156 TlMEHRI. 
yours to command. I may remark that there is a great demand for 
crystallised fruit here and with your cheap sugar and good fruit there 
is a splendid opening. 
S. Govjer. 
Extra6ls from Mr. Holmes's paper on some of the 
Drug Exhibits at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition : — 
In the first place, the quality of the produces exhibited indicated that 
the requirements of the London drug market are not well under- 
stood in the colonies. I say advisedly the London drug market, because 
it is generally acknowledged that London is the principal market for 
drugs in the world. 
In the majority of cases drugs had been evidently collected with the 
least possible trouble and apparently in ignorance of the fa<5t that the 
price realised will depend in great measure on the care bestowed in 
preparation for the market. Thus the bitter orange peel exhibited in 
the West Indian Court possessed neither the form nor colour required 
in the drug trade. Cinnamon was also shown, from several colonies, 
which would not compare in flavour or appearance with that from 
Ceylon, with which it must compete if it is grown for the drug or spice 
market. Beeswax affords another instance in point. Although it is 
easily clarified there was hardly a clean specimen of good colour to be 
seen in the Exhibition. 
In the second place, it was noticeable that the best and most impor- 
tant of the drugs exhibited were those prepared either by colonists who 
combined pharmaceutical and chemical knowledge with operative skill, 
or by analytical chemists in the employ of the Colonial Governments. 
Again it seems remarkable that a large number of colonial produces 
which could be obtained in almost unlimited quantity, are practically 
unknown in commerce in this country. Thus the oil of the purging 
nut, and even the seed itself, does not appear to be known here, 
although about 300,000 bushels of the seed are annually sent from the 
Cape de Verde Islands to Portugal for the expression of the oil. Crab- 
nut oil, which thirty-five years ago was awarded a prize medal at the 
International Exhibition, and which could be procured in almost 
unlimited quantity from both British Guiana and West Africa, is not 
yet an imported article of trade in this country, and many other 
instances could be adduced. These fads suggest the importance to 
