536  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {Am -$Sfigt*m- 
Daniel  Hanbury,  Heury  Deane,  Brady,  Stoddart,  William  Soutball,  John 
Mackay,  John  Williams,  T.  H.  Hills,  G.  W.  Sandford,  and  Redwood,  for  the 
sake  of  offering  an  affectionate  tribute  to  their  memory.  But  serious  as  these 
losses  have  been,  the  spirit  of  those  who  are  gone  still  animates  their  survivors. 
There  is  still  on  their  part  the  same  desire  to  maintain  the  British  Pharma- 
ceutical Conference  as  an  organization  for  the  encouragement  of  pharmaceuti- 
cal research  and  the  promotion  of  friendly  intercourse  among  pharmacists.  In 
these  respects  the  President  claimed  that  the  Conference  has,  in  the  past, 
amply  fuldlled  its  promises,  by  furnishing  a  stimulus  to  investigation  and  by 
promoting  feelings  of  mutual  respect  and  -esteem,  not  only  among  British 
pharmacists  but  also  between  them  and  their  colleagues  of  every  nationality. 
Proceeding  to  deal  with  the  various  features  of  national  progress  during  the 
lifetime  of  the  Conference,  the  speaker  pointed  out  that  within  this  period  the 
trade  of  the  county,  as  shown  by  its  exports  and  imports,  has  nearly  doubled  : 
the  parcel  post,  the  sixpenny  telegram,  the  modern  practice  of  photography, 
the  telephone,  phonograph,  microphone,  and  the  typewriter  have  come  into 
existence.  While  thirty  years  ago  the  first  Atlantic  cable  was  lying  useless  at 
the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  there  are  now  seven  transatlantic  telegraph  lines  in 
constant  use.  Within  the  same  period  town  tramways  have  been  introduced, 
the  capital  of  railways  has  been  more  than  doubled,  and  the  annual  number  of 
their  passengers  has  increased  from  204  millions  to  877  millions.  By  numerous 
inventions  within  the  same  period  the  rate  as  well  as  the  safety  of  travelling  by 
rail  or  steamships  have  been  greatly  increased.  Immense  economy  has  been 
effected  in  the  use  of  coal  as  a  source  of  motive-power,  and  by  the  extended 
use  of  gaseous  fuel  many  branches  of  manufacture  have  been  greatly 
improved.  Electricity  bids  fair  to  become  the  source  of  light  in  the  future, 
and  for  its  production  the  enormous  store  of  motive-power  in  running  water  is 
being  utilized.  By  the  care  that  has  been  exercised  in  preserving  public 
health,  the  national  death-rate  has  been  marvellously  reduced  and  the  dangers 
of  epidemic  diseases  have  been  mitigated.  Since  the  time  when  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Conference  was  held  the  whole  aspect  of  chemistry  as  a  science 
has  been  changed,  and,  by  its  application,  new  branches  of  manufacturing 
industry  have  been  created.  The  alkali  trade  has  been  almost  revolutionized, 
and  the  cost  of  its  products  very  materially  reduced.  Waste  products  that 
were  formerly  a  source  of  nuisance  and  serious  detriment  to  health  and  prop- 
erty have  been  made  sources  of  profit  even  greater  in  some  instances  than  the 
main  products  formerly  obtained.  In  this  way  the  hydrochloric  acid  and  the 
"waste"  of  alkali  works  are  now  turned  to  useful  account,  and  thousands  of 
tons  of  ammonia  are  obtained  from  the  waste  gaseous  products  of  shale  oil 
works,  smelting  furnaces,  etc.,  in  addition  to  that  furnished  by  gas  works.  As 
an  incidental  result  of  the  application  of  scientific  principles  to  the  condensa- 
tion of  volatile  hydrocarbons  by  refrigeration,  there  has  grown  up  an  enormous 
trade  in  the  importation  of  dead  meat  from  abroad,  amounting  last  year  to 
nearly  three  and  a-half  million  carcases  of  frozen  mutton,  which  were  brought 
through  the  tropics  and  landed  here  in  sound  condition.  Thirty  years  ago  the 
tar  of  gas  works  could  scarcely  be  got  rid  of,  and  at  Edinburgh  it  was  for  a 
long  time  buried  in  the  Musselborough  sands  at  low  water.  Since  that  time  it 
has  become,  like  Aladdin's  lamp,  the  source  of  almost  fabulous  wealth  in 
money,  in  colors,  and  even  in  medicinal  agents  which  go  far  to  suggest  that 
