December 3, 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
455 
Lability destroyed, so that no decomposition can take 
place. 
Amongst other materials which serve to arrest fer¬ 
mentation, there are several chemical agents of consider- 
•able energy, which are frequently employed for that 
purpose. Amongst the foremost, I ought to mention 
creasote, the active material of smoke; and I have no 
doubt that the antiseptic action which smoke is said to 
exert upon ourselves—because it is said that smoke is 
very wholesome, although I do not lean to that view 
myself—is due to the presence of this creasote or carbolic 
acid. Every one is aware that one process for preserving 
meat, which has long been in use, is to suspend it in a 
chimney in which the smoko of wood is present. The 
.smoke of wood, like that of coal, contains this substance, 
or one nearly allied to it, and amongst antiseptic agents 
it is one of the most energetic. A small .quantity of 
this carbolic acid thrown into that fermenting liquid 
would completely kill the organisms. In the same way, 
if I were to introduce a little sulphurous acid into any of 
these mixtures, I should immediately kill the organisms 
and arrest the fermentation. Sulphurous acid is now 
largely used for this purpose, being employed, in com¬ 
bination with lime and water, to saturate the casks in 
which beer is to be stored, so that the wood being im¬ 
pregnated with it, any germs which might find their 
way from the atmosphere, and set up a process of decom¬ 
position, are arrested and destroyed. Another very 
powerful antiseptic agent is prussic acid, one of the most 
powerful of poisons to all animal organisms, and it is 
particularly powerful in stopping the action of these fer¬ 
ments. Another substance, which I think is worthy of 
consideration, in the same point of view, is a mixture 
which is, to a great extent, of unknown composition. 
I refer to the poisonous matter which is given off in 
iobacco smoke. It must, I think, when present in the 
air, exert a very powerful antiseptic action upon these 
organisms. It has been shown, by the experiments of 
Professor Tyndall, that in the lower vessel of the lungs 
there are considerable deposits of the dust which floats 
about in the air; and we are, of course, exposed in that 
manner to the action of a number of the seeds of these 
ferments, and, for aught we know, of diseases, because 
many malignant diseases are attributed to processes of 
decomposition analogous to those which we have been 
considering: and they may be—and, as some persons 
think, are—carried by germs in the air, in the same way 
as those I have been mentioning. Now, any powerful 
substance which would kill these germs must, of course, 
exert a beneficial action, and when persons are exposed 
to the smoke of tobacco, there is no doubt that some 
of it enters the lung with the air which is vitiated, and 
that some of the smoke must be deposited in the lower 
passages of the lungs with these little mischievous germs, 
and must certainly somewhat astonish them. 
I have here several little apparatus, all alike in their 
general arrangement; each consists of two little tables, 
-connected together in such a way that air may be made 
lo pass through both of them in one direction, but not in 
the other. A tube goes from the top of one into the 
liquid in the second, and the tube from this second passes 
on into the air; and these bottles can, by means of an 
aspirator, be supplied with air which has been strained 
through cotton wool, and no other air can pass into 
them. The bottles contain the same mixture which I 
have been talking about so much, yeast-water and sugar, 
a liquid which decomposes in almost any way you like, 
for almost all these germs live in it more or less vigo¬ 
rously. After the liquid was put in, it was kept boiling 
for a considerable time, so that there is, I trust, in the 
bottles no living organism whatever; in fact, I have 
reason to believe that any organisms which may have 
been there have been destroyed by the high temperature 
to which they were exposed. I might draw hundreds of 
cubic feet of air through that apparatus, and it would 
remain entirely unchanged. Next Monday we will re¬ 
sume this again. We will also examine this particular 
apparatus, which is exactly the same, with this excep¬ 
tion, that after the whole had been filled in the manner 
I have stated, a little mould was introduced by a sepa¬ 
rate tube into the first bottle. The apparatus will be 
taken back to University College, where it will be put 
into the warm chamber, where the organisms will be 
developed; and I have no doubt the liquid in the first 
bottle will be in a state of active decomposition before 
the day is over. Then next week, we will draw purified 
air, which, by itself, has no action on the liquid, and see 
whether it will carry any germs into the second bottle. 
I have no doubt that, by Monday next, there will be 
enough mould upon it to enable us to perform the experi¬ 
ment ; and I shall then also have the pleasure of telling 
you of some applications which M. Pasteur has made of 
his theoretical results to practical purposes, such as the 
preservation of wines and such-like matters. 
MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Tuesday, Dr. B. W. Richardson’s Lectures on Experimental 
and Practical Medicine, at 5 p.m.— “ A Physiological View 
of Dialysis and of the Colloidal and Crystalloidal Construc¬ 
tion of Animal Bodies.” 
Wednesday, Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, at 
8.30 p.m. —“Pharmacy in the United States.” By Mr. R. 
IIowden. “ Notes on Australian Opium.” By Mr. J. S. 
Ward. See page 417. 
Thursday, London Chemists' Association, at 9.30 p.m.— 
“ Regulations for the Storing and Dispensing of Poisons.’’ 
By Mr. H. A. Taubman. 
farliitnmrtarir irair fato fwmbiiujs. 
Illegal Storage of Petroleum. 
Mr. Moses Beck, grocer, of Tunbridge Wells, was 
summoned by the Inspector of Petroleum for keeping 
on his premises, without a licence, petroleum which 
flashed when exposed to a temperature of 100°. The 
inspector stated that upon visiting the defendant’s pre¬ 
mises he found a quantity of petroleum in an iron tank 
two or three yards from the back of the house, a sample 
of which, when tested, flashed at 94° F. In accordance 
with the Act of Parliament he tested a second sample, 
which flashed at 92° F. Upon cross-examination he said 
that he put the thermometer at the bottom of the vessel. 
Mr. Langham, for the defence, urged that the instru¬ 
ment produced, which was used by the inspector for test¬ 
ing, was incomplete, and that the thermometer, instead 
of being immersed one inch and a half in the oil, as pre¬ 
scribed by the Act of Parliament, had been allowed to 
rest on the bottom of the vessel. Consequently, since the 
temperature of the metal would be ten degrees higher 
than that of the oil, the test had not been carried out in 
accordance with the Act of Parliament. He also con¬ 
tended that the flame used, a lamp filled with spirits of 
wine, was not that meant by the Act, which said a “ very 
small flame.” 
Mr. Redwood, Secretary and Consulting Chemist to 
the Petroleum Association, said that the certificate pro¬ 
duced, stating that the oil would not flash when exposed 
to a temperature of 104°, was signed by him. He tested 
the usual percentage of the oil. He used How’s appa¬ 
ratus. He had frequently made tests with Dr. Letheby, 
who used an apparatus exactly similar. The witness 
pointed out several details in which he considered the 
apparatus used by the inspector was incomplete. 
The magistrates decided that the inspector had com¬ 
plied with all the requirements of the Act of Parliament, 
and that the defendant must pay a fine of 10s. and costs. 
A case for the Court of Queen’s Bench was applied tor 
and granted.— Grocer. 
[%* Petroleum cases generally furnish amusing illustrations 
of the perplexity into which not only judges or magistrates, 
but also witnesses and lawyers may fall, when dealing with 
