97 G 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[Jane 3, 1671. 
plied by Mr. Thomas Hyde Hills. For the selection 
Ave were indebted to Professor Attfield; for I am glad to 
say that our library is so well supplied with useful and 
A'aluable boolcs that we had some difficulty in determining 
what we could advantageously add to it. 
I am sorry that I cannot congratulate you on the 
numbers which have attended the classes of our school of 
pharmacy. Rut wherever the blame may rest—if there 
be blame anywhere—it must not fall on our teachers of 
chemistry, botany and materia mcdica, Mr. Davies and 
Dr. Carter, whose qualifications can hardly be excelled. 
The shoe does not yet pinch our young men very much, 
by-and-by it will be felt. 
Our attention has no doubt often been called to the 
consideration of the causes of the unhealthiness of Lh 7 cr- 
pool, or rather—as I believe it would be more correct to 
say—of parts of Liverpool. To chemistry our town au¬ 
thorities are now looking for a remedy, and we shall Avait 
with much interest for the report of the able chemists, 
Doctors Parkes and Sanderson, to whom the inquiry has 
been intrusted. In the meantime, I will A r enture to ex¬ 
press my belief that a very large part of the unhealthi¬ 
ness of certain classes of the population arises from their 
sleeping in large numbers in A r ery small rooms, with all 
access of air shut off. There is a popular idea that night 
aii’ is bad, I belieA r e that it is a pernicious error, and that 
we should take every means in our power for correcting 
it. Night air is at any rate far better than the exhausted 
aii 1 which has been breathed by any of our fellows. 
Our kindred societies in Edinburgh and Bath have 
published price-lists, which I would recommend you to 
procure, particularly the more recent one published at 
Bath. It is A r ery desirable that we should know what 
• others think on this matter, and that Ave should do what 
is just and fair to ourselves and the public. 
I am sorry to observe the death of our toAvnsman, Mr. 
James Yates, F.R.S., who has taken so active a part for 
many years in promoting the adoption of the metrical 
system, and of the advocacy of which he was one of the 
principal and most munificent supporters. 
Mr. Aisrahaai concluded with a feAv other remarks, 
including an expression of thanks to Mr. Charles Sharp 
for his services in teaching an elementary botanical 
class. 
Mr. E. Daates, F.C.S., in moving a A'ote of thanks 
to the President for his address and his conduct in the 
chair during the year, agreed Avith Mr. Abraham that 
among the causes of the unhealthy state of Liverpool, 
the one he had referred to was one of the greatest. 
Lie gave his experience of a A’isit he paid to a house in a 
court off a small street, in which he said the smell was 
something frightful. Overcrowding and want of A T enti- 
lation, and that pernicious system of building houses 
back to back, and in courts with one end stopped up and 
the other end nearly so, Avere the great causes of the high 
death-rate in Liverpool. He admitted many other causes. 
The bad habits of the people, drunkenness and other 
things had their effects; but his own pmaate opinion 
was that these others were the great root of the CA’il, and 
until they could do something in the way of proA'iding 
dwellings for the poor outside the town, and razing to 
the ground a great number of these courts, and opening 
up some more complete channels for the air to go up 
from the river right through the town, they would not 
bring down the mortality of Liverpool to anything like 
a normal figure. 
Mr. J. S iiaaa' seconded the motion, which was supported 
by Mr. A. II. Mason, F.C.S , who drew attention to the 
injurious practice of householders allowing walls to be 
papered AA'ithout having the previous paper remoA'ed, in¬ 
stancing cases where five or six were to be seen on one 
wall, thereby fostering disease and impure air. 
The vote having been carried unanimously, the Chair¬ 
man acknowledged the compliment, and the proceedings 
terminated. 
NORWICH CHEMISTS’ ASSISTANTS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
On Monday, May loth, Mr. F. Sutton, F.C.S., gave a 
highly interesting lecture on Carbon, at the rooms of the 
aboA'e Association. 
The lecturer began by remarking how difficult it was 
to make an isolated lecture really instructive, as the 
limited time at their disposal forbade more than a passing 
allusion to the most prominent characters of the subject 
under consideration, but he trusted that he should be 
able to interest them in some of the facts connected with 
carbon, and if this only led them to take up chemistry 
as an amusement, his purpose would be answered. 
The lecturer then adA r ocated the cause of “hobbies,” 
and after reminding his hearers of the saying that “ The 
man of one book was a dangerous opponent,” he adA'ised 
all present to make a “hobby” of either chemistry or 
some branch of natural history, assuring them that they 
would find such a course advantageous in every respect. 
After noticing the various forms of carbon, and its 
universal presence in organic bodies, the lecturer pro¬ 
ceeded to consider its use in the animal and A’egetable 
economies, its importance in ordinary methods of illumi¬ 
nation and heating, and, finally, the explosive compounds 
into which it enters. 
The subject was well illustrated with striking experi¬ 
ments, and elicited repeated applause. 
MIDLAND COUNTIES CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIA¬ 
TION. 
The Second Annual Meeting of the above Association 
was held at the Temperance Hall, Birmingham, on 
May 26th. In the unavoidable absence of the President, 
the chair was taken by Mr. H. Whittles. We regret 
to say there was but a small attendance of members. 
The Honorary Secretary read the Report of the 
Council, and the Chairman the statement of accounts. 
Report. 
“ FolioAving- the precedent set at their first annual 
meeting, the Council beg to submit a simple statement 
of their proceedings during the past year. 
“It will be in the recollection of some here present 
that at our last annual meeting a letter addressed to the 
Home Secretary respecting the Petroleum Act of 186-8 
was ordered to be forwarded. It was to the effect that 
great injustice was done to the retailers of petroleum in 
this town from the excessive charge made by the Town 
Council for licences for selling the same, it being two 
guineas in Birmingham, and only from 2s. 6d. to os. in 
most large towns. 
“His attention was also drawn to the promised intro¬ 
duction of a supplementary bill for amending that Act, and 
exempting benzine collas, benzine, etc., from its opera¬ 
tion. 
“ A reply was receh r ed that it was under the conside¬ 
ration of Government, but nothing more has been heard 
of it. It was, however, stated in one of our daily papers 
a few daA'S ago that a Bill was to be introduced into the 
House of Lords to exempt these articles. 
“The Council were also directed to arrange for a 
course of lectures on pharmacy to the assistants and 
apprentices of members during the summer months. 
“ In accordance with these directions, a circular was 
addressed to the members of the Association, inquiring 
as to the number that would take advantage of the 
same. The replies being tolerably satisfactory, arrauge- 
ments were made with Dr. Hill for a course of lectures, 
and thirty attended the first course. A second was ar¬ 
ranged for, but from some cause or other this was 
not so well attended, only eleven entering their names, 
resulting in a considerable loss to the Association. 
“ The failure of these attempts to afford practical in¬ 
structions on pharmacy to our rising members is such as 
