February 2o, 1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G93 
of Quinia by Iodide of Potassium from an Acid Solu¬ 
tion.” Also a paper entitled “ Decomposition of Acetate 
of Morphia in Solution.”* 
Professor Bridges made some remarks on the vinegar 
plant. 
Professor Parrish read a paper (illustrated with dia¬ 
grams) upon “Petroleum, its Mode of Kectification and 
Refinement, together with its Commercial History,” 
speaking of the immense use during the last few years, 
almost superseding other illuminating oils of commerce, 
and exposing some of the immense frauds practised 
during the coal-oil rage. 
Several specimens of petroleum and its derivatives, in 
their different stages of refinement, were exhibited. 
MONTREAL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
At a late Meeting of the members of the above Asso¬ 
ciation a draft petition, to be presented to the Dean and 
Faculty of Medicine, relative to the percentage system, 
was submitted for adoption. The Association finds that 
the practice which obtains favour with certain members 
of the medical profession, of sending their prescriptions 
for mere pecuniary considerations to a particular drug¬ 
gist, is so serious a drawback to the trade and unfair to 
the public, that it should be represented to the Faculty. 
The junior members of the Association naturally argue 
that unless they happen to be so fortunate as to be able 
to fee some of the leading 1 physicians in order to obtain 
their influence, their chances of advancement are small. 
The report of the Committee on the matter was favour¬ 
ably received, and will be finally discussed at the next 
meeting. 
The above Association is now called “ The Pharma¬ 
ceutical Association of the Province of Quebec,” and has 
received a charter from the Government. The Associa¬ 
tion has a staff of professors, and classes on botany, 
chemistry and materia medica, etc. 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
At the Meeting of the Chemical Society on Fe¬ 
bruary 2nd, a discussion took place on Professor Frank - 
land’s paper on the “Development of Fungi in Potable 
Water.” 
The President, Professor Williamson, after having 
expressed the thanks of the Society to Professor Frank- 
land for his communication, asked whether he had taken 
into account the phosphoric acid present in the sugar. 
Professor Frankland said he thought the phosphoric 
acid would have been excluded by the crystallization of 
the sugar. 
Dr. Heisch was glad that his statements had been 
confirmed by Dr. Frankland’s experiments, but in two 
important points the results obtained were diametrically 
opposed to his own. The first was that water retained 
organic germs after filtration through animal charcoal. 
During the last three years he had investigated large 
quantities of water, and on no single occasion had he 
found fungoid growth in such water after it had been 
passed through a charcoal filter. The other point was 
that while Dr. Frankland had said that the cellular for¬ 
mations obtained from white of egg in sugar solution 
were very similar to the sewage fungi, he had found 
them easily distinguishable. The sewage fungus was 
very small, perfectly spherical, transparent and generally 
grouped in grape-like bunches. Its development and 
decay is very rapid. Six hours after the mixture of the 
sewage matter with the sugar solution the spherical 
cells will appear ; in six hours more they will grow into 
mycelia, and a short time afterwards the whole vegeta¬ 
tion disappears,—the whole growth being accompanied 
by the odour of butyric acid, which is wanted during 
* Pharm. J ourn 3rd Series, Yol I. p. 661. 
the development of fungi from the white] of egg. The 
latter, too, have a different appearance from the sewage 
fungi. 
Mr. Bell remarked that samples of sewage water 
kept for some time would purify themselves by a process 
of natural decay. Of seven samples that he had obtained 
from Dr. Frankland, four, which had been obtained in 
1869, did not become turbid when submitted to the sugar 
test; while three that had been obtained in October and 
November last became turbid. He had some doubt as- 
to the cause of the turbidity. Shortly after Dr. Heisch 
read his paper, a sample of water taken from a well in 
Drury Lane was brought for examination. Some sugar 
was added to a portion of the water and in about twelve 
hours the water became turbid. When examined micro¬ 
scopically it was found to be alive with the little creatures 
he had been in the habit of seeing in vegetable extracts. 
He at once inferred that these organisms, and not the 
fungoid development, caused the turbidity. As the 
result of various experiments with phosphates, he found 
that when calcic phosphate was present bacteria were 
largely developed. He had also passed water through 
animal charcoal, and in every instance ba« terian bodies 
were produced in the water on the addition of sugar. 
Pure water, into which ignited charcoal had been in¬ 
troduced, might be kept a considerable length of time 
without developing any organisms on the addition of 
sugar. 
Dr. Voelcker said, in confirmation of the statement 
that sewage easily undergoes alteration, that a jar of 
sewage having been left for some months loosely covered 
lost nearly all its ammonia, whilst its nitric acid had in¬ 
creased. He also said that iron sponge far surpasses 
charcoal for filtering purposes; water filtered through it 
would stand Dr. Heisch’s test perfectly. Spongy iron 
is obtained by calcining with charcoal the residues from 
burnt copper pyrites. 
Mr. Warington said that probably the spongy iron 
purified the water by removing the phosphates that 
would be retained by the hydrated ferric oxide with 
which the sponge is largely crusted. He also called 
attention to the fact that fresh animal charcoal gives up 
some of its phosphates to the percolating water, which 
was not the case with charcoal that had been in use some 
time. This he thought might help to explain the dif¬ 
ference in the results obtained by Dr. Frankland and 
Dr. Heisch. 
Dr. Dupre asked Dr. Frankland whether he had 
boiled the sugar solutions ? He himself had obtained 
no fungoid vegetation when this had been done. 
Dr. Frankland said usually they were not boiled, but 
that in one experiment the sugar had been burnt to 
caramel, the water previously heated with caustic soda 
and potassic permanganate, all the salts added to it being 
heated to a high temperature, and in that experiment 
more splendid fungi were obtained than in any other. 
The discrepancy between his observation as to the effi¬ 
ciency of charcoal, and those of Dr. Heisch, seemed to bo 
explained by Mr. Warington’s remark. As to the two 
kinds of cells, he did not consider them identical, but yet 
they were similar. He had not paid any attention to 
the odour of butyric acid during the development of the 
sewage fungi. In reply to Mr. Bell, he said the samples 
of effluent water had been examined a day or two after 
collection. With reference to Dr. Yoelcker’s remark, he 
said that the quick disappearance of the ammonia in 
sewage and sewage water had often been noticed by 
himself. 
MEETINGS FOE THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Monday . Medical Society , at 8 p.m. 
London Institution, at 4 p.m. —“ The First 
Principles of • Biology ” (Educational. 
Course). By Prof. Huxley. 
Tuesday . Loyal Institution, at 3 p.m. —“The Nutri¬ 
tion of Animals.” By Professor Foster. 
