January c, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
559 
sagacity and skill in treating the diseases of children. 
He was much respected by his brother practitioners, and 
enjoyed the personal friendship and professional inter¬ 
course of Abercrombie, Alison and Syme. The last- 
named gentleman in particular, during the illness that 
ultimately carried him off, consulted Mr. Sidey regularly 
as to the nature of his malady. For more than half a 
century Mr. Sidey continued to maintain the confidence 
he had so deservedly won from the community, and his 
hale and vigorous bearing seemed to give promise of 
many years of active life in store for him. But suddenly, 
on the morning of the 27th ult., he was seized with a 
spasm of the heart, became insensible, and never rallied. 
Ho was in his seventy-sixth year, and leaves, among 
several sons and daughters, Dr. James Sidey, well-known 
in Edinburgh, not only for professional proficiency, but 
for very considerable talent as a writer of humorous and 
satirical songs. 
(Slorrcspirtmte. 
* * 
* 
MR. JOHN LESSEY. 
"We regret to announce the death, on the 22nd of 
December, of Mr. John Lessey, pharmaceutical chemist, 
of Croom’s Hill, Greenwich. The deceased gentleman 
had for many years been connected with the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society, having joined it in 1852 as one of the 
Founders. 
MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
Tuesday . Royal Institution, at 3 p.m. —“Ice, Water, 
Jan. 9. Vapour and Air.” By Professor Tyndall. 
Photographic Society, at 8 P.M. 
Thursday. Royal Society, at 8.30 p.m. 
Jan. 11. London Institution, at 4 p.m. —“The Philo¬ 
sophy of Magic.” By J. C. Brough. 
Friday. Quekett Club, at 8 p.m. 
Saturday. Royal Botanic Society, at 3.45 p.m. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Ox Flutd Meat : a New Preparation of Meat, especially 
adapted to Weak Stomachs and for Invalids generally, with 
Remarks on Food. By Stephen Darby, F.C.S., Phar¬ 
maceutist. London: Churchills. 
Year-Book op Pharmacy: comprising Abstracts of Papers 
relating to Pharmacy, Materia Medica and Chemistry con¬ 
tributed to British and Foreign Journals from July 1,1870, 
to June 30, 1871. With the Transactions of the British 
Pharmaceutical Conference at the Eighth Annual Meeting 
held at Edinburgh, Aug. 1871. London: Churchills. 1871. 
De l’Aconitine crist allisiSe et des Preparations 
d’Aconit: Etude Ciiimique et Pharmacologique. 
Par II. Du'quesnel, Pharmacien de l re Classe, membre 
de la commission d’hygiene publique et de salubrite du 
X c arrondissement. 38 pages. Paris : J. B. Bailliere et 
Fils. 1872. _ 
Report op the Sanitary Committee to the Commis¬ 
sioners op Sewers op the City op London on Spu¬ 
rious and Unsound Tea and their Proceedings 
thereon. London: Ordered to be printed by the Com¬ 
missioners. 
1871. 
Vb 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. 
Syrup op Tolu. 
Sir,—Your correspondent Mr. Goodwin Mumbray has 
evidently misunderstood the purport of my paper upon syrup 
and resin of tolu, there being in it no question as to the me¬ 
thod of prepaiing the syrup; it points to what takes place 
during the process, and the employment of the residual 
resin. I would not trespass upon your space, but I fear your 
correspondent’s letter may in another way tend to mislead. 
He writes, “ It will occur to any practical chemist and drug¬ 
gist that the ordinary syrup of balsam (formerly Syr. 
