696 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [February 25, 187K 
A police-officer stated that he found the deceased 
lying on the grass in a field near the Brampton Road, 
South Hackney. He then appeared very ill. There 
was a bottle labelled “Morphia, Poison,” close to his 
right hand. Upon witness lifting him up he said, “ My 
name is Frederick Meyer and I am a German. I have 
taken poison. I have been two years in England and I 
am nineteen years old. I am a chemist. I will not tell 
who my family are.” He was removed to the German 
Hospital, where he died two hours afterwards. 
Dr. Blaister said that the deceased had taken 244 
grains of morphia. One grain would be sufficient to cause 
death. 
The jury returned a verdict of “ Suicide while in a state 
of temporary insanity.” 
©Mhtiirir. 
JAMES SHERIDAN MUSPRATT. 
James Sheridan Muspratt, F.R.S.E., whose death we 
have previously recorded, was born in Dublin in 1821. 
He early evinced a taste for chemistry, and at thirteen 
years of age, having travelled through part of France 
and Germany, he entered the Andersonian University of 
Glasgow, where, for nine months, he studied in the labo¬ 
ratory of Professor Graham, whom he afterwards fol¬ 
lowed to London. Before he reached the age of seven¬ 
teen he was entrusted with the chemical department of a 
large manufactory in Manchester, and published a paper 
on chloride of lime, which attracted considerable atten¬ 
tion. Proceeding- to America, he entered into a trading 
partnership which was not successful. Afterwards he 
went to Giessen, where he remained two years under Lie¬ 
big. He then published a paper upon the sulphites, which 
appeared in Liebig and Wohler’s ‘Annalen,’ and shortly 
after he obtained the degree of Ph.D. In conjunction 
with Professor Hofmann, he prepared toluidine and 
nitraniline, two important organic bases. He also edited 
Plattner’s ‘ Treatise on the Blowpipe.’ In 1845 he left 
Giessen and visited various parts of Germany, in order to 
become personally acquainted with her distinguished men. 
In 1847 he returned to Giessen, and spent four months 
in its laboratory, discovering several remarkable bodies 
produced from the sulphocyanides of ethyle and methyle. 
A paper on this subject was printed in Liebig’s ‘ Annalen,’ 
as well as in the Chemical Society’s Transactions. In 
1848 he produced a paper on the Selenites ; in 1849 he 
published some very interesting remarks in Liebig’s 
‘Annalen,’ on the Blowpipe Reactions of Strontia and 
Baryta. In 1851 appeared his paper on “Carmufellic 
Acid,” a new acid from cloves, published in the proceed¬ 
ings of the Royal Society, and in the ‘Philosophical 
Magazine.’ But the most important act of his life was 
the foundation of a College of Chemistry in Liverpool, 
students from which are now occupying prominent posts 
or professorships in various parts of the globe. In 1854 
a Glasgow publisher engaged Dr. Muspratt to write a 
Dictionary of Chemistry, which has commanded a large 
sale in England, America, Germany and France. He 
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Societies of Edin¬ 
burgh and Dublin, and a member of the Societe d’En- 
couragement in France; and the oldest university in 
America conferred upon him the honorary degree of 
M.D. He has lately published some treatises on the 
chalybeate springs of Buxton and other English water¬ 
ing-places. 
On his return from Germany in 1848, Dr. Muspratt 
married Miss Susan Cushman, the celebrated actress, 
who died in 1859. He was the scientific director of the 
extensive chemical works at Flint, belonging to Messrs. 
Muspratt Brothers, of which firm he was a member. 
He died after a lingering illness, at the comparatively 
early age of fifty. 
gloks anfr Entries, 
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No notice can be taken of anonymous communications. 
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lishers. 
[146.]—FLAVOURED CASTOR-OIL. —In answer to 
W. Smith, the following, amongst other forms, is found to be 
the best by “ Delta ” :— 
Heat 5 lb. of finest Italian castor-oil for half an hour over 
a slow fire till thoroughly liquefied, then beat up the whites of 
ten eggs and add to the oil, and when well mixed stir in 20 oz_ 
of lump sugar dissolved in 12 oz. of water, and stir again; 
lastly, add 1 oz. of starch-powder dissolved in 20 oz. of boil¬ 
ing water. The mixture must then be kept stirred briskly 
with a “whisk” (such as is used in culinary) till quite cold. 
Lastly, add flavour to taste, and shake in large jar for an 
hour. Care must be taken that the above quantity at least 
is used at one time, or the operation will fail.— Delta. 
[155.]—GUM ACROIDES.—Under this name I remem¬ 
ber obtaining specimens from the late Mr. Keating, of 
St. Paul’s Churchyard, of one of the Xanthorrlioea resins of 
Australia, which there pass under the name of Black Boy, or 
Grass-tree resins. The particular species yielding the gum 
acroides is, I believe, X. hastilis. It is darker than gam¬ 
boge, less uniform in appearance, and not entirely soluble in 
alcohol. It contains benzoic and cinnamic acids. It has 
been used medicinally to unite the edges of wounds, and in 
the form of tincture with opium in dysentery and diarrhoea, 
and it forms the base of a cement, being much used by the 
aborigines of Australia to fix their spear-heads. It is also 
used, I believe, for varnish purposes. Mr. Druce will find 
further information respecting it in a paper of mine on the 
gums and resins of commerce read before the Society of Arts 
in November, 1855, and published in extenso in then-journal, 
vol. iv. p. 18. I can also let Mr. Druce have a specimen from 
my collection as shown in the New South Wales Department 
of the Paris Exhibition.—P. L. Simmonds. 
Gum acroides, or acaroides, is a resin obtained from dif¬ 
ferent species of the Liliaceous genus Xanthorrlioea, or Grass- 
trees. X. hastilis yields a large quantity. The trees are 
very common in New Zealand. The resin is also known as 
“ Black-boy gum,” “ Botany Bay kino,” “ Grass-tree gum,” 
etc.—J. C. 
[171.]—BOTANICAL SPECIMENS.—Good directions 
how to dry plants as botanical specimens will be found in 
Oliver’s ‘ Lessons in Elementary Botany,’ p. 287. They are, 
however, too long to be inserted in the Puakm. Joubn. —H. 
“ Herbarius” requires only three mahogany boards, demy 
size, half a ream of Bentall’s paper, and a 56 lb. weight or a 
press.—W ETHEBB Y. 
[172.]—CRYSTAL VARNISH.— “Pater” would be glad 
of a form for crystal varnish for coating negatives to preserve 
them while printing. 
[173.]—UNITED STATES.—Could any reader of the 
Phaehaceutical Joubnal give me any information as to 
whether they have to pass an examination before they can 
commence business in America or not ? If so, where in¬ 
formation can be obtained as regards any such examination. 
—Guillaume, A.P.S. 
[174.]—GRAIN MUSK.—“ Bercontator ” would be glad 
to receive some information on the method used by the whole¬ 
sale drug trade to “ grain ” musk. 
[175.]—ESSENCE OF MUSK.—“ Bercontator ” would 
feel greatly obliged for a practical formula for the preparation 
of a standard essence of musk from the pod musk, i. e. the 
pod and its contents, with a description of the process and 
solvents employed by manufacturing perfumers in preparing 
the same. 
