712 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
[March 2, 1872. 
although, as I have said, a careful operator will test the 
product, it is a great .advantage in a Pharmacopoeia for¬ 
mula, that it is, within narrow limits, necessarily of 
the standard strength. 
A portion prepared hy Mr. Abraham in the manner he 
described was afterwards carefully tested and found per¬ 
fectly free from any trace of carbonic acid or of lime. 
Mr. James Armstrong read a paper on “Animal Char¬ 
coal.” He commenced by alluding to the importance of 
the subject, arising from the great tendency of the sugar- 
refiners of the present day to look to chemists for aid to 
conduct their business on scientific principles, and ex¬ 
pressed an opinion that the application of animal char¬ 
coal for sugar refining was yet in its infancy. He 
believed that a careful study of the subject by an analy¬ 
tical chemist, with the view of using it in a more econo¬ 
mical manner, or of partly replacing it by some other sub¬ 
stance, would be w-ell repaid. He next gave a description 
of the process of carbonizing the bones, and referred to 
the results of some analyses that he had made of the 
commercial article. The absorbent power he had found 
to vary considerably in different samples, and it required 
some experience to determine w-hich w-ere the best for 
the refiner’s purposes. Chloride of sodium is always 
foimd in new 7 char; this was removed by two or three 
careful washings with boiling water, which also carried 
off some of the ammonia and calcium that were pre¬ 
sent. Before being fit for use the char had again to be 
burned. The process of decolorization was next de¬ 
scribed, and various practical details of the process ex¬ 
plained and commented on, and the effects of passing the 
saccharine liquor over animal char illustrated by speci¬ 
mens. The cleansing of the contaminated char—gene¬ 
rally by allowing hot or cold water to pass through it 
for some hours—was an important process, but it w-as 
found that the char gradually lost its absorbent properties. 
It was very necessary that the foreign matter should be 
removed, as its presence during the reburning w-as very 
injurious to the char, and the present method was open to 
much improvement. The reburning was then described, 
. some of the difficulties attending it referred to, and the 
results attained showm by a table of results of analyses of 
reburned char obtained from different refineries. In con¬ 
sequence of this deterioration in its absorbent powers, 
the author considered it would be advisable for the re¬ 
finer, in order to secure the most satisfactory results, to 
have the char he uses tested at least once a month. 
After the reading, Mr. Armstrong showed a model of 
Messrs. Buchanan and Yickes’s kiln for burning the 
charcoal, and explained its advantages over the ordinary 
kiln. Specimens of charcoal new 7 and burnt, both foreign 
and English, and also sugar liquors before and after 
filtration, were exhibited. 
A vote of thanks to Mr. Armstrong concluded the 
business of the evening. 
LEEDS CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
The Fifth Meeting of the Session w-as held in the 
Library, on Wednesday, February 21st, 1872 ; the Presi¬ 
dent, Mr. E. Bitowx, in the chair. 
The minutes of the former meeting having been read 
and confirmed, the Librarian reported that he had re¬ 
ceived the Proceedings of the British Pharmaceutical 
Conference, 1871, as a donation to the Library, from the 
Committee, and it was resolved that the thanks of the 
. Society be given bo the donors. 
The PiiESiDENT 4 read a letter he had received from Mr. 
Radley, of Sheffield, referring to the course adopted by 
the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society, in giving- 
assistance to Provincial Societies, and invited the opinion 
of the members present upon it. He was exceedingly 
pleased to find that their esteemed friend Mr. Reynolds 
w r as present that evening, and he had no doubt Mr. 
Reynolds w-ould explain any question which might arise 
in connection with this subject. 
Mr. Reynolds regretted that in consequence of indis¬ 
position he had not been present at a greater number of 
meetings, and was glad to find that there wans such a 
good attendance, wdiich was no doubt due to Mr. Abbott’s 
w-ell-earned reputation. He had also received a commu¬ 
nication from Mr. Radley upon the subject introduced by 
the President, and w-ould have pleasure in giving an ex¬ 
planation of the action of the Council of the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Society in this matter if it w-ere decided to discuss 
the question. 
A short discussion took place, and as it appeared to be 
a subject requiring careful consideration, it was resolved 
to refer Mr. Radley’s letter to the Committee. 
Mr. James Abbott then read the paper of the evening 
on “ The Germ Theory.” 
The Lecturer briefly reviewed the history of spon¬ 
taneous or equivocal generation, detailing the experi¬ 
ments of Schwann, Pouchet, Pasteur, and Bastian. The 
question can scarcely be said to have been solved by 
M. Pasteur, if Dr. Bastian’s experiments are reliable; 
it becomes, therefore, a question for future experi¬ 
mentalists to determine wdiether bacteria are present in 
recently prepared vegetable infusions, and resist in¬ 
creased temperature, or whether they are formed do 
novo. Every one w T ho has experimented in this direction 
acknowledges the difficulty of determining whence these 
small organisms, bacteria, microzyme, etc. come. 
With regard to disease germs, undoubtedly, Dr. Beale 
is correct; they are living organisms entering the circu¬ 
lation, of wdiich we have abundant proof in vaccine 
lymph, syphilis, hydrophobia, post-mortem w r ounds, etc. 
The author considered that all noxious gases are injurious 
to health, and supposed they poisoned the system chemi¬ 
cally. He thought that proof w-as w-anting to show that 
sew-er gases are originators of disease germs, which is a 
popular belief. Zymotic diseases are propagated by 
offcasts of living matter from infected persons being- 
drawn into the circulation, where they rapidly multiply, 
doing the dreadful but sure work of destruction. 
Referring to disinfectants, the author considered car¬ 
bolic acid had been much over-estimated; it acted as an 
antiseptic, but was inferior in its action to chromic acid. 
With the many preparations known to be useful for the 
purposes of disinfection, it is necessary to make a selec¬ 
tion according to the requirements of the case. 
Mr. Reynolds thought the subject w r as so full of in¬ 
terest that it would be impossible to discuss the many 
points touched upon by the lecturer in the limited time 
w-e had at disposal, and he hoped Mr. Abbott would 
divide the subject, and give us another paper. He had 
pleasure in proposing that the best thanks of the meet¬ 
ing be given to Mr. Abbott. 
Air. Smeeton quite agreed with Mr. Reynolds, that it 
w-ould be impossible to consider the many questions in¬ 
volved in this excellent paper, and proposed that the dis¬ 
cussion be adjourned to a future meeting. 
Mr. E. Thompson cordially supported the resolution, 
and also the suggestion of Mr. Smeeton, which he hoped 
w-ould be agreeable to Mr. Abbott. 
The resolution was carried unanimously. 
In acknowledging the vote of thanks, Mr. Abbott 
placed himself at the disposal of the Committee, and 
w-ould be glad to take up either the w-hole or one part of 
the subject w-henever the Committee decided to hold a 
meeting for the purpose. 
MANCHESTER CHEMISTS’ ASSISTANTS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
The Ninth Ordinary Meeting of the session w-as held 
at Mitre Chambers, on February 27th; the President 
in the chair ; at which a'paper on “ Elementary Botany ” 
was read by Mr. Clarke. 
After a few introductory remarks, the reader endea- 
