May 20, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
931 
abilities, honestly and conscientiously to fulfil the obli¬ 
gations I have entered into as a pharmaceutical appren¬ 
tice, willingly and cheerfully to obey my principal or 
other superiors, to execute any work intrusted to me 
with care and cleanliness, in doubtful cases never to 
follow my own opinion, but always to ask the advice of 
my principal or of the assistants placed over me; with¬ 
out their permission never to sell emetics or purgatives, 
drastic or poisonous substances; to behave towards the 
public with politeness and modesty, not to receive any 
visitors during business hours, nor to occupy my time 
with extraneous matters, diligently and carefully to 
apply the time allowed to me for my own instruction, 
and thankfully to receive any information; above all to 
endeavour practically to apply any knowledge acquired, 
to avoid or to despise no practical work however trifling, 
and not, as is frequently the case, to any but practical 
work in favour of scientific study; finally, at all times 
to behave as may be expected from an honourable and 
upright pharmaceutical apprentice.” 
These obligations may appear one-sided, all in 
favour of the principal, but it must be stated that he 
has his duties as well; the Sanitary Council has 
arranged weekly lectures on chemistry, botany, etc. 
which the assistants are desired, but the apprentices 
obliged to attend; in like manner weekly botanical 
excursions are arranged, under the guidance of an 
experienced botanist, which makes it easy, almost 
natural for assistants and apprentices to collect their 
own herbaria, and these scientific instructions are 
paid for by the Principal as a member of the local 
Pharmaceutical Society. 
Accoudixg to an estimate in the Grocer , the im- 
ports of beetroot-sugar in the Clyde during the seven 
months from September 1, 1870, to March 31, 1871, 
amounted to nearly 30,000 tons. 
The British Medical Journal is enabled, from 
information derived through private and trustworthy 
sources, to state that Ceylon gives fair promise to 
take rank at no very distant time as one of the chief 
quinine-producing countries. Until recently it was 
thought that the bark of the cinchona plant, as cul¬ 
tivated in that colony, did not yield an appreciable 
quantity of quinine, but only cinchonine or other of 
the less valuable medicinal alkaloids ; consequently 
little attention was bestowed on its cultivation. But 
in a recent analysis of some barks sent to this 
country, 289 grains of sulphate of quinine, 47 grains 
of quinidine, and 14 grains of alkaline cinchonine 
were found in one pound of bark. Thus an ounce 
of sulphate of quinine was obtained from one pound 
eight ounces and a quarter. As the supply from 
Peru has greatly diminished, and as India, it is said, 
consumes its own quinine, there is reason to believe 
that the cultivation of cinchona will secure some of 
the attention of cultivators in Ceylon which has 
hitherto been almost exclusively devoted to the 
growth of the coffee plant. As another cause which 
may give an impetus to the cultivation of cinchona 
in Ceylon, it is stated that the red bark is highly 
praised in Paris for tooth-powders, as it gives them 
a delicate tinge, and, at the same time, a bitter 
flavour. 
A MiLK-yiehling tree, native of the valley of the- 
Amazon, and known as the Ma^aranduba or Massa- 
randuba, has lately been introduced to notice in 
Europe. It is a large tree, and appears to be a 
species of Mimusops, belonging to the Natural 
Order Sapotacca. It is abundant in the Amazon val¬ 
ley, in the province of Bio de Janeiro, Para, Minas- 
Geraes, etc. The wood is hard, as is the case with 
most of the Sapotacecc, and is used both for ship and 
house building. The milk is quite white, and flows- 
from the trunk freely upon incisions being made,, 
but hardens on exposure to the air, when it has? 
similar elastic properties to gutta perclia and ba¬ 
tata. When fresh it is used both medicinally and 
as an alimentary article, but never in its pure 
state, being either mixed with a small quantity of 
water, or used as we use ordinary milk, with coffee 
or tea. 
A prize of J'10 and another of d'3 are offered by 
the Royal Horticultural Society for the best two col¬ 
lections of British insects injurious to any one plant, 
the choice of the plant being left to the collector. 
The insects are to be shown as much as possible in 
their various stages of development, and a preference 
will be given to those collections which most success¬ 
fully illustrate the life-liistory of the insect, and ex¬ 
hibit the mischief done, whether by specimens, draw¬ 
ings, models, or other means, examples of which may 
be seen in the Society’s collection in the South Ken¬ 
sington Museum. Two other prizes of do and £2 
are offered for the best miscellaneous collection illus¬ 
trating similarly any branch of British economic en¬ 
tomology. The collections are to be sent to Mr. J. 
Richards, Assistant-Secretary of the Society, on or 
before the 1st of May, 1872, each collection bearing 
a motto, and accompanied by a separate sealed en¬ 
velope with the motto on the outside, and the name 
of the competitor within. 
We regret to say that Mr. Ferdinand Kohn, of 
whose paper on “ The Different Methods of Extract¬ 
ing Sugar from Beetroot and Cane,” recently read 
before the Society of Arts, we this week give an ab¬ 
stract, died, after a few days’ illness, on the 2nd inst. 
We learn from the Aihenmim that an Italian 
Chemical Society has been established, under the 
auspices of Dr. Canizzaro. The Society will pub¬ 
lish a journal under the joint editorship of MM. 
Schief, Tassinari, Koiiner, Paterno and Gabbas. 
