398 
DECOLORIZING  PROPERTY  OF   THE  ESSENTIAL  OILS. 
State  for  his  approval.  Meanwile,  the  few  persons  who  had  con- 
stituted themselves  a  secret  committee  to  oppose  the  by-laws,  hav- 
ing utterly  failed  to  make  any  impression  in  the  special  gene- 
ral meeting,  the  only  legitimate  tribunal  for  such  an  appeal  to 
be  made,  so  far  lost  sight  of  their  duty  as  members,  where  the 
majority  should  rule,  as  to  make  a  special  appeal  to  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  (who  then  had  the  by-laws  under  consideration)  against  them, 
thus  bringing  the  disrepute  of  internal  disagreement  on  the  Society. 
In  consequence  of  this  want  of  unanimity,  Lord  Palmerston,  who 
had  received  the  by-laws  as  approved  by  the  Society,  on  the  11th 
of  May,  informed  Mr.  Bell  that,  in  consequence  of  the  opposition 
to  the  by-laws,  indicating  a  disagreement  among  the  members,  he 
would  require  more  time  to  consider  them,  and  requested  a  written 
statement  in  support  of  the  views  of  the  Council.  A  memorial 
was  duly  sent,  signed  by  the  president,  vice  president,  and  nine- 
teen out  of  twenty  members  of  the  Council,  when,  on  the  17th 
day  of  June,  the  Secretary  of  State  returned  the  by-laws  duly 
confirmed  according  to  the  Act. 
Such  is  a  succinct  history  of  this  great  movement,  from  its  origin 
to  the  accomplishment  of  its  object,  so  far  as  gaining  recognition 
as  an  educated  body  by  Parliament  was  concerned.  The  real 
process,  however,  is  but  just  begun.  English  Pharmacy  has  gone 
into  its  pupa  state ;  the  chrysalis  of  the  future  pharmaceutical  body 
of  Great  Britain  is  now  in  process ;  years  of  quiet,  undemonstra- 
tive progress  will  have  to  be  gone  through  by  the  mass,  until  it  has 
acquired  that  form  and  those  elements  which  will  fit  it  for  bursting 
forth  from  the  cocoon  in  which  ignorance  and  long  usage  have  en- 
veloped it,  that  it  may  expand  into  the  beautiful  proportions  and 
assume  the  extended  powers  with  which  science  will  have  en- 
dowed it.  W.  P.,  Jr. 
DECOLORIZING  PROPERTY  OF  THE  ESSENTIAL  OILS. 
By  John  L.  Plummer,  M.  D.,  Richmond,  Ind. 
On  recently  opening  a  bottle  of  oil  of  lemons,  I  was  surprised 
to  find  the  inner  third  of  the  cork  whitened,  as  if  by  the  action  of 
nitric  acid.  I  could  account  for  this  appearance  only  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  cork  had  previously  been  exposed  to  that  acid  ; 
or  that  the  oil  was  a  factitious  compound  generated  by  the  action 
