April 6, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
813 
Resolved—That the following Registered Chemists 
and Druggists he elected “ Members” :— 
Alewood, Edwin.Swansea. 
Black, John.Rutherglen. 
Caswell, Edmund.Leamington. 
Cattle, Henry Steed .East Retford. 
Crampton, John ... Sawston. 
Cross, Charles .Winterton. 
Field, Ebenezer .Cambridge. 
Fletcher, Thomas .Smallthorne. 
Gibson, John Brewster .Grantham. 
Hollier, Edward Robinson .... Shrewsbury. 
Langford, William Henry .... Wisbeach. 
Marshall, Gervas.Accrington. 
Morgan, Thomas Lloyd.Llandovery. 
Oldfield, Henry .Hyde. 
Ridley, Charles Henry .Reading. 
Roberts, Meshach .Bangor. 
Rutherford, Edward .Tow Law. 
Ryder, John Lewis.Preston. 
Smith, William .Nottingham. 
Walford, Ryland James.Weymouth. 
Whyte, William .Glasgow. 
Resolved—That the following, having passed their 
respective Examinations, be elected “ Associates in 
Business ”:— 
Minor. 
Bolton, Charles Alfred.Nottingham. 
Cockburn, George.Sunderland. 
Elliott, Thomas.Boston. 
Kirkman, Charles John.Stratford. 
Wade, Walter.New Cross. 
Wilkins, George.Tenterden. 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Wednesday , April 3rd, 1872. 
MR. A. F. HASELDEN, F.L.S., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
The donation of a specimen of crystals of bisulphite- 
of magnesia, by Dr. Archbold, to the Museum was 
announced by the Chairman. 
Mr. Ince drew attention to some dried specimens of 
British algae, which had been mounted in a very 
beautiful manner by simply immersing them in sea¬ 
water, and when the parts of the plants were disposed in 
a natural position, floating them over and lifting them 
out upon ordinary albumen paper, after which they 
were pressed. 
Mr. Carteighe said that, with regard to the bisulphite, 
he happened to see Mr. Archbold that morning, and as 
he was a gentleman who was occupied the greater part 
of the working hours of the day behind a druggist’s 
counter, doing very ordinary and heavy work, and as 
he appeared to take an immense interest in chemistry, 
the Society felt indebted to him for any specimens of 
this kind. At the same time the mere statement put on 
the label, “ Bisulphite of Magnesia,” was hardly satis¬ 
factory without some evidence that the salt was consti¬ 
tuted in the manner indicated by such a name. 
Bisulphites were popularly spoken of, but not many of 
them had been carefully analysed in a pure state; 
indeed, none of them had, practically, been so deter¬ 
mined. He was sure they would all look forward to 
the time when Mr. Archbold would give them some 
experimental evidence as to why he gave the name of 
bisulphite to this compound. 
The President said that Mr. Archbold had promised 
to send an account of the process to the Journal. 
Modified. 
Busby, James.Harpenden. 
Evans, John.Devizes. 
Gibson, William Humphrey.. ..Brighton. 
Hind, Thomas Wm. Linton.Kendal. 
Kerruish, Edward John .Barrow-in-Furness. 
Morford, Thomas.Stoke Newington. 
Stan way, Edward Thomas... .Wolverhampton. 
Stenson, J oseph.Camden Town. 
Resolved—That the following, having passed their 
respective examinations, be elected “Associates”:— 
Minor. 
Chambers, Pearson.Cockermouth. 
. Cottman, Henry.Poole. 
Davies, Peter Hughes.Peterborough. 
Henry, James Hay.Macduff. 
Jones, Moses.Swansea. 
Macfarlane, Patrick, jun.Alexandria, N.B. 
Modlen, Robert.Edinburgh. 
Moss, Albert.Ilkeston. 
Plowman, Sydney.Boston. 
Stanford, Joseph Henry.Yarmouth. 
Modified. 
Clifton, John Moore.Lincoln. 
Kimber, James .Stamford-in-the-Vale. 
Pierce, John James .London. 
Plaister, William James ... .Kensington. 
Plumb, James Edwin .Surbiton. 
Purnell, Henry Albert.Hereford. 
Snow, George Foster.Reading. 
Stevenson, Richard Walter . .Derby. 
Taylor, Charles William .... Brighton. 
Thomas, David John.Bridgend. 
Thomson, William .London. 
Whittaker, John William ..Stockport. 
Wright, Arthur.Nottingham. 
Wright, William John.Tunbridge Wells. 
Mr. C. II. Wood then read a paper on— 
The Introduction of the Metrical System of 
Weights and Measures into the Pharmacopoeia.. 
[This paper is printed at page 801, and gave rise to 
the following discussion] :— 
The President thought this -was likely to prove a 
useful paper if it should induce most of them to adopt 
the metrical system where they could at once, for it 
would then be facilitating the process and preparing the 
way for the introduction of it into the British Pharma¬ 
copoeia, and perhaps its use in England generally. He 
could scarcely see the advantage of introducing propor¬ 
tional weights and measures in a portion only of the 
Pharmacopoeia, unless they could do it definitely through 
the whole of the book. It seemed to him that they 
could as easily learn the metrical system at once as they 
could by any intermediate system ; although he did not 
set his opinion forth as of much weight, because he was 
not an analytical chemist, and ho thought probably its 
use at the present time was more for analysis and re¬ 
search than anything else. Perhaps some other gentle¬ 
man more conversant with the subject than himself 
might make some remarks as to whether it was desirable 
to adopt the metrical system at once, or to have an in¬ 
termediate system between that and the present one. 
Mr. M. Carteighe expressed concurrence in what the 
President had said, remarking that if they were to have 
any more changes in their weights and measures, they 
should have one complete, final change, and there let 
the matter rest. A conservative tendency to change, 
if ho might use the expression, was altogether a mis¬ 
take ; and he confessed that Professor Redwood aston¬ 
ished him immensely when, some months ago, ho 
heard him propose a change which tended towards the- 
metrical system, but which did not come up to it. 
The time had not arrived for a complete change. It 
seemed to him that they were beginning altogethei at 
the wrong end. What they had to do was to put pres¬ 
sure upon the examining bodies of those whc wrote- 
