174 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August 26, 1871. 
•does not exhibit any dichroism. If a fine tube be filled 
one-half with liquid bromine and one-half with vapour 
• of bromine, and, after being hermetically sealed, be 
gradually heated until the temperature is above the cri¬ 
tical point, the whole of the bromine becomes quite 
opaque, and the tube has the aspect of being filled with 
•a dark red and opaque resin. A measure of the change 
of power of transmitting light in this case may be ob¬ 
tained by varying the proportion of liquid and vapour in 
' the tube. Even liquid bromine transmits much less 
light w’hen heated strongly in a hermetically-sealed tube 
than in its ordinary state. In connection with this sub¬ 
ject, Mr. Dewar exhibited an experiment illustrating the 
action of light upon peroxide of chlorine. 
The Report on the Utilization of Sewage was pre¬ 
sented by Mr. Grantham. It was divided under the 
following heads :—(1.) Experiments on Britton’s Farm, 
Mr. Hope. (2.) Comparison of Results diming Winter 
of Croydon, Norwood and Britton’s Farm Experiments, 
Dr. Corfield. (3.1 Report on Analysis in connection with 
above, Dr. Corfield. (4.) Upward Filtration of Sewage 
at Ely, Dr. Corfield. (o.) Phosphate Process, Dr. Cor¬ 
field. (6.) Dry Earth System at Lancaster, Drs. Corfield 
and Gilbert. 
Dr. Bischof read a paper “ On the Examination of 
Water for Sanitary Pui-poses,” in which he sought to 
show that the appearance of the residue obtained by 
■evaporation, when seen under the microscope, afforded a 
•ready method of detecting sewage contamination. 
Among other communications to this section were 
papers on the “ Chemical Constitution of Glycollic Acid 
and its Heterologues, as viewed in the Light of the Type- 
nucleus Theory,” by Dr. Otto Richter ; on the “Consti¬ 
tution of some of the Oxychlorides of Vanadium'dis- 
•covered by Roscoe,” by Dr. Thorpe; on the “Dissocia¬ 
tion of Molecules by Heat,” by Mr. Tichborne; on the 
• “ Rate of Action of Caustic Soda on a Watery Solution 
'-of Chloracetic Acid,” by Mr. J. G. Buchan ; “ Some Re¬ 
marks on the Proximate Analysis of Saccharine Matters,” 
by Professor Apjohn; on a “ Method of Preserving Food 
by Muriatic Acid,” by the Rev. H. Highton ; on the 
“ Constitution of Salts,” by Mr. Wanklyn ; and a “ Me¬ 
thod of Testing Wood Naphtha,” by Mr. Harknoss. 
On Saturday, August o, the section visited the works 
•of Young’s Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company at 
Addriwell, West Calder. The visitors were conducted 
over the works and the various processes were explained 
by Dr. Playfair, M.P., after which they sat dowm to a 
luncheon, Mr. Young in the chair. In proposing the 
health of Mr. Young, Dr. Playfair said that some idea 
•of the magnitude of the company’s operations might be 
formed from the fact that its sales amounted to upwards 
-■of £1000 per day. 
Section D.— Biology. 
The opening address of this section w’as delivered b} 7 
fits President, Professor Allen Thomson. After a few 
.preliminary remarks he said that the general title under 
which this section had met since 1866, viz. Biology, 
seemed to be advantageous, both from its convenience 
and as tending to promote the great consolidation of the 
science, and a juster appreciation of the relation of its 
•several parts. It might be that, looking merely to the 
derivation of the term, it w r as strictly more nearly 
synonymous with physiology in the sense in which that 
word has been for a long time employed, and therefore 
■designating. the science of life, rather than the descrip¬ 
tion of the living beings in which it is manifested. But 
until a better or more comprehensive term be found, 
that of biology might be accepted under the general 
• definition of “the science of life and of living beings,” 
or as comprehending the history of the w r hole range of 
organic nature,—vegetable as well as animal. 
