EDITORIAL. 
189 
Having  said  this. much,  it  will  not  do  to  pass  unnoticed  the  great  pre- 
liminary work  of  raising  the  fund  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  which  the 
Alumni  Association  have  so  zealously  taken  in  hand.  Among  the  gradu- 
ates since  1827, — nearly  forty  years, — many  have  been  successful  in  busi- 
ness, and  many  others  in  a  fair  way  to  be  so.  From  this  source  the 
Association  expect  mainly  to  succeed,  presuming  that  as  graduates  of  the 
College  they  will  naturally  feel  a  disposition  to  do  it  a  good  turn.  But  we 
trust  in  an  educational  enterprise  so  excellent  in  its  tendencies,  and  capable 
of  producing  fruits  so  rich  in  advantages  to  the  pharmaceutical  and  medi- 
cal professions,  our  wholesale  druggists  and  manufacturing  chemists  will 
extend  a  liberal  contribution  to  aid  the  efforts  of  the  Alumni. 
The  Cavendish  Society. — For  the  information  of  such  former  sub- 
scribers to  the  Cavendish  Society  as  have  discontinued  their  subscriptions, 
owing  to  the  high  price  and  irregular  issue  of  the  publications,  we  will 
state  that  the  Society  at  present  issue  but  a  single  volume  for  each  year's 
subscription,  and  that  the  only  work  in  progress  is  Gmelin's  hand-book, 
of  which  the  16th  volume  was  published  in  1864,  on  the  subscription  for 
1862.  The  Editor  of  this  Journal,  in  the  capacity  of  agent  of  the  Society, 
notified  the  subscribers  of  the  publication  of  the  16th  volume  last  year  ; 
but  a  few  responded  to  the  call,  and  these  have  been  duly  supplied 
with  the  volume.  The  invoice  then  received  having  been  exhausted,  it  is 
suggested  to  all  those  who  are  disposed  to  continue  their  subscriptions,  to 
forward  the  amount  {five  dollars  in  gold,  or  its  equivalent  in  currency,}  to 
the  Agent  as  early  as  possible,  as  hereafter  the  volumes  must  be  paid  for  in 
advance  of  importation. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Watt,  the  Editor  of  Gmelin's  hand-book,  that 
the  next,  or  17th  volume,  will  conclude  the  text,  and  that  the  index  which 
is  now  in  preparation  will  constitute  the  18th  or  last  volume  of  the  work. 
The  cause  of  delay  in  the  publication  of  the  16th  volume  was  the  slow  pre- 
paration of  the  German  original,  and  the  same  cause  is  now  operating  in 
retarding  the  17th  volume,  which,  however,  is  expected  to  be  ready  this 
year.     The  completion  of  this  great  work  will  be  hailed  with  satisfaction 
by  every  English  and  American  chemist,  and  when  the  Index  is  ready  to 
give  a  key  to  every  portion  of  its  immense  collection  of  facts,  its  useful- 
ness will  be  proportionately  increased.    The  agent  has  in  hand  two  sets  of 
Gmelin's  hand-book  and  several  duplicate  copies  of  the  volumes  from  X. 
to  XV.  inclusive,  which  will  be  furnished  at  the  Society's  rates  with  the 
expenses  of  importation  added.    All  who  have  failed  to  complete  their  sets 
of  "Gmelin"  would  do  well  to  attend  to  it  early,  as  when  the  work  is 
completed,  this  agency  will  probably  be  discontinued.     The  agent  would 
also  inform  the  scientific  public  that  he  has  in  store,  on  account  of  the  So- 
ciety, ten  copies  of  Bischof's  Chemical  and  Physical  Geology  complete,  and 
several  copies  of  Laurent's  method,  and  the  life  of  Dalton.    It  should  be 
