Alo'ctober,Pi903!m'}     British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  495 
laid  particular  stress  on  the  necessity  of  continued  research  before 
drawing  hard-and-fast  conclusions.  After  referring  at  some  length 
to  the  recent  progress  that  had  been  made  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
chemistry  of  essential  oils,  he  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  adultera- 
tion of  these  compounds  had  kept  fully  in  line  with,  if  not  a  little 
ahead  of,  chemical  research. 
Aerated  Waters  were  next  referred  to,  particular  stress  being  laid 
on  the  advantage  of  aerating  waters  at  low  temperatures.  At  40  C. 
the  necessary  carbon  dioxide  is  absorbed  so  readily  that  a  pressure 
of  two  atmospheres  is  found  to  be  quite  sufficient,  the  breakage  in 
the  bottling  machines  is  greatly  reduced,  and  the  danger  to  the 
operator  is  materially  lessened. 
Dispensing  by  Physicians  was  then  discussed,  the  President  pre- 
senting a  number  of  arguments  in  favor  of  State  interference  in  the 
practice  of  medical  men  dispensing  their  own  medicines.  After 
citing  a  number  of  cases  of  known  fatal  errors,  and  suggesting  the 
possibility  that  a  much  greater  number  of  these  errors  are  not 
inown,  the  President  summed  up  the  situation  in  the  following 
general  statements : 
(1)  Few  doctors  are  competent,  by  proper  training,  to  dispense. 
(2)  Even  if  they  were  rendered  more  fit,  by  education,  to  discharge 
that  function,  the  very  nature  of  their  other  duties  militates  against 
that  concentration  of  thought  which  the  experience  of  the  pharma- 
cist teaches  is  so  essential  in  the  practice  of  pharmacy. 
(3)  The  separation  of  prescribing  from  dispensing  necessarily 
insures  much  greater  care  and  thought,  by  both  the  prescriber  and 
dispenser ;  and,  further,  in  each  case,  one  is  a  check  on  the  other. 
(4)  It  would  be  more  satisfactory  from  a  public  point  of  view  were 
doctors  freed  from  the  possibility  of  having  mistakes  to  cover  or 
answer  for. 
In  conclusion,  the  President  referred  to  the  laws  and  practices  in 
other  countries  and  suggested  some  of  the  abuses  that  might,  and 
must,  arise  from  the  continuance  of  the  practice  of  self-dispensing 
in  England. 
After  the  usual  routine  business,  consisting  of  the  presentation  of 
delegates,  reports  of  committees,  and  of  delegates  to  other  conven- 
tions, the  reading  of  the  papers  was  proceeded  with. 
Preparation  of  Absolute  Alcohol. — Prof.  Sydney  Young,  D.Sc, 
E.R.S.,  described  a  method  of  dehydrating  alcohol  which  depends 
