800 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 1, 1871. 
tensptimtte. 
*** No notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily 
for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. 
Our Monthly Evening Meetings. 
In the number of this Journal issued March 11th, I read 
with attention a leader bearing the above title. As a con¬ 
stant attendant and sometimes contributor, I have taken 
considerable interest in these meetings. Amongst other con¬ 
tributions of mine in the Journal, I find three upon this par¬ 
ticular subject, the first dated August 10th, 1857, when I 
endeavoured to stir up the members, etc. to more energy and 
better attendances. It appeared to me at that time that the 
chief reasons which deterred many from contributing, espe¬ 
cially the young, were diffidence, the dread of criticism,—it 
has been sometimes, I have felt, over-sharp,—and the difficulty 
of finding something new; but I believe I cleared away these 
seeming impediments. 
It is clear, nevertheless, from past experience, that if we 
are to have papers and good attendances some system must 
be established for securing them ; and it appears to me that 
the plan of an annually-selected committee for the express pur¬ 
pose, as recommended in the said leader, would be a good one. 
Old contributors require whipping up, young ones a little 
encouragement. Embryo authors are naturally timid, and, 
like exotic plants, want nursing and gentle forcing. 
Oar Society does not, 1 feel sure, stand alone in the matter 
of occasionally flat and uninteresting evenings, and, without 
descending to particulars, many circumstances during the 
two past sessions have in some measure tended to the present 
state of our monthly evening meetings. In the future may 
there be much improvement! 
There is a difficulty; how it is to be got over has to a great 
extent been suggested. 
I intrude again, in order that the matter may be kept pro¬ 
minently before the members, associates, etc. generally and the 
in-coming Council especially, so that the seed now sown may 
not be unproductive for lack of encouragement and culture. 
18, Conduit Street, A. F. IIaselden, Y.P. 
March 27 th, 1871. 
A Medley. 
Sir,—Si milii licet “desipere in loco” hoc, I will send you 
a medley this time, which may serve to relieve the dryness of 
the present “legal” discussion. 
Can any of your readers or yourself tell me why some 
tinct. cinnam. co., which has been made a long time, has de¬ 
posited all its colouring matter in the form of a loose brown 
powder at the bottom, and not upon the sides of the bottle at 
all P I did not make it, but, knowing who did, I have no 
reason to believe it otherwise than strictly P. L. 
I once removed my bergamotte bottle (containing a very 
fine sample, I thought) from the shade to a position where 
the sun during part of the day shone directly upon it. It 
assumed in a comparatively short time, as seen through a 
thick incrustation on the sides of the bottle, the appearance 
of weak muddy coffee, and its fragrance was decidedly im¬ 
paired. Having previously enjoyed a due north aspect with¬ 
out a ray of sunshine, I was not prepared for this, and cannot 
account for it. Thinking the sample might be in fault in 
some way, I placed a second lot of “ super.” at 18s. in the 
same situation, but soon found it changing, and removed it. 
But the following is my greatest puzzle:—Considerably 
more than two years ago, a painter employed in my house, 
but not needing tor his work with me any such colour, bor¬ 
rowed my gum-brush. It was lost for about a week, but 
turned up again, stained of a most intense crimson. If this 
man did not so stain it, I cannot conceive who or what did. 
It was rinsed out in boiling water, and restored to its former 
use. Since that time it has been constantly used for the one 
purpose, repeatedly and well rinsed in hot water as well as 
the pot, and the gum—tragacanth—renewed on an average 
once a fortnight perhaps; notwithstanding which, to this 
day it continues to impart a decidedly pink tinge to every 
successive lot of mucilage. At first, of course the colour gra¬ 
dually imparted was deep, but I thought I should wear it out 
and curiosity impelled me to continue to use it, as it now 
does to ask, what can the dye be? Any one can see the 
brush in use. 
Any one may also see the following order, distinctly ancf 
very fairly written, with two errors of spelling,—transpa¬ 
rently such,—only :— 
“The high dried up azh poweder,” 
as it is in my possession. My customer—for I supplied him 
with threepennyworth of the article wanted—was a poor 
Irishman, who had evidently got some better-educated friend 
to write down the name, probably from his own dictation. 
