, in whatever shape it may be placed before 
us. You cannot, and therefore need not expect all to be 
prizemen ; you may not achieve the greatness or excel¬ 
lence attained by others, but do not imagine you arc in¬ 
ferior to them because of the condition in which you may 
be placed. 
“ Honour and shame from no condition rise; 
Act well your part, there all the honour lies.” 
_ As the most casual observer cannot fail to perceive the- 
gigantic strides education has made within the last few 
years among all classes, he will not fail to discover at 
the same time the increasing attention being paid to its 
extension. It is also one of the most encouraging 
features of our times that much of our former litera¬ 
ture, which could find its way to the libraries of the- 
wealthy only, has now been brought within the reach 
of almost every one. 
AVe would, therefore, have you to read and master 
what you read, cultivate habits of thinking, and by these 
means you may place your foot upon the ladder of eleva¬ 
tion, which but a few years since could only be sur¬ 
mounted by some genius. Let it bo your earnest desire 
to raise yourselves in the social scale as intellectual and 
moral beings, keep always in mind, that as 
“ The twig bends, the tree inclines.” 
Gentlemen, before closing these few and imperfect re¬ 
marks, allow me to thank you for the honour conferred 
in placing me for the third time in the Presidential chair. 
I beg to say the duties will be performed to the utmost 
of my ability, and, I trust, to your satisfaction. 
Dr. Stevenson Macadam read an interesting paper on 
“Fermentation.” He referred to the old theory as to 
the effect of a nitrogenous substance upon one that was 
not so, and then introduced the more recent experiments 
of Dr. Tyndall, M. Pasteur and Dr. Angus Smith. He 
also referred to the striking effect produced by a cer¬ 
tain amount of heat in destroying the spores or germs 
present in the atmosphere, and which were now believed 
by many to be the means, acting upon sugar and other 
materials,, of causing the peculiar change which yeast 
effects in inducing and carrying on fermentation. Dr. 
Macadam illustrated his subject by several diagrams 
and tables. 
At the close of the paper, a cordial vote of thanks to 
Dr. Macadam for his interesting and instructive commu¬ 
nication, proposed by Mr. Baildon and seconded by Mr. 
Young, was unanimously carried. 
The Secretary then intimated that he would be glad 
to receive the names of anj r young men who wished to 
meet with the Curator of the Museum, who had kindly 
agreed to devote an hour in the evenings to go over the 
various specimens contained in the Museum. These 
meetings would be free, and open to all connected with 
the Pharmaceutical Society. 
Drabiittial fransiiriiotts. 
LEEDS CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
The Annual Meeting of this Society was held in the 
Library of the Association, on Wednesday evening, Oc¬ 
tober 12th, 1870. 
The minutes of the previous meeting were adopted, 
when the following gentlemen were unanimously elected 
Members and Associates:— 
