518 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 23, 1871. 
a 
‘ Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald, being 
Circumnavigation of the Globe and Three Cruises to the 
Arctic Regions in Search of Sir John Franklin.’ The 
animals collected during the voyage were described by 
the late Sir John Richardson, and the plants by Dr. See- 
mann himself. So highly was this work of Dr. Seemann’s 
esteemed on the Continent, that the Imperial German 
Academy of Naturalists elected him a member and sub¬ 
sequently President-Adjunct for life. 
In 1859 the sovereignty of Viti or Fiji Islands was 
formally offered to Great Bi'itain, hut before accepting 
it the Government commissioned Colonel Smythe and 
Dr. Seemann to examine and report on the islands. 
During a stay of eight months Dr. Seemann thoroughly 
examined the group, and published the results under the 
title of ‘Viti; an Account of a Government Mission to 
the Vitian or Fijian Islands.’ He also collected mate¬ 
rials for the ‘ Flora Vitiensis,’ a quarto work illustrated 
with plates, which he published at his own cost and risk. 
This work, the last sheets of which are now in the press, 
comprises not only the results of his own explorations, 
hut also of all his predecessors, and contains valuable 
notes on the medical and economic uses of the plants. 
On this work and the ‘ Botany of H.M.S. Herald ’ Dr. 
Seemann’s fame will rest. 
In 1853, Dr. Seemann started the largest botanical 
journal ever attempted, under the title of ‘ Bonplandia,’ 
taken from his academic name, to which the leading 
botanists of the world contributed. At the completion 
of the tenth volume, in consequence of Sir W. Hooker 
discontinuing the ‘Kew Journal of Botany,’ Dr. See¬ 
mann brought out his ‘ Bonplandia ’ in a new form, 
under the title of the ‘Journal of Botany, British and 
Foreign,’ which is still in existence. Besides numerous 
articles from his pen, literary, scientific and political, 
Dr. Seemann wrote ‘ A Popular History of Palms,’ 
which. is undoubtedly the best handbook we have on the 
subject. 
From 1864 to his death Dr. Seemann’s great practical 
experience and knowledge have been employed in ex¬ 
amining and reporting on the resources and capabilities 
of portions of Nicaragua. A few months ago he left 
England to return to Nicaragua for a short time, as the 
managing director of a mining company; but on the 
10th of October, shortly after his arrival at the Javali 
Mine, he died of a fever caught at Colon. 
Dr. Seemann was a writer of some power in several 
languages. He always took a great interest in the 
Pharmaceutical Society. Some of his earlier articles on 
medical and economic plants will be found in the eleventh 
and twelfth volumes of the first series of this Journal. 
He never lost an opportunity of identifying a plant 
with its product, or clearing up any doubts, and through¬ 
out all his publications will be found valuable notes on 
this subject. He paid great attention to the Sarsa- 
parillas, and up to his last journey was endeavouring to 
trace the origin of some of them. To botanical students 
he was ever ready to lend a helping hand, and many 
will deplore his death as that of a personal friend. In 
him science has lost a good botanist and an experienced 
and successful traveller. 
Comspnicwt 
* 
No notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions. Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily 
for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. 
An Appeal eoe Help. 
Sir,—As the issue of your Journal for the 23rd of Decem¬ 
ber will probably receive more of the attention of our mem¬ 
bers than usual, owing to the occurrence of Christmas, may 
I crave space for a piteous appeal which comes from a dis¬ 
tressed widow of one of our body, whose case is so ex¬ 
ceptionally hard, that neither can she be relieved from the 
funds of the Society nor yet from the Benevolent Fund,—her 
husband never having been a member of the Society, and 
having died before the registry of chemists and druggists 
was an accomplished fact ? The facts are as follow:— 
T. P., a chemist and druggist, was incapable, through 
lingering illness, of effecting registration under the provisions 
of the Pharmacy Act, w r hich it will be remembered passed on 
the 31st July, 1868, and came into force immediately. In 
October of the same year, or less than three months, T. P.,. 
who never rallied, died, and his widow, being ineligible for 
registration, w r as compelled to dispose of the business at an 
enormous sacrifice, and deprive herself of her only means of 
support. 
It will thus be seen the poor widow’s distress arises from, 
and as a consequence of, the Pharmacy Act passing into law 
at the moment her husband lay dying, precluding her from 
continuing the business as she might otherwise have done,, 
leaving her, without any fault of her own, adrift, w T ith an 
invalid brother dependent upon her, without income or 
settled home, but with a shattered constitution and broken 
health. 
The facts as narrated above can be avouched by myself 
and are well known to our Secretary, Mr. Bremridge. 
I w'ould urge the case on the consideration of our brethren,, 
in the hope that the knowledge of it will add greatly to the- 
pleasurable enjoyment of the festive season approaching, by 
the satisfaction of knowing that many have contributed of 
their abundance to the relief of the pinching necessities of 
the widow of a deceased confrere, upon whom has fallen 
heavily the consequence of a reform, by which their social 
status has been greatly enhanced. 
Mr. Bremridge has kindly consented to take charge of any 
donations; and, trusting that this appeal will be liberally 
responded to, as it deserves, I commend it to the sympathies, 
of all. 
H. Sugden Evans. 
MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Thuesday . "Royal Institution, at 3 P.M. —“Ice, Air, Ya. 
Dec. 28. pour and Water.” By Professor Tyndall. 
(First Juvenile Lecture.) 
London Institution, at 4 p.m.— “The Phi¬ 
losophy of Magic.” (Second Holiday Lec¬ 
ture.) 
SATUEL»AY...,..RoyaZ Institution, at 3 p.m. —Professor Tyn- 
Dec. 30. dall’s Second Juvenile Lecture. 
BOOK RECEIVED. 
Memoeanda on Poisons. By the late Thomas Hawkes 
Tanneb, M.D., F.L.S. Third edition. London: H. 
Renshaw. 1872. 
The Estimation op Moephia in Opium. 
Sir,—In the discussion upon my paper, on “ The Estima¬ 
tion of Morphia in Opium,” several gentlemen made remarks 
to which I wish briefly to reply. 
Mr. Williams thought the solution of iodic acid should be- 
more accurately standardized. There is, however, no neces¬ 
sity for this. A process for preparing the solution was given 
simply because the acid is not a common one, and might not 
happen to be at hand. Professor Redwood said that, al¬ 
though the iodine was removed from contact with the organic- 
matter in half a minute, “ still there was a race between two. 
reactions,” etc. This theoretical objection is, I imagine, more 
formidable in appearance than reality. There are, I should 
say, good grounds for believing that, under the conditions, 
laid down, the secondary action is nipped in the bud, and 
that the results obtained are close approximations to the 
truth. 
Professor Redwood informed the meeting that he “had 
made a great number of determinations of the quantity of 
morphia in opium by the several known processes,” and “ had 
arrived at the conclusion that the process given in the Phar¬ 
macopoeia was the best.” But this statement, though im¬ 
portant, leaves untouched the question of the degree of accu¬ 
racy of that process. My own trials of it have certainly not 
given me a favourable idea of its accuracy; indeed, the effect 
of washing the precipitates with chloroform was sufficient to- 
dispel such a notion. Then, again, the comparison, under 
like conditions, of the reducing power of the washed preci¬ 
pitate and of pure morphia proved beyond doubt that the 
precipitate contained some substance besides morphia; and 
