SOAPSTONE. A NEW ADULTERATION.-A firm in Cincinnatti, known as the Facing Company, are producing a powdered soapstone, which is being used by farmers and butter merchants for adulterating purposes. The article is a fine powder with neither colour nor taste, and costs about £5 a ton. A tub of butter will bear adulteration to the extent of seven or eight pounds of soapstone, and yet defy detection, as, though it increases the weight, it does not very materially affect the bulk. The merchant who made the discovery states that he was shown into a room where the adulteration process was going on, and when he tasted the pure butter and the adulterated article he could not detect the difference. The cost of the soapstone enables packers to mix it with butter at a trifling cost, whilst it gives them an additional profit of upwards of 14 per cent. It is stated that the powder is being secretly supplied to dairymen and farmers, and that the adulteration is now going on in churning-rooms. It should be said that the butter dealers are furiously indignant at being charged with adulterating their goods with soapstone. All deny the allegation, and the firm against which the strongest suspicion has been entertained offers to pay five dollars an ounce for all soapstone found in its butter.-Provisioner.

At a late extraordinary meeting of the Vestry of St. Marylebone, Dr. A. Wynter Blyth was appointed Medical Officer of Health and Public Analyst for the parish, vice Dr. Whitmore, deceased.

At a recent meeting of the Musselburgh Town Council, Mr. J. Falconer King, Edinburgh City Analyst, was appointed Public Analyst for the burgh.

RECENT CHEMICAL PATENTS.

The following specifications have been recently published, and can be obtained from the Great Seal Office, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, London.

1705 L. A. Davies

Manufacture or Extraction of Tannin

Title of Patent.

Dynamo-Electric Machines

Manufacture of Artificial Fuel

Production of Ammonia

Electric Lamps

Liquid Compound for Electro Decomposition of Aluminium

1755 H. P. Scott, and T. D. Donaldson Antifouling Composition for Coating Ships' Bottoms

1764 R. and M. Theiler

1767 M. L. Emmanuel

Telephone Apparatus

Manufacturing Oleomargarine

Dyeing, &c.

Price

6d.

6d.

8d.

2d.

6d.

2d.

4d.

2d.

2d.

1771 J. H. Johnson.. 1788 F. Brady

1794 J. Broad

1814 W. C. Locke 1826 J. E. Gordon 1840 W. R. Lake 1852 J. Lefranc 1890 G. T. Glover 1919 H. H. Lake

1958 J. H. Johnson

Production of Electric Light

4d.

Apparatus for producing Electric Light

Manufacture of Chemical or Artificial Coal

6d.

4d.

6d.

6d.

2d.

;

The Chemist and Druggist; The Brewers' Guardian; The British Medical Journal; The Medical Press The Pharmaceutical Journal; The Sanitary Record; The Miller; Journal of Applied Science; The Boston Journal of Chemistry; The Provisioner; The Practitioner; New Remedies; Proceedings of the American Chemical Society; Le Practicien; The Inventors' Record; New York Public Health; The Scientific American; Society of Arts Journal; Sanitary Engineer of New York; The Cowkeeper and Dairyman's Journal; The Chemists' Journal; Oil and Drug News; The Textile Record of America; Reports on Water and Sewer Air, by Professor W. R. Nichols; Paper by J. Hargreaves on Sulphate of Soda.

15

THE ANALYST.

FEBRUARY, 1881.

SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALYSTS.

THE ANNUAL MEETING of this Society was held at Burlington House, on Wednesday, the 19th January, Dr. Muter in the chair.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.

The retiring President, Dr. Muter, delivered the following Valedictory Address :

In accordance with our now time-honoured custom, it becomes my duty to say a few words in the form of a Farewell Address, giving a sketch of the progress of the Society under my Presidency, and of the condition in which I hand it over to my successor, who will be elected to-night. When last year you were pleased to hear from my lips that our Society had held its own in spite of the desertion of some members who were wooing a new love, how much more satisfaction will you not now feel when I tell you that since then we have made an advance in number of nearly ten per cent. Our Society is special and, consequently, exclusive, and can never be numerically large; but we stand to-night a compact band of over 100 Members and 14 Associates, all practical men, actively engaged in the practice of Analytical Chemistry, with the entire absence of amateurs and dilletanti. During the year we have gained eleven new Members and one Associate, and we have tonight propositions before us from seven gentlemen desirous of becoming Members, besides a ballot for the election of one new member, and of two gentlemen recommended by the Council for election as Associates.

