928 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 20, 1871*. 
The Balsam Bog of the Falkland Islands is one of 
the most singular and interesting plants of the Umbel- 
Uforce. Azorellci Srtago, Hf., has a similar hahit, covering 
the ground in Kerguelen’s Land, near the sea, with 
"brown masses many feet in extent, and often so soft that 
the traveller plunges into or through them up to the 
middle. Like the Dolax glebana, the living part of the 
plant forms a crust over a vast amount of debris, the 
decayed or decaying remains of former years’ growth, 
through which the living roots descend into the ground! 
It is the most abundant plant in Kerguelen’s Land. In 
Fuegia it is much more scarce, occurring only in small 
tufts on the mountains.— Gardeners' Chronicle. ' 
The Ink Plant.— There is a plant in New Granada 
which if # °ur inkmakers could only grow in sufficient 
quantity in this country, would prove a fortune to them. 
The plant in question ( Coriaria mi/mifolia ) is commonly 
known as the ink-plant, and the juice ‘is used without any 
preparation. According to a tradition in the country, its 
properties were discovered during the Spanish adminis¬ 
tration. A number of documents which had been sent 
to the mother country got wetted by the salt water while 
the vessel was passing round the Cape; those written 
with common ink became nearly illegible, while those 
written with “ chanchi,” as the juice is called, remained 
unaltered. A decree was therefore issued that all Go¬ 
vernment communications should in future be written 
with the vegetable juice. The ink is of a reddish colour 
when freshly written, becoming perfectly black after a 
few hours, and does not corrode a steel pen so readily as 
ordinary ink.— Nature. 
Boxwood. At the present day, when the columns of 
our newspapers teem with advertisements of various pre¬ 
parations for promoting the growth or changing the 
colour of the hair, the following account of the results of 
the use of a preparation of boxwood for that purpose 
may be of interest. Boxwood, according to the old her¬ 
balists, was used from a remote period to render the hair 
auburn; and we are told by Phillips that a young woman 
in Lower Silesia, whose hair had fallen off after a severe 
attack of dysentery, was advised to wash her head with 
a decoction ot boxwood, in order to induce it to grow 
again. This she did; and “hair of a chestnut colour 
grew on her head, as she was told it would do; but, 
having used no precaution to secure her face and neck 
from the lotion, they became covered with red hair to 
such a degree that she seemed but little different irom 
an ape or a monkey !”— Nature. 
Cultivation of Tea in the United States.— The 
American Commissioner ot Agriculture reports that tea 
culture is fast becoming a feature of importance in the 
uostein and southern States, and that in a few years 
enough tea will be grown in those sections to meet the 
home consumption. The department has sent out to 
various parts of the country over 50,000 plants, nearly 
all of v hicli ha's e lived; and it is now distributing seed 
which came from plants raised in South Carolina.— 
Grocer. 
Another Use for Coal Oil.— Samuel Bryant, of 
clarion ton, -^fiss., has discovered that petroleum will 
make the hair grow. The way that he found out this 
new property of coal oil was simply this : he had a large 
boil on the bald place on his head, which gave him much 
pam, and, in the absence of anything else, ho rubbed 
coal ml on it. He. says it relieved the pain almost in¬ 
stantly so he continued to rub on the oil until the boil 
was entirely well, when, to his surprise, he found a thin 
coating of hair coming out over the bald place. He con¬ 
tinued the use of ^the oil for a month or two, and now 
has a heavy coat oi hair on his head.— Democrat, Da list on 
Bpa, N.Y. 
A Deposit of Alum of considerable magnitude has 
been discovered in the Kuhu valley in Madras by 
shepherds. As a rule, the headmen of villages prefer 
even now not to disclcse mineral discoveries.— Nature. 
CONVERSAZIONE OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL 
SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
On "Wednesday evening, in response to the invitation*, 
of the President and Council of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, .a larg'o company of ladies and gentlemen as¬ 
sembled in the South Kensington Museum. The meeting 
was a most successful one, and the presence of many 
ladies, who thronged the various courts or listened to 
the fine selection of music performed by the band of the 
Grenadier Guards, under the direction of Mr. Dam 
Godfrey, gave a picturesqueness and charm to the scene 
v hich must have added considerably to the pleasure of 
those who were privileged to witness it. In the Lecture- 
Room, the Orpheus Glee Union, under the leadership of 
Mr. W. Fielding, sang a selection of glees and madrigals, 
and here, again, every corner of the room was crowded. 
. B y the courtesy of the authorities at the South Ken¬ 
sington Museum tlie south court, with the gallery at 
the. end, was for the first time thrown open, the screen, 
’which formerly parted off one end of it having been re¬ 
moved. 
-the company numbered close upon three thousand, 
and among the visitors present were Lord Bathurst 
Lord de L.Isle and Dudley, Sir Whiter Stirling, Sir G. 
Duncan Gibb, Sir John Bowring, Sir Charles Locock, 
Sir W. Ferguson, Captain Stacpoole, M.P., Dr. J. A. 
Lush, M.P., and^ very many eminent medical and scien¬ 
tific men both of this and other countries. 
ANNUAL DINNER OF THE MANCHESTER 
CHEMISTS’ ASSISTANTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
The First Annual Dinner of this Association was held 
on Thursday evening, April 27th, 1871, at the Mitre 
Hotel; the President in the chair; the vice-chair bein" 
occupied by Mr. Alleock. 
After a few suitable remarks from the President, and 
the usual loyal toasts, the following were the toasts of 
the evening:— 
u The Success of the Manchester Chemists’ Assistants’ 
Association,” by the Vice-Chairman ; “ The Manchester ■ 
Chemists and Druggists’ Association,” by Mr. W. Lane ; 
“The Pharmaceutical Society,” by Mr. Yeats ; “The 
health of the retiring Officers and Committee,” by Mr. 
Dickinson. 
The special health of the Secretary (Mr. B. H. Cow- 
gill) was then proposed for the very great service he had 
rendered the Association. 
Phe Secretary briefly responded, and thanked the 
members for the great mark of respect shown to him ; he 
sincerely hoped that on future sessions every success 
would attend them. 
I he remainder of the evening was very agreeably 
spent with music, singing, etc. 
A Disease in the Coffee Plant has lately ap¬ 
peared in the coffee plantations of Ceylon, which mav 
prove a.serious one. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, in a 
communication to the Gardeners' Chronicle , says that he 
has. i cceivecl specimens forwarded by Mr. Thwaites, in. 
v hich the albumen of the seed (the portion so universally 
used) has been developed sufficiently to present the usual 
convoluted appearance; but the growth seems to have 
been suddenly arrested. In consequence the substance 
is not perfectly solidified, so that it contracts and ac¬ 
quires a dark dusky tinge, in some cases becoming black. 
On examination under the microscope, every seed up to 
a certain point app>ears normal, nor is there the slightest • 
trace ot fungi. Mr. Thwaites attributes the disease, 
and as Mr. Berkeley thinks, correctly, to sudden changes- 
m the weather, and it is hoped that it will not extend., 
beyond the present season. 