. He then gave a short sketch of the history of the sec- ! 
tion and of its division into subsections. He pointed 
''Out that although the great development of the know¬ 
ledge of biology seemed to necessitate the increase of 
subdivision of labour, it was incumbent on all who w’ere 
desirous of promoting the advance of biological know¬ 
ledge, to combat the confined view’s which are apt to 
be engendered by the too great restriction of study to 
one department, and to secure at first, by a wider study 
of the general principles and some of the details of col¬ 
lateral branches of knowdedgo, that power of justly com¬ 
paring and correlating facts which will mature the judg¬ 
ment and exclude partial views. After some remarks 
upon the subjects of anthropology, histology and em¬ 
bryology, Professor Thomson next treated of organic 
chemistry and vital force, as follows :— 
The consideration of the finest discoverable structures 
of the organized parts of living bodies is intimately 
bound up w’ith that of their chemical composition and 
properties. The progress which has been made in or¬ 
ganic chemistry belongs not only to the knowdedge of the 
composition of the constituents of organized bodies, but 
also to the manner in w r hich that composition is chemi¬ 
cally viewed. Its peculiar feature, especially as related 
to biological investigation, consists in tho results of the 
introduction of the synthetic method of research, which 
has enabled the chemist to imitate or to form artificially 
a greater and greater number of the organic compounds. 
In 1828 the first of these substances was formed by 
Wohler, by a synthetic process, as cyanate of ammonia, 
or urea. But still, at that time, though a few no doubt 
j entertained juster view’s, the opinion generally prevailed 
among chemists and physiologists that there was some 
great and fundamental difference in the chemical pheno- 
| mena and laws of organic and inorganic nature. Now 7 , 
; however, this supposed barrier has been in a great mea- 
: sure broken down and removed, and chemists, with 
■ almost one accord, regard the laws of combination of the 
. elements as essentially the same in both classes of bo¬ 
dies, whatever differences may exist in actual composi- 
tion, or in the reactions of organic bodies in the more 
complex and often obscure conditions of vitality, as com¬ 
pared with the simpler, and, on the w 7 hole, better-known 
phenomena of a chemical nature observed in the mineral 
kingdom. Thus, by the synthetic method, there have 
been formed among the simpler organic compounds a 
great number of alcohols, hydrocarbons and fatty acids. 
But the most remarkable example of the synthetic for¬ 
mation of an organic compound is that of tho alkaloid 
conia, as recently obtained by Hugo Schiff by certain 
reactions from butyric aldehyd, itself an artificial pro¬ 
duct. Tho substance so formed, and its compounds, 
possess all the properties of the natural conia,—chemi¬ 
cal, physical, and physiological,—being equally poisonous 
writh it. The colouring-matter of madder, or alizarine, 
is another organic compound which lias been formed by 
artificial processes. It is true that the organized or con¬ 
taining solid, either of vegetable or animal bodies, has 
I not as yet yielded to the ingenuity of chemical artifice; 
nor, indeed, is the actual composition of one of the most 
important of these, albumen and its allies, fully knowm. 
But as chemists have only recently begun to discover 
the track by which they may be led to the synthesis of 
organic compounds, it is w 7 ai’rantable to hope that ere 
long cellulose and lignine may be formed; and, great as 
the difficulties with regard to the albuminoid compounds 
may at present appear, the synthetic formation of these 
is by no means to be despaired of, but, on the contrary, 
may with confidence be expected to crown their efforts. 
From all recent research, therefore, it appears to result 
that the general nature of tho properties belonging to 
the products of animal and vegetable life, can no longer 
be regarded as different from those of minerals, in so far 
at least as they are the subject of chemical and physical 
investigation. The union of elements and their separa¬ 
tion, whether occurring in an animal, a vegetable, or a 
mineral body, must be looked upon as dependent on in¬ 
nate powers or properties belonging to the elements 
themselves; and the phenomena of change of composi- 
