550 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[January 7, 1S71. 
moulded "by heat and pressure, and may be polished like 
ivory, wood or stone. It is unaffected by atmospheric 
influences, heat, water, or grease. 
The low combustibility of the xyloidine may be de¬ 
monstrated by firing a portion on a plate, when it will 
burn slowly, leaving a considerable amount of carbona¬ 
ceous residue. 
mortem examination of the body, and was of opinion that 
death had resulted from the diseased state of the liver 
and heart. He did not detect the smell of laudanum or 
any other poison. Had she taken the quantity stated to 
have been procured on the day of her death, he believed 
ho should have detected it. 
The jury returned a verdict of “Death from natural 
causes.”— JVoodbridgc Reporter. 
MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Monday . Medical Society, at 9 r.M. 
Tuesday . Royal Medical and Chirurgical, at 8.30 p.m. 
Photographic Society, at 8 p.m. 
"Wednesday Microscopical Society, at 8 p.m. 
Thubsday ...Royal Society, at 8.30 p.m. 
Linnean Society, at 8.30 p.m. 
Feiday . Qnelcett Club, at 8 p.m. 
Satueday ...Royal Botanic Society, at 3.45 p.m. 
BOOK RECEIVED. 
The Halp-Yeaely Absxeact op the Medical Sci¬ 
ences; being a Digest of British and Continental Medi¬ 
cines. Edited by William Domett Stone, M.D. Vol. 
LII. London : J. and A. Churchill. 1871. 
lladianuntimr aO SEato 
Adulteration op Lard. 
In a late trial at Liverpool in which the plaintiff 
sought to recover the price of some lard which the de¬ 
fendant had returned as unfit for food, evidence for the 
defence was given by an analytical chemist that some of 
the bladders ho had analysed contained a mixture of 
lard, mutton fat, rape oil and water, the latter in the 
proportion of 19 per cent. The Court ordered the plain¬ 
tiff to take back the lard without payment .—•Food 
Journal. 
The Sale op Laudanum. 
At an inquest held at Woodbridge on the body of a 
young woman, whose death was reported to have been 
caused by laudanum, evidence was given to the following 
effect:— 
Harriett Thompson, a child aged twelve yenrs. said 
that the previous morning the deceased had called her 
and asked her to go to Mr. Betts’s, the chemist. She 
gave her sixpence, a piece of paper and a small bottle. 
A young- man at the chemist's filled the bottle with 
something brown. There was a paper with printing on 
it stuck on the bottle. She could not read. She had 
often been to Mr. Betts’s for the same kind of stuff, 
sometimes every day. 
James Hartridgc, apprentice to Mr. Betts, said he 
remembered a little child coming to the shop with a 
phial labelled “ Laudanum.” She asked for sixpenny- 
worth, which quantity ho put into the phial. It was 
also labelled “Poison.” He took the laudanum out of 
the bottle from which they usually supplied people of 
that description. He had been with Mr. Betts only 
three months, and could not say the strength of the 
laudanum supplied. He had once or twice previously 
supplied the same child with laudanum. She had told 
him it was for Mr. Disbury. 
John Betts, pharmaceutical chemist, said that on the 
previous Saturday the deceased had been supplied by 
him witli fourpennyworth of laudanum. He had, oil 
several occasions supplied her with sixpennyworth at a 
time, on the plea that she wanted it to ease the pain 
from which her mother, who was bedridden, was suffer¬ 
ing. The laudanum supplied was half the strength of 
the London Pharmacopoeia. It was not necessary to 
register the sale of laudanum of that strength. 
Mr. Marshall, surgeon, said that he had made a post 
THOMAS WALLER GISSING. 
On. Decemeer 28, 1870, jet at. 41. 
Our last number informed our readers of the sudden 
removal by death of a pharmacist known and esteemed 
by many of them, one whose life and character were dis¬ 
tinguished by qualities which claim from his professional 
brethren a more detailed record. Such men as the late 
Mr. Gissing are, in a sense, the natural outcome of the 
calling of pharmacy, which, by introducing physical or 
natural history science to a congenial mind, often sup¬ 
plies the needed motive for action—action directed by 
the strong common sense belonging to trade in its best 
aspect, and when united to a capability of enthusiasm, 
soon associating kindred spirits with itself. It is from 
those social aggregations that wo reap the fruit of pro¬ 
gress, for man resembles the single palm-tree that bears 
no fruit when standing isolated from its fellows. 
Thomas Waller Gissing was born at Halesworth, in 
Suffolk, on August 2, 1829, and there ho received his 
education. Ho was apprenticed to a chemist and drug¬ 
gist at Ipswich, and afterwards held situations as an as¬ 
sistant in Leicester, Worcester and Salisbury. During 
a largo portion of this period, Mr. Gissing was engaged 
in the business of Messrs. Whitfield and Son, of Wor¬ 
cester, and the Pharmaceutical Journal furnishes evi¬ 
dence of his active interest in botany at this time, as he 
established at Worcester a flourishing branch of the 
Phytological Club, which had its head-quarters at 17, 
Bloomsbury Square. 
In the year 1856, Mr. Gissing succeeded to the busi¬ 
ness of Mr. M. B. Flick, at Wakefield, and how he spent 
the subsequent period is recorded by the 7Fa Icefield Free 
Press , as follows :—‘“ We know of no tradesman who in 
the short space of fourteen years has done as much for 
the public, or done it so well, or gained such a position 
in the esteem of the town, or who has so -well deserved 
the respect of all classes in the borough, as Mr. Gissing.” 
Amidst the claims of a business which demanded close 
personal attention, he found much time for his favourite 
pursuit of field-botany, and published two small works 
upon the local Flora, entitled ‘ The Ferns of Wakefield 
and Neighbourhood,’ and ‘Materials for a Flora of 
Wakefield.’ He was an early riser, and often did a day’s 
work before some men left their beds. 
In 1857 he was placed upon the Committee of the Me¬ 
chanics’ Institution, and was at once recognized as one 
of its most energetic and intelligent members, subse¬ 
quently taking the post of Honorary Librarian. lie 
was a Member of Council of the Chamber of Commerce, 
the Secretary of the Wakefield Book Society, and an 
earnest working member of the Microscopical Society. 
The Industrial and Fine Art Exhibition, held in Wake¬ 
field in 1865, enjoyed a remarkable success, which was 
due to the well-directed efforts of a small band of volun¬ 
tary workers accustomed to co-operate, and of these, 
none was more active than Mr. Gissing. The Lancas- 
tcrian School, the Clayton Hospital and School of Art 
were institutions in the management of which ho occu¬ 
pied a leading position. Mr. Gissing took a lively in¬ 
terest in politics on the Liberal side, and was a member 
of the Town Council; his last public act, on December 