Tolutani, Ph. Lond.) is made by adding 3j Tr. Tofu to 2 
simple syrup.” As far back as 1745-1788, and again in 
1809, and I believe in every subsequent Ph. Lond., the mode 
of preparing the syrup was identical with the present; in the 
Dublin Pharmacopoeia, 1850, the same process was adopted, 
the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia being then the only one, as 
far as Great Britain was concerned, which ordered the tinc¬ 
ture in making the syrup. Upon the construction of the 
P.B., the London form was chosen for adoption. Undoubtedly 
some did follow, and possibly may now, the ready mode of 
preparing the syrup by means of the tincture, but it was 
not, and is not, the process of the Ph. Lond. or the P. B., 
neither so pleasant to the taste nor so sightly. Either your 
correspondent or the printer, most likely the latter, has made 
a mistake as to proportions ;* for, when the tincture was 
used by the Edinburgh or Dublin Colleges, it was in the pro¬ 
portion of 5j of tincture to a pound and a half or two pounds 
of syrup, and not §j Tr. Tolu to 2 simple syrup. The proper 
quantity of syrup is evidently omitted. The balsam, dis¬ 
solved in spirit and minutely divided by the syrup, might 
yield an article which would not cause the same effect as the 
undissolved crystalline substance properly directed to be se¬ 
parated by filtration when cold. 
I have never seen a clear bright syrup made with the tinc¬ 
ture, but, following the directions of the P. B. process, and 
which I believe to be the best, no difficulty need be expe¬ 
rienced by any one in producing a good-flavoured and bright 
syrup. 
With respect to the compound tincture of benzoin, or 
Friar’s balsam, the old folks, as mentioned, have faith in it, 
and for other maladies besides coughs; but they usually drop 
it on sugar, and take it in that form. 
To your other correspondent, Mr. J. Knowles, I am in¬ 
debted for reminding me of another purpose for which the 
residual resin may be used, viz. the preservation of lard and 
pomades; it may be seen at page 252, Vol. V., Second Series, 
Pharmaceutical Journal, that I mentioned the same 
thing in a paper upon ointments, read at an evening meeting 
at that time,—my attention having been drawn thereto in a 
w r ork written by the late M. Moquin-Tandon. I then stated 
that, in the event of a scarcity of benzoin, the resin of tolu 
might answer the purpose, but that it has not the same fra¬ 
grant odour; and that some lard wFich I had prepared with 
it as an experiment, after fifteen months’ keeping was much 
changed, though still retaining some of the tolu odour. 
A. F. Haselden. 
18, Conduit Street, January ls£, 1872. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘British 
Medical Journal,’ Dec. 30 ; the ‘Medical Times and Gazette,’ 
Dec. 30 ; the ‘ Lancet,’ Dec. 30; the ‘ Medical Press and Cir¬ 
cular,’ Jan. 3 ; ‘Nature,’ Dec. 30; the ‘Chemical News,’ 
Dec. 30; ‘ English Mechanic,’ Dec. 29 ; ‘ Gardeners’ Chro¬ 
nicle,’ Dec. 30; the ‘Grocer,’ Dec. 30; the ‘Journal of the 
Society of Arts,’ Dec. 23; ‘ British Journal of Dental Science ’ 
for January; the ‘ Florist and Pomologist ’ for January. 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from 
Dr. De Vry, Mr. J. Mason, Mr. E. Rice, Mr. Pocklington, 
Unitas,” “ Fermm,” “ Gignosko.” 
In Memoriam. 
“ From information I received,” I found myself, some three 
or four weeks ago, in the Grange Road, Bermondsey. A 
chemist and druggist (an old member of the Pharmaceutical 
Society) had passed away from this troublesome world by his 
own hand, and the fact had not been recorded. To the West- 
end chemist the Grange Road, Bermondsey, for all practical 
purposes, is an absolute myth—a something possibly heard 
of, but never seen. Who would dream of taking an omnibus 
from the Bank or the Royal Oak to the Grange Road, Ber- 
* The mistake cannot be entirely attributed to either our 
correspondent or the printer; it had its origin in the illegi¬ 
bility of the “ lb.,” which might easily have been taken for 
something else, or overlooked altogether, which last occurrence 
actually took place.—E d. Pharm. Journ. 
