THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 18, 1872. 
CarmptiiMtt. 
_ *** 0 notice can be taken of anonymous communica¬ 
tions, Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenti¬ 
cated by the name and address oj the writer ; not necessarily 
for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith. 
The So-called Country Schools, 
Sir, I am led to believe, in consequence of having made 
observations these past few years upon the so-called country 
schools, that to maintain them satisfactorily will be found to 
be impossible. 
All the country schools complain : the general complaints 
being, 1st, want ot students; 2nd, wmnt of teachers; 3rd, 
want of tunds. These may be the causes of the tottering 
state of many of them; also, as they cannot be remedied, 
may prove to be the cause of their collapse. 
1st. Want of students. It is a great pity that the chief 
complaint should bo this; for without a fresh supply of stu¬ 
dents each year, any classes or schools can hardly be ex¬ 
pected. . I say a fresh supply, because the experience of 
teachers is, that very few old students take a second course 
ot instruction in the same subject or subjects. Large towns, 
like Liverpool and Manchester, are said to have a few hun¬ 
dred assistants and apprentices each; and yet, how few of 
this great number are impressed with a proper interest in 
the subjects treated of! We should naturally expect these 
large towns to have large and flourishing schools; but if a 
required number of students for the classes in a very large 
town cannot be obtained, how is it possible for smaller towns 
to form classes ? 
But some very large towns have not more than 100 che¬ 
mists, the number of whose assistants and apprentices per¬ 
haps does not amount to 40; for I need hardly say that a 
great number do not keep any assistants, while the majority 
of the better-to-do only keep one assistant, or one appren¬ 
tice; and it is the few who have two assistants or more. 
Now, supposing a large town with forty assistants and ap¬ 
prentices, I believe it to be impossible to keep classes afloat 
with this small number. On the classes opening, 30 out of 
40 may attend the first course of instruction; the next 
season, instead of a larger number of students coming up, 
only about 10 attend; the year afterwards fewer still; and 
frequently, of these numbers, only one-half remain to the 
end ot the course. 30 to begin with become 15; 10 the 
next session, before the end of the course, dwindle down to 
5. This is the experience of the associations now in exist¬ 
ence ; and with these facts before us, why should we shout 
and agitate about more similar schools with such miserably 
small numbers ? 
2nd. Want of teachers. Assuming that there is a large 
number of diligent and earnest students—a number sufficient 
to keep up the classes year by year—the next point to treat 
of is the want of teachers. 
I believe any one would say that the proper teachers for a 
school would be the educated pharmacists—the men who 
know well the philosophy of their trade ; these are the men 
who will best know what the young pharmacist requires, 
who would teach more of pharmaceutical science than an 
etranger would ever dream of doing. But these men have 
unfortunately something else to do than teach. 
One fault in the country schools (?) is that they have had 
teachers who are a little better than nobody. What can we 
expect a clergyman to know of pharmaceutical botany or 
materia medica ? Would it ever occur to him to treat of the 
different kinds of senna, or of the difference between aconite 
and horseradish, etc. ? Would a schoolmaster who has 
dabbled in chemistry six months and taken “ a certificate” 
ever think of, or ever be able to detect corrosive sublimate in 
calomel ? And who could best treat of emulsions, plasters, 
pill-masses, mixtures, etc ? I repeat that the educated phar¬ 
macists are the proper teachers; the services of others cannot 
be of much good. 
3rd. Want of funds. Admitting further that both students 
and teachers are obtained, we now come to the very important 
question, how arc the expenses of the school to be met? 
The small fees which the students of a country school pay 
will not cover eveu the teacher’s expenses of one course of in¬ 
struction, and then how about the other courses required ? 
The question of cost—one supporting my idea of impossibility 
—is very little thought of. Country schools (if any), must be 
self-supporting. I do not see any alternative. I could easily 
show that it is very unfair of the Society to grant aid to the 
country schools. Moreover, no aid whatever should be ex¬ 
pected, seeing that a very small proportionate number of 
chemists and apprentices in the country contribute anything 
to the “ Alma Mater” which is so ignorantly spoken of. Con¬ 
tributing nothing to her, she cannot justly give anything to 
them in return. 
