174 
Compressed  'Air  Wash-Bottle. 
Am.  Jour.  Ph&rm. 
April,  1909. 
of  matter  and  the  genesis  of  the  elements.  And  as  every  advance  of 
knowledge  brings  with  it  new  problems  to  be  solved,  we  may  confi- 
dently look  for  rich  harvests  of  discovery  in  the  further  study  of  our 
mineral  and  its  constituents.  To  him  who  is  gifted  with  a  vivid 
imagination  and  disposed  to  indulge  in  extravagant  speculation,  the 
future  history  of  pitchblende  offers  an  unlimited  opportunity  to 
exercise  these  gifts  to  his  heart's  content.  He  might  tell  us  how 
some  day  our  mineral  will  turn  out  to  be  a  veritable  philosophers' 
stone  by  which  the  base  metals  are  transmuted  into  the  precious, 
and  the  heavy  elements  degraded  into  the  lightest  of  gases ;  he  might 
enlighten  us  how,  after  our  coal  deposits  have  been  mined  and  burned 
up,  it  will  afford  almost  inexhaustible  supplies  of  energy ;  and,  per- 
haps, he  might  even  be  able  to  persuade  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
pharmaceutical  profession,  that  it  is  destined  to  be  the  great  panacea 
to  cure  all  ills  that  human  flesh  is  heir  to. 
But  such  visions  of  the  future  we  may  leave  to  the  Jules  Vernes 
and  the  contributors  of  our  popular  magazines.  Science  is  a  stern 
mistress  :  she  clips  the  wings  of  phantasy  too  closely  to  permit  her 
votaries  to  deviate — or  had  I  better  say  aviate? — from  the  secure 
tracks  of  observation  and  logical  induction.  If  I  conclude,  then 
without  having  satisfied  you  as  to  how  pitchblende  or  products 
obtained  from  it  will  some  day  take  the  place  of  your  materia  medica, 
I  trust  that  my  story*  has  not  been  unworthy  of  the  kind  attention 
you  have  given  me. 
A  COMPRESSED  AIR  WASH-BOTTLE. 
By  Edwin  Dowzard. 
In  laboratories  where  a  supply  of  compressed  air  is  available,  the 
apparatus  about  to  be  described  will  be  found  of  value. 
The  apparatus  consists  of  a  flask  of  suitable  size  (as  the  latter  is 
stationary  when  in  use,  a  flask  of  two  or  three  litres  capacity  may  be 
used),  provided  with  a  rubber  stopper  with  two  perforations. 
Through  one  of  the  perforations  a  limb  of  the  T  piece  A  passes,  the 
horizontal  portion  of  which  should  be  about  twice  the  diameter  of 
the  vertical.  Through  the  other  perforation  passes  a  tube,  B,  which 
nearly  touches  the  bottom  of  the  flask.  The  part  outside  the  flask 
passes  through  the  horizontal  limb  of  the  T  piece  C,  and  is  held 
in  position  by  the  perforated  rubber  stopper,  D.    The  vertical  limb 
