394 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[November 11,1871. 
to the difficulty which dispensers felt in amalgamating 
watery extracts with fat, he said some lard manufac¬ 
turers were evidently possessed of the secret, as some 
.specimens of bladder-lard ho had examined yielded, 
when melted, only 75 per cent, of lard. 
Mr. Bostock observed that some lard manufacturers 
used considerably more pearlash than could possibly he 
.needed for cleaning their vessels, and he understood it 
was sometimes added to whiten inferior lard. 
Mr. Benger said the addition of a small quantity of 
alkali also rendered the lard capable of taking up more 
water. Commercial lard was very seldomjEit for phar¬ 
maceutical purposes. 
Some discussion followed on the best method of pre¬ 
paring pure lard, some gentlemen recommending that 
the “ flare” bo bruised in a mortar and washed in a 
stream of water, whilst others advised that it be melted 
at a low temperature (water bath) whilst very fresh, and 
without water. 
A vote of thanks to Mr. Wilkinson closed the pro¬ 
ceedings. 
The next monthly meeting will be held on Friday 
•evening, Dec. 1 st. Tea at 7-30. Professor Williamson, 
F.R.S., will deliver a lecture on “ The Natural History 
of the Minerals used in Medicine.” 
BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
The following are the arrangements for the monthly 
meetings of this Association, session 1871-72, which 
will be held at the Museum and Library, top of Park 
Street:— 
1871—December 8 —Lecture by Mr. Stoddart; 1872, 
January 12 —Papers and Discussions; February 9— 
Lecture by Mr. Collens, Birmingham; March 8 —Lec¬ 
ture by Mr. Warner, Bishopston ; April 5 —Lecture by 
Dr. Tilden, London; May 10—Lecture by Mr. W. Lant 
Carpenter, Clifton. 
of jfkititMc jsradws. 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
Meeting of Executive Committee , November 1 st, 1871. 
A resolution was carried unanimously to the effect 
that at all future Annual Meetings of the Conference the 
Iiire of rooms, the. cost of printing programmes, and inci¬ 
dental expenses incurred by the Executive Committee, 
foe. paid by the Conference, and not by the Local Com¬ 
mittee. 
The secretaries reported that the whole of the manu¬ 
scripts of the Year-Book of Pharmacy for 1871 and the 
Transactions of the Conference at Edinburgh were in the 
hands of the printer, and that the volume would be sent 
(by post only) to members in December. The London 
Secretary was directed to make the usual application to 
members for unpaid subscriptions, 1871-72, due in ad¬ 
vance last July. 
A notice to this effect will be found in the advertise¬ 
ment columns. 
Mr. John Moss, F.C.S., was elected Assistant-Secre- 
dary. 
The following were duly elected members:— 
Appleby, Edward J.; Bevan, Martin L.; Blain, Ar- 
huthnot H. ; Booth, Richard; Bowling, J. H. ; Clarke, 
Ingham; Croyden, C.; Dickie, James; Davies, J. R. ; 
Davies, T.; Deering, Alfred; Field, James John, F.C.S.; 
Frazer, W., M.D.; Gill, J. W.; Green, G. E.; Grove, 
Harry; Hallawell, J.; Hilder, R. T., M.D.: Jones, C.; 
Ogilvie, George P.; Passmore, Francis; Pattinson, R. J.; 
Pinkerton, W.; Roper, H. E.; Rowell, Robert Henry; 
Simpson, R. ; Snell, Charles Henry; Stooke, Arthur; 
Taylor, Richard; Tozier, William, L.A.H.I.; Wright, 
John A. 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
November 2, 1871 ; Dr. Frankland, President, in the 
chair. 
After the usual business of the Society had been 
transacted, a paper on “ A Process for the Estimation of 
Fluorine,” by A. Liversedge, A.R.S.M., was read. It 
consists essentially in distilling the fluoride with con¬ 
centrated sulphuric acid and silica, passing the silicic 
fluoride which is evolved into ammonia, and then deter¬ 
mining it as silico-fluoride of potassium. An interest¬ 
ing paper was then read by Mr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., 
on “Anthraflavic Acid,” a yellow crystalline substance 
which accompanies artificially prepared alizarine, and 
with which the author finds it to be isomeric. The barium 
compound crystallizes from water in reddish-brown 
needles, which contain a considerable amount of water of 
crystallization. There was also a paper on “The Dis¬ 
tillation of Wood,” by Mr. Watson Smith. 
SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
Dyes and Dye-Stuffs other than Aniline.* 
BY DR. CRACE-CALVERT, F.R.S. 
Lecture I. 
Red Colouring Substances. — Madder. 
This well-known tinctorial'substance may still be con¬ 
sidered as the most important of all the dye-stuffs employed 
by calico printers, owing to the brilliancy of the colours, 
their permanence under the action of light and soap, 
and the wear and tear which fabrics so dyed can sustain, 
as well as on account of the variety of shade and colour 
that can be obtained,—one dyeing operation being suffi¬ 
cient to produce pinks, reds, purples, violets, puce, and 
black; and, notwithstanding the competition that madder 
colours have met with of late years from aniline dyes, I 
believe the quantity of madder consumed in England is 
quite as great at the present day as ever it was. 
The employment of madder-root as a dye dates from 
the most ancient times, as is proved by the Egyptians 
using madder-dyed fabrics to wrap round their mummies. 
The Greeks and Romans were acquainted with it under 
the names of Erythrodanon and Rubia, and their modes 
of fixing it on cotton fabrics were the same as those now 
now employed, namely, aluminous salts for producing 
reds, and salts of iron for purples and blacks. 
The plant which produces madder is an herbaceous 
one, and is called Rubia tinctorum. It bears a yellow 
flower, and a dark red berry fruit. The red colouring 
matter exists almost entirely in the cortical part of the 
root, little or no colour being found either in the epi¬ 
dermis or in the ligneous or centre part of the root. 
M. Decaisne and M. Edouard Koechlin have shown that 
the colouring matter in the fresh root is yellow, and 
becomes red under the oxidizing influence of the atmo¬ 
sphere. The same process goes on, to a certain extent, in 
the roots of the plant when they are allowed to remain 
several years in the ground, especially in chalk forma¬ 
tions. In France, the roots are allowed to remain in 
the ground two or three years ; in Turkey and the East, 
from five to seven. In the latter countries and in Naples, 
they are dried in the open air, but in Holland and France 
stoves are employed for this purpose. Naples and Turkey 
madders are imported in the root, and are known in com¬ 
merce as Naples and Turkey roots, while those from 
France and Holland are ground, and sold under the name 
of French and Dutch madder. 
* Cantor Lecture, delivered Tuesday, Feb. 7. Reprinted 
from the Journal of the Society of Arts. 