A Country Major Associate. 
G. C .—Your previous question was misunderstood, owing to 
your having misused a technical term. Your present question 
ha3 reference to what is commonly called molecular rotation. 
In studying the various phenomena by which it is manifested, 
you will not find the microscope of service, but will require a 
piece of special apparatus, which you can construct yourself' 
at small expense by utilizing the Nicol prisms of your 
microscope. Take an ordinary three-armed retort stand ; to 
the lower ring or arm attach either your polarizing prism or, 
preferably, a bundle of glass plates inclined at the polarizing 
angle. In the upper ring fix your analysing prism. The 
fluid to be examined should be placed in a narrow tube about 
eight inches in height, attached to the middle arm. If your 
prisms be crossed before inserting your fluid, possessing 
rotatory power, you will find on introducing it that light is- 
permitted to pass through the analyser, and is coloured. If 
you employ a solution of sugar, and you observe that the 
light which passes through the second prism is red, and that 
on rotating the analyser towards the right, the colour changes 
to yellow, and thence through green to violet, you may con¬ 
clude that the rotation is right-handed. If, on the other hand, 
you have to turn the analyser towards the left hand, you 
must conclude that the polarization is left-handed. These 
phenomena, you will observe, are wholly distinct from those 
accompanying the action'of doubly refracting substances upon 
plane polarized light. It is not easy to explain within these 
limits the course to be followed in ascertaining the amount of" 
ro'ation produced by different substances. Monochromatic 
light must be used. Suppose you are examining a sugar 
solution with prism crossed, and the index attached to the 
analyser pointing to zero. "When the sugar is introduced 
you will find it necessary to rotate the analyser, say 23° to the 
right, in order that the light may be extinguished. This is the- 
amount of rotation for that particular fluid at its density and 
for that height of column. As the arc varies with increase 
or decrease of density and height of the fluid, it is needful to- 
reduce it to a unit of height and density. The following 
formula is that given by Biot:—P = quantity of matter in 
a unit of solution; d= sp.gr.; I =: length of column j 
a = arc of rotation; in = molecular rotation. Then 
TV. F. C. —(1) The first two cases in reference to which 
you inquire seem to be of such a nature as to require being 
“dealt with as they arise.” Inasmuch as they assume sales 
that are somewhat unusual, as to quantity and frequency, 
it would doubtless be appropriate for the seller to caution 
his customer as to nature of the articles sold over and above- 
mere literal compliance with the provision of the Act, unless- 
it were within the knowledge of the seller that such precaution 
would be unnecessary. (2) The sale of poisons, according 
to the Pharmacy Act, is restricted to registered chemists and 
druggists. 
Astonishment .—We cannot publish a letter founded on 
hearsay. We recommend you to communicate with the gen¬ 
tleman in question, and ask him whether the statement is 
true. 
The following journals have been received:—The ‘ British 
Medical Journal,’May 11; the ‘ Medical Times and Gazette/ 
May 11; the ‘Lancet,’ May 11; the ‘Medical Press and 
Circular, May 14; ‘Nature,’ May 11; the ‘Chemical News,’ 
May 11; ‘English Mechanic,’ May 10; ‘ Garden era* 
Chronicle,’ May 11; the ‘Grocer,’ May 11; the ‘Journal of 
the Society of Arts,’ May 11; ‘ Grocery News,’ May 11, 
Communications, Letters, etc., have been received from 
Mr. Y"ewdall, Mr. Rimmington, Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. W. S. 
Bryant, Mr. Schacht, Mr. Brunt, Mr. Druc a , Mr. Powell* 
G. T., G. C., “ One who Failed on April 8th,” “ An Associate,” 
“ Amateur,” “All Work,” etc. 
