July 29, 1371.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
91 
ADAMSON INSTITUTE. 
Under this name a memorial will shortly he 
erected at St. Andrew’s to the late John Adamson, 
M.D., as an acknowledgement of his services to the 
cause of science, particularly chemistry and natural 
history, in that ancient university town. 
A correspondent of the Lancet appeals to the 
Editor under the following circumstances:— 
“ Sir,—I am a gentleman by birth and education. 
For a certain love to science I chose the medical profes¬ 
sion. My experience of it was chiefly rural, whore the 
patient and the doctor arc brought legitimately together. 
My fate led me to purchase a practice in London, and, to 
my surprise I find myself surrounded with all the ap¬ 
pliances of trade—coloured bottles, scents, tooth-brushes, 
small-tooth combs, treacle, etc. The very practice I 
entered upon was not without some of these adjuncts. I 
quickly expelled the coloured globes, and cut down the 
retail to a minimum. But what am I to do in competi¬ 
tion on all hands with more showy establishments ? 
Am I rightly informed that the medical men who are 
engaged in hospitals, dispensaries, etc., without any 
salaries, to attend the poorest in the land, are themselves 
obliged to live as respectable professional men, and 
eschew trade altogether ? If so, does it not appear 
much more reasonable that we who have to attend the 
middle and upper classes for considerable payment should 
ourselves be compelled by some law of the colleges and 
schools to live as gentlemen, and, while we practise a 
liberal profession, to leave trade to those to whom it 
properly belongs ? 
“ Any suggestions will be thankfully received by, 
“ Your bewildered servant, 
“ Dilemma. 
“P.S.—Some of my neighbours label their windows 
that they make up medicines ordered by other medical 
men. Is this professional ?” 
We notice that the Editor of that journal discreetly 
omits to give any advice or opinion. 
The Lancet , under the heading “ Spectroscopy in 
the Law Courts,” has the following remarks con¬ 
cerning Mr. Stoddart’s recent letter to this Journal* 
upon the subject of the recognition of blood-stains 
by the spectroscope :— 
“ Mr. Stoddart . . . asks us to point out some substance 
giving a spectrum coincident with that of blood. We 
cannot gratify him by doing so ; but, as we said before, 
the whole subject of the spectra of coloured liquids is 
not yet sufficiently well explored to admit of the employ¬ 
ment of spectroscopy for the decision of a capital charge. 
We cannot agree with Mr. Stoddart in thinking that the 
mistake which two of our best spectroscopists made rela¬ 
tive to the spectrum of the mythical Jargonium is un¬ 
connected with the question of the degree of confidence to 
be reposed in the indications of spectroscopy. Before 
we accept a given absorption spectrum as absolute evi¬ 
dence of the presence of blood, we should know that it 
is safe to trust to absorption spectra ; and in Jargonium 
we have had a practical example of the results of trust¬ 
ing to them.” 
The Scotsman announces that arrangements are 
being actively proceeded with in a large number of 
towns in Scotland for celebrating the centenary of 
■■ ■■ -- * " 
* See Yol. I. p. 1044. 
Sir Y\ alter Scott. At the approaching festival,, 
deputations will be present from the corporations of 
several towns in the north of England, the Caledo¬ 
nian Societies in London and Liverpool, and the 
Speculative Society of the University of Edinburgh, 
of which Sir Walter Scott was the Secretary. A 
great number of the nobility and gentry, as well as 
several ladies and gentlemen distinguished in art, 
science and literature, have intimated their inten¬ 
tion of being present. An elaborate design for a 
memorial card has been designed by Sir Noel 
Paton, a copy of which will be presented to every 
member of the company as a memento of the occa¬ 
sion. The Jedburgh Town Council has appointed 
a committee to make the necessary arrangements for 
celebrating the centenary. Also, at a public meeting 
at Langholme, it was unanimously decided to hold a 
demonstration in honour of Sir Walter Scott oil 
the loth of August. 
o 
At an interview of several gentlemen interested 
in the petroleum question with Earl Morley on 
Monday last, his lordship intimated his intention to 
reduce the test standard in the Petroleum Bill now 
before Parliament to 80° F., and to provide that 
such portion of the Act as relates to the test shall 
not come into force until February 1, 1872. 
The recent case of poisoning by eating Calabar - 
beans, a notice of which will be found in our 
Journal, leads us to ask the question, how is it that 
so important a subject as the history and uses of 
articles of commerce is not taught in schools ? If it 
were, such accidents would be almost unknown. Ia 
Germany it forms part of the instruction of boys at 
school, the great aim being to supply a knowledge of 
the different substances they will meet with or have 
to use during life. They thus enter the warehouse 
or shop with a fair amount of merchant’s know¬ 
ledge. We trust that these object lessons will not 
be forgotten by school boards. 
The Committee of St. Mar} r ’s Medical School has 
decided to establish three Scholarships in Natural 
Science open to public competition, each of the 
annual value of TIG, and tenable for three years. 
Nature states that the first of these, and an annual 
exhibition of .=£20 will be awarded by open competi¬ 
tive examination in September next. 
We learn from Nature that the Royal Commis¬ 
sion on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement 
of Science has adjourned till November, and that 
the publication of some of the evidence already taken 
may shortly be expected. 
