ON THE METAL INDIUM. 
QO A 
oo4j 
Mr. Reynolds’s letter now makes it imperative upon me to state that his pro¬ 
posed method is of such a complicated and unsatisfactory character that it is 
open to serious objections ; hence I presume it was, that the following question 
was proposed by Conference, “ Required, an easy method of detecting methylic 
alcohol in the presence of ethylic alcohol?” Mr. Reynolds has forgotten to 
state where his proposed method may be found. I herewith supply the omis¬ 
sion,—“ Wood spirit and its detection,” ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal ’ for December, 
1868. I need scarcely observe that my answer to the above question of Con¬ 
ference is published in full in the November Journal. 
John Tuck. 
Wilton, near Salisbury, Nov. 19, 1864. 
PRAUD AND DEATH. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—A singular circumstance has occurred this last month in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Temple Bar, which will perhaps be interesting to other chemists, who 
have not taken active measures in the case, but who may have suffered more or 
less by a similar fraud, and may have wondered where the miserable trickster 
has ensconced himself. Alas! ere they again glance through the pages of the 
ever welcome Pharmaceutical Journal, he has his quietus found, in the grave. 
It appears that a man representing himself as a surgeon’s dispenser, of a 
shabby-fine appearance (or I may say, 
“ Meagre were his looks, 
Sharp misery had worn him to the hones”), 
has been in the habit of obtaining drugs, such as morphia and chloroclyne, from 
chemists by means of forged orders purporting to be from a doctor or surgeon 
close by. As a matter of course, it was soon discovered tc be a mode of swind¬ 
ling, and a warrant of apprehension was taken out at Bow Street. On the 
evening of November 15th he presented a second order at Mr. Pedler’s, Fleet 
Street, and was there detained and identified by Mr. Huggins, Strand, who at 
once gave him into custody. 
Now comes the most extraordinary part of the case. During the time the 
prosecutors and witnesses were waiting at the Old Bailey, expecting every 
minute the case to come on, having been before the grand jury, a message came 
down from Mr. Jonas, the governor of the prison, to say the prisoner had ceased 
to exist. We leave the case in the hands of our medical friends as to the cause 
of his death ; suffice it to say, it is generally supposed he was an opium eater, 
and died for want of his daily stimulus. 
Apologizing for intruding upon your valuable space, 
I am, your obedient servant, 
William Wiiysall. 
199, Fleet Street, November 23, 1864. 
ON THE METAL INDIUM AND RECENT DISCOVERIES ON SPECTRUM 
ANALYSIS. 
(Delivered at the lloyal Institution, by Professor Poscoe.) 
Since the spring of 1862, when the speaker delivered a course of three lectures in this- 
Institution on the Spectrum Discoveries, much has been done to increase our knowledge 
of Spectrum Analysis ; but the whole subject is still in its infancy, and the further we- 
advance the more we find remains to be known. 
