EDITORIAL. 
479 
mate  of  lime  to  crystallize  out.  Upon  decomposing  the  cinnamate  with 
hydrochloric  acid,  the  cinnamic  acid  separates  in  platy  crystals  ;  the  pro- 
cess, in  fact,  is  precisely  that  sometimes  adopted  in  preparing  benzoic  acid. 
From  this  acid,  cinnamic  is  distinguished  by  heating  it  in  a  test  tube 
or  small  flask,  with  solution  of  chloride  of  lime,  when  it  evolves  the  odor  of 
essential  oil  of  bitter  almonds  (Hydruret  of  Benzule),  while  benzoic  yields 
nothing  of  the  sort.  I  have  used  this  test  repeatedly — in  some  cases  when 
I  have  not  had  more  than  30  grains  of  resin  to  operate  upon.  All  pro- 
ducts of  liquidamber  afford  cinnamic  acid.  Benzoin  yields  none.  Is  it 
likely  that  the  resin  of  styrax  officinale  will  ?  I  am  using  all  my  endeavors 
to  obtain  an  authentic  specimen  of  this  last,  in  order  to  make  trial 
whether  it  contains  cinnamic  or  benzoic  acid.  I  question  whether  even 
the  amygdaloid  storax  is  the  genuine  unmixed  exudation  of  styrax :  it  cer- 
tainly contains  cinnamic  acid,;; 
This  information  from  Mr.  Hanbury  appears  to  settle  the  long  mooted 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  the  acid  in  this  resin  is  benzoic,  and  gives  a 
very  easy  means  of  distinguishing  that  acid  from  the  cinnamic. 
Pharmacy  in  Australia. — By  a  recent  number  of  the  Pharmaceutical 
Journal,  we  are  informed  of  the  organization  of  a  Pharmaceutical  Society 
in  Victoria,  Australia.  This  speaks  well  for  the  progress  of  that  distant 
but  rapidly  rising  country,  as  the  organization  of  apothecaries  is  one  of  the 
•last  of  the  processes  that  occur  in  the  movements  of  communities.  "We 
trust  it  will  be  very  successful,  that  it  will  foster  science  and  be  the  means 
of  developing  much  of  interest,  in  reference  to  the  productions  of  that 
island-continent  hitherto  covered  with  mystery.  This  is  one  of  the  legiti- 
mate fruits  of  that  great  home  movement—the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of 
Great  Britain — than  which  we  know  of  no  more  interesting  object  in  the 
present  aspect  of  the  world  of  Pharmacy. 
Obituary. — Baron  Thenard,  another  of  those  great  chemists  who  adorned 
and  illustrated  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  died  on  the  21st  of 
June,  at  Paris,  after  a  few  days  illness,  in  the  81st  year  of  his  age.  Until 
a  short  period  before  his  death,  his  health  was  so  vigorous  as  to  promise 
yet  some  years  of  usefulness. 
Thenard  was  born  during  the  epoch  of  the  great  discoveries  of  Lavoisier, 
Priestly  and  Cavendish.  He  was,  says  Boudet,  the  friend  of  Laplace  and 
Berthollet,  the  cotemporary  of  Davy,  Berzelius  and  Gay  Lussac,  the  last  of 
whom  was  his  co-worker.  He  was  a  professor  at  the  Sorbonne,  to  the  Col- 
lege of  France,  and  the  Polytechnic  school,  and  during  half  a  century  the 
historian  and  interpreter  of  modern  chemistry  ;  he  was  the  devoted  protec- 
tor of  true  merit  and  industry  in  the  young,  always  accessible  and  kind, 
and  ready  to  render  services  to  those  who  sought  his  aid.    He  was,  at  the 