This may exercise the ingenuity of some of our younger 
friends, and the following will make them laugh:— 
A respectably-dressed child, of seven or ei^ht years old, 
came one day into my shop, and asked for “ A pennyworth 
of Uncle William’s pills.” I told her I had not the pleasure 
of knowing her uncle, and dismissed her; but before she got 
out of the door she returned, saying, “Mother said, Aunty 
Billy’s, but I thought it couldn’t be right.” 
Lastly. As my contribution to the question of dispensing 
charges, I-give this, which happened some years ago. A lady, 
named Watkin, came to my shop, saying she had heard a 
good report of me, and intended to bestow her patronage, 
giving me at the same time a prescription for a single powder 
of three ingredients, hydr. c. creta and p. rhei, being two of 
them to make up. I dispensed it, copied and registered her 
prescription, and sent both, with envelope, etc., by her order,, 
to her residence, charging 3 d. The next day Miss W. called, 
and in perfectly grammatical and perhaps elegant (?) lan¬ 
guage abu ed me for imposing upon her, asserting that as 
“ I only sent a little paltry boy a few yards, I must have un¬ 
common assurance to charge her 3d. for one powder, when 
Messrs. — and — had sent their man with it more than half 
a mile for a charge of 2d.” I never saw her again. I desire- 
to add that I treated the story with contempt at the time, 
and never believed it. 
Within the last eighteen months a 4-ouncc bottle was 
brought to me to be filled with laudanum for a shilling, as 
the party—tenanting a £40 house at least—“used a great 
deal of it.” I simply refused without stating my price, and,, 
not hearing again from the party, must needs suppose they 
get it somewhere at or near that price. 
Breclcf eld Road North, Liverpool, Thomas Lowe. 
March 20 th, 1871. 
Suicides by Carbolic Acid. —It is suggested to a corre¬ 
spondent who has sent us a cutting from a newspaper on this 
subject that ‘suicide’ and ‘fatal accident’ are not synonymous 
terms. 
W. Lea will find recipes for Brilliantine on p. 437 in the 
present volume. 
W. JB. Orton and L. L. Roberts. —As the advertiser did 
not ask for a chemists’ assistant to perform the duties in 
question, we do not see that there is any ground for com¬ 
plaint. 
G. W. (Ilorncastle).—A pocket lens maybe obtained from 
any optician. 
“ Herbarius.” —Cooke’s ‘ Manual of Botanic Terms,’ pub¬ 
lished by Hardwicke, Piccadilly, would meet your require¬ 
ments and give you the other information you ask for. 
F. R. W. —No licence would be required to make orange 
wine if used for vin. quinae by the pharmacist who makes it. 
The orange wine, however, cannot be made and sold as such. 
W. B. B., a Junior. —Pil. saponis co. was certainly in¬ 
tended, and not a pill containing two grains of opium. 
A. W. V. has omitted to send his name and address. 
J. Brough. —See “Colours for Carboys,” ante, p. 516. We 
cannot give recipes for sauces; try Cooley, Beasley, or the 
‘ Dictionary of Daily Wants.’ 
J. S. Harvey.-— 01. laurocerasi is very rarely met with, 
and is very poisonous, containing 5 per cent, of hydrocyanic 
acid. It would be an expensive remedy. Try infus. quassias. 
B. K. Campbell. —We are not aware of the existence of 
“ scientific poisoners,” and therefore cannot give you any in¬ 
formation as to the poisonous gases they may be in the habit 
of using. 
J. Lewis (Swansea) .-^The loss amounts to about 23 per 
cent, by volume. 
Communications, Letters, e4c., have been received from 
Mr. G-. F. Naldrett, Mr. Gr. Oldham, Mr. J. Smith, Mr. 
Fairlie, Mr. F, Johnson, Mr. M. C. Cooke, S. R., B. H. H-, 
A. P. S., W. B. B., C. S„ S. T., “A Country Chemist,” 
“Delta,” “ Beta,” “A Nervous Student.” 
