470 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 10 , 1870. 
EXAMINATION IN EDINBURGH. 
November 22 /id, 1870. 
Eleven candidates were examined—two for the Minor 
Examination, two for the Modified, and seven for the 
First, or Preliminary; the following passed and were 
registered:— 
MINOR (as a Chemist and Druggist). 
Lee, Thomas.Salford. 
MODIFIED ( as Chemists and Druggists). 
Parker, William George.Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
Pool, George.Manchester. 
FIRST, or PRELIMINARY (as Apprentices or 
Students). 
Bremncr, Allan Hugh.Edinburgh. 
Brown, George. t ... .Edinburgh. 
Cowper, David Burgess.Edinburgh. 
Fenton, Thomas .Edinburgh. 
McNiven, Thomas .Edinburgh. 
McParlan, James.Glasgow. 
Young, John.Edinburgh. 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Wednesday, December 7tJi. 
MB. HASELDEN, VICE-PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
The Secretary having read the minutes of the pre¬ 
vious meeting, announced the following donations to the 
Library and Museum :— 
Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 53 : from the 
Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society,—Manual of 
Botany: from Professor Bentley,—Herbarium Pharma- 
eeuticum ; a collection of the Dried Plants of the British 
Pharmacopoeia, with Index: from Louis Siebold, Esq., 
Lecturer on Pharmacy at Owens College, Manchester. 
Professor Attfield drew attention to a slight modifi¬ 
cation in Mr. Benger’s apparatus, which has already been 
noticed in the Pharmaceuttcal Journal,* for securing 
equability of temperature in analytical and other opera¬ 
tions, in which gas is used as the heating agent, and in 
which inconvenience has often been felt by variations in 
the supply of gas. Mr. Benger’s apparatus, it would 
be remembered, consisted of a tube in the shape of the 
letter U, introduced between the gas-burner and the 
source of supply. Into one limb of the U tube was in¬ 
serted the gas-pipe, at the bottom of which was a narrow 
slit through which the gas passed, and thence by a second 
pipe out of the same limb of the U tube, on its way to 
the burner. The bottom of the slit and the bend of the 
U tube was closed by mercury. The other end of the U 
tube is connected with any chamber that is being heated; 
a rise of temperature expands the air in the chamber, 
which immediately presses on the mercury in one side of 
the U tube, raises it at the other end, partially closes the 
slit, and thus diminishes the supply of gas to the burner. 
Conversely, when the chamber begins to cool, the air 
contracts, the mercury rises in the free limb of the U 
tube, falls in the other, and allows a greater supply of 
gas to go through the slit. It was found, however, that 
vf hen this apparatus was connected with an oven such as 
was exhibited (about 1 foot square), having a jacket 
within, it was rather cumbrous and expensive; and 
Mr. Benger therefore proposed, as a modification, that an 
air-chamber of any size desired should be lowered into 
an unjacketed oven, or whatever apparatus was being 
* Phaem. Jouen. 3rd Series, No. 13, p. 253. 
heated. In the connecting-pipe was a small stopcock, 
which, being left open until the requisite temperature- 
was attained, would then be closed, and the apparatus at 
once became self-acting. Another modification was to 
use a glass flask, or even a test-tube, which might be con¬ 
nected in the same way with the U tube, and lowered 
into any solution which it might bo necessary to evapo¬ 
rate at a lower temperature than boiling-point, or any 
other fixed temperature. 
The Chairman said the apparatus appeared very use¬ 
ful, and the thanks of the members were certainly due to- 
Mr. Benger for bringing it forward. 
Mr. Abraham said the same principle might evidently 
be applied, with slight modifications, to a steam appa¬ 
ratus. 
Mr. Grove said the only objection he had seen to the 
apparatus when first proposed, that the air-jacket must 
be made very tight, seemed to be now removed, and the 
present modification would not only come much cheaper, 
but would bo more easily used. 
The Chairman drew attention to the collections of 
prescriptions which had been laid on the table by Mr. 
Ince, amongst the contents of which would, he believed, 
be found some prescriptions illustrating the paper which 
Mr. Howden was; about to read to them on American 
pharmacy. 
Mr. Ince said the collections which he and his friends 
were forming were intended to illustrate every subject* 
connected with pharmacy; and each of the fourteen 
volumes on the table contained about twenty American 
prescriptions, taken from the different States, and illus¬ 
trating the exact stylo of prescription which were in use 
in the United States. Some were written in ink, and 
others, as was quite as common, in pencil. These latter 
had been carefully preserved, to avoid the risk of their 
fading; so that he hoped they would, to some extent, 
illustrate the general subject of American pharmacy. 
Mr. Abraham asked if the volumes on the table con¬ 
tained any of Mr. AVatson Bradshaw’s prescriptions. 
The Chairman said he thought the specimens which 
had appeared in the Journal were quite sufficient. 
Mr. Ince said there were four specimens of Mr. Brad¬ 
shaw’s prescriptions on the table. 
The Chairman said a very nice collection of dried 
plants, labelled “Herbarium Pharmaccuticum,” had 
been placed on the table, but he did not know the history 
of it. 
Mr. Brown (of Manchester) said the collection in 
question had been forwarded to Professor Bentloy, whe he 
had hoped would have been present to explain it. In his 
absence, however, he might state that this collection had 
been prepared by Mr. Siebold, of Manchester, who had 
arranged about 150 of such collections, which ho intended 
to offer for sale, principally to Pharmaceutical Schools 
and Associations, at £4. 4.?. each. Such a collection had 
been much wanted, and since the passing of the Phar¬ 
macy Act, many inquiries had been made for such a 
thing, but so far as he was aware, nothing of the kind 
had hitherto been supplied. About two years ago, Mr. 
Siebold had arranged with some friends on the Continent 
to supply him with such plants as could not be obtained 
in England; and in the interval he and his friends, with 
no small amount of labour, had succeeded in obtaining 
about 150 of such sets as the specimen on the table, 
which consisted of about 100 plants. He did not wish 
in any way to advertise this matter, and much regretted 
that Professor Bentley was not present to give his opinion 
of the collection, but certainly as far as ho could judge* 
the plants were well selected and carefully prepared. 
The Chairman said the specimens seemed extremely 
well set up, and he would recommend the members pre¬ 
sent to examine the collection for themselves. 
