464 
Notes  and  News. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      August,  1896. 
NOTES  AND  NEWS. 
Dr.  J.  Norman  Collie  has  been  appointed  to  the  Chair  of  Chemistry  in  the 
School  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain.  He  now  holds  the 
position  of  Assistant  in  the  University  College,  L,ondon. 
In  his  new  position  Dr.  Collie  will  be  required  to  take  the  places  of  both  Pro- 
fessors Attfield  and  Dunstan. 
The  Botanic  Gardens  of  the  World  is  the  subject  of  a  serial  article  in  the 
Pharmaceutical  Journal,  the  first  installment  of  which  appeared  in  the  issue 
of  July  nth.  The  introductory  points  out  the  close  relation  that  has  always 
existed  between  botany  and  medicine,  as  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  botanic 
gardens  were  originally  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  those  plants  only  from 
which  particular  remedies  were  derived. 
We  learn,  through  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  of  July  18th,  of  the  death  of 
Friedrich  August  Kekule,  at  Bonn,  on  July  13th,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 
He  was  successively  professor  at  Ghent  and  Bonn,  and  was  the  author  of  the 
well-known  theory  of  the  benzol  ring,  which  may  be  said  to  have  created  a  new 
era  in  organic  chemistry.  His  most  important  work  was  his  "  L,ehrbuch  der 
organischen  Chemie,"  in  three  volumes  (1861-67). 
The  Scientific  American,  issued  July  25th,  is  especially  attractive  in  commem- 
oration of  its  fiftieth  anniversary.  Many  illustrated  comparisons  are  made  of 
the  present  time  with  half  a  century  ago.  The  most  noteworthy  subjects 
treated  are  :  "The  Trans- Atlantic  Steamship,"  "Naval  and  Coast  Defence," 
"Railroads  and  Bridges,"  " The  Sewing  Machine,"  "Photography,"  "The 
Phonograph,"  "Telegraph,"  "Telephone,"  "Progress  of  Printing,"  "The 
Bicycle,"  and  "  Ocean  Telegraphy." 
Professor  John  Attfield  was  born  in  1835,  and  is,  therefore,  nearly  sixty-one 
years  of  age,  instead  of  sixty-four,  as  we  incorrectly  stated  in  our  last  issue. 
In  addition  to  our  brief  remarks  concerning  him  at  that  time,  we  may  add  that 
he  is  sole  editor  of  the  forthcoming  British  Pharmacopoeia,  and  it  is  his  inten- 
tion to  give  the  work  imperial  extension  of  usefulness  in  the  colonies  and 
India.  He  has  always  advocated  the  use  of  the  metric  system  of  weights  and 
measures,  which,  in  Great  Britain,  as  in  the  United  States,  is  only  legalized  per- 
missively,  but  which  will  soon  receive  important  forward  impulse  by  adoption 
into  the  British  Pharmacopoeia. 
Mr.  J.  H.  Maiden,  former  Curator  of  the  Technological  Museum,  Sydney, 
New  South  Wales,  has  been  appointed  Director  of  the  Botanic  Gardens  at  that 
place.  He  succeeds  Mr.  Charles  Moore,  who,  after  nearly  fifty  years  of  service, 
has  retired.  Mr.  Maiden  has,  for  a  number  of  years,  been  identified  with  the 
economic  botany  of  Australia,  and  he  has  published  a  large  number  of  papers 
on  that  subject. 
Probably  his  most  important  work  is  a  book  of  nearly  700  pages,  on  "The 
Useful  Native  Plants  of  Australia."  He  is  at  present  engaged  on  an  illustrated 
work  entitled  "The  Flowering  Plants  and  Ferns  of  New  South  Wales,"  which 
is  appearing  in  parts. 
