• June 3, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
973 
|)ljiiniutccutit;il lounml. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1871. 
Communications for this Journal, and books for review,etc., 
■should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
■transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
rldge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, W.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, A eiv Burlington 
Street, London, 7 V. Envelopes indorsed u Bharm. Journ.” 
LIME AND LEMON-JUICE. 
It is well known among those chiefly interested in 
itlie subject that one of the main objects of the Mer- 
• chant Shipping Act of 18G7 (commonly called the 
Duke of Hichmond’s Act) was to ensure a supply of 
genuine lime and lemon-juice to the crews of merchant 
ships. Past experiences went to prove that a large 
proportion of so-called lime-juice, put on hoard ships 
hound to distant parts, consisted of solutions of citric, 
sulphuric or other acids, entirely inert, and some- 
dimes harmful. Scurvy continued to prevail, and hence 
it was enacted that all lime and lemon-juice shipped 
for the use of sailors shall he examined hy a com¬ 
petent officer, mixed with a certain amount of spirit, 
.and bottled under the direction of customs’ officers. 
There can he no reasonable doubt that this system 
lias succeeded remarkably well, as it has secured 
m proper supply of good juice to the mercantile 
.marine, and as scurvy has in consequence dimi¬ 
nished by from GO to 70 per cent. But there are 
two unsettled and very important questions in con¬ 
nection with this subject which pharmaceutists 
should be specially able to aid in deciding. (1.) The 
•exact analytical standard of lime and lemon-juice. 
(2.) Does genuine lime and lemon-juice require the 
addition of alcohol for its proper conservation ? As 
to (1) we would remark that the Marine Department 
■ of the Board of Trade have delegated the official 
•examination of lime and lemon-juice in connection 
with the working of the Merchant Shipping Act of 
18G7 to the Laboratory Department of the Inland Be- 
venue, and that no very delicate analysis is required 
.to determine the genuineness of the juice. But in¬ 
asmuch as the'antiscorbutic value of lime and lemon- 
juice does not appear to depend upon a single in¬ 
gredient, but upon the combination, it is eminently 
useful and necessary to know exactly the proportions 
• of the constituents and the particular way in which 
they are combined. The late Master of the Mint 
separated, with great care, the colloid and crystal¬ 
line principles of the juice, and submitted them tor 
^practical experiment to the officers of the Seamen s 
.Hospital, with a view to aid in determining whether 
the therapeutic value of the juice existed in the 
former or the latter principle. 
There is no doubt that the second point should 
immediately engage the serious attention of chemists, 
inasmuch as whenever the Merchant Shipping Code 
is discussed in Committee of the House of Commons, 
an energetic attempt will be made to do away alto¬ 
gether with the “fortifying” section of the Act of 
18G7, and to send the juice aboard ship “ un¬ 
adulterated” with spirit of any sort or kind. The 
positive therapeutical effects of lime and lemon-juice 
can be best determined by medical men, but phar¬ 
maceutists may render very valuable aid in assist¬ 
ing to determine accurately the points above men¬ 
tioned. And a rider may be added to the investiga¬ 
tion, indicating the comparative differences between 
the juice of the lime and the lemon, so as to aid the 
physician in determining, if possible, which of the 
two may be recommended as the more valuable pro¬ 
phylactic against scurvy. 
RECOGNITION OF BLOOD-STAINS. 
Dr. Letheby’s recent reference to the use of the 
spectroscope for this purpose in medico-legal inqui¬ 
ries has called forth from a writer in the Lancet the 
following remarks:— 
“ The spectroscope, as many of our readers will know, 
came into, use as an instrument of chemical analysis, 
thirteen years ago, and was originally employed for the 
detection of the alkali-metals and a number of other 
metals, the substances to be analysed being heated 
strongly in a colourless flame, and made to yield incan¬ 
descent vapours, the light from which, passing through 
a prism, furnished characteristic spectra. These spectra 
consist of narrow bands of light, quite sharp and dis¬ 
tinctly defined, and having much the aspect ot bands of 
narrow China ribbon. They have fixed colours and fixed 
position in the spectrum. The value of this kind of ana¬ 
lysis was most strikingly exemplified by Bunsen, its 
discoverer, who by means of it discovered t w o new 
alkali-metals, caesium and rubidium. Later, Mr. Crookes 
discovered the metal thallium by means of spectroscopic 
observation; and still later a fourth now metal, indium, 
was recognized in the same manner. In each of these 
examples chemists operated upon incandescent vapouis, 
and it was the presence of a narrow bright line of pecu¬ 
liar colour, and occupying a perfectly fixed and definite 
position in the spectrum, which led to these important 
discoveries. A second kind of spectroscopic obseination 
naturally suggested itself to chemists, viz. obsci rations 
of spectra given by passing colourless light through 
coloured solutions; instead of light from incandescent 
vapour, light from a coloured liquid was sent through 
the prism. . . 
“This second kind of spectroscopic obscr\ation is, 
however, not so satisfactory as the first. Theic are no 
sharp and brilliant bands of light, standing out like 
China ribbon, and perfectly unmistakable by all eyes. 
Instead of striking appearances of this kind, all that is 
to be observed is a little dimness here and thcie in the 
spectrum. The dim spaces which are not shai pi} 
bounded have been dignified with the name of absorption 
bauds, and many of them are so little conspicuous as to 
be invisible to all but the highly educated e\ e. 
“ No discovery has as yet been made by means ot 
these spectra; and but for the great success v hich at¬ 
tended the first kind of spectrum-analysis very little 
weight and importance would be allowed to the indica¬ 
tions of the second. 
“In the spectra of incandescent vapours thcie aie, as 
we mentioned, narrow bright lines of light. There are 
also bright tracts in these metallic spectra. Aow, it 
there were only these illuminated tracts, and not the lines 
of light, the spectrum of an incandescent vapour would 
degenerate, for analytical purposes, into the condition 
of the spectrum furnished by light after transmission 