It is my painful duty to record that the grim tyrant, to whom we all must bow, has been busier in our ranks than heretofore, as we have to regret the death of three members, viz., Messrs. Stoddart, of Bristol; Edger, of Newcastle; and Dr. Proctor, of York; all good men and true, who did their duty in life, and let us hope not without reward. Of their personal merits I would speak more fully were they not sufficiently well known to all of us. Turning now to a more pleasant theme, let me for a moment call your attention to the work done by our Society in furtherance of its great object, namely that of increasing our knowledge of proper processes for the analysis of food and drugs. I find that this goes on steadily increasing, and that during 1880, we have had the large number of 44 original communications either made to us directly or published in our Journal, THE ANALYST, as against 41 for 1879. Of these we have had five each from our Secretary, Mr. Wigner, and myself, three each from Messrs. Allen, Hehner, and West-Knights, two each from Messrs. Perkin and Smetham, and one each from Drs. Dupré, Wallace, Bartlett, Cameron, Shea, and Messrs. Wynter Blyth, Lyte, Blunt, Dyer, Harvey, and Napier, the remainder being communications printed in THE ANALYST from gentlemen outside the Society. We have also had published in THE ANALYST Mr. Wigner's usual able digest of the working of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, some abstracts by one of our Associates, Mr. De Koningh, and last, but by no means least, Mr. Hehner's truly admirable and complete Alcohol Tables, without which no laboratory can be said to be fully furnished. I think, gentlemen, you will agree with me in saying that our Society could not put in a better claim for recognition as holding the first position in our special branch of chemistry, than is found in these statistics.

Last year our justly respected Vice-President, Dr. Dupré, made a remark to the effect that, when our work became better known among chemists generally we would receive such recognition. These remarks have proved truly prophetic, as I can say, having heard it from more than one source, that this past year has seen a marked advance in the position of our Society in the minds of those scientific chemists whose opinions count for something. We have had to struggle with much openly-declared enmity, and still more secret backbiting, and as an instance, I may mention that one of our own members even had the bad taste to advise a gentlemen not to join " а small society" like ours. The advice, however, fell flat, the gentleman in question joined us, and I notice particularly that our advicegiving member's name is conspicuously absent from the list of those who have helped by their work to show that quantity is not always synonymous with quality.

I

Having thus briefly shown the state in which I hand over the Society to my successor, may I hope be excused if I express my full belief that under his reign the present good state of affairs will be more than maintained; because, if the gentleman who has been proposed be elected, as I have no doubt he will be unanimously, you will have a man far better qualified than myself to command respect both by his years and his experience, and who will, I venture to predict, fully realise our hopes raised by his past services to the Society. One word more and I have done, but that word is to be said in the most emphatic manner, as I feel it would be unjust for me to sit down without a mention of the chemists at Somerset House. Both personally and in my capacity as your President, many facts have come to my knowledge which enable me to bear public testimony to the immense pains and care exercised by Mr. Bell and his colleagues on the samples submitted to them. It is true that, in a few instances, they have been obliged to differ from the conclusions of some of our members, but they can only judge upon the sample they receive, and I am sorry to say I do not always believe the samples to strictly represent those sent to the analyst; but in most cases, where the samples were genuine, their conclusion has borne out that of the analyst. I make it purposely a point, from a sincere conviction of its truth, of making this justly complimentary reference the last of my public acts as your President. Now, gentlemen, my task is over, and in bidding you farewell, let me urge you to work, observe, and communicate your results. Chemistry is essentially a science built up by the collection of small facts, and no observation, carefully made, however apparently simple, but will aid in attaining the grand arcana. Let us then continue to prosecute researches at every spare moment, so that Great Britain may continue to be, what she is undoubtedly at present, the nursery of the science of food analysis.

Dr. Bartlett proposed, and Mr. Dyer seconded, a vote of thanks to Dr. Muter for the efficient manner in which he had conducted the business of the Society during the year, and the manner in which he had sustained the credit of the Society.

The ballot papers were opened by the Scrutineers, Messrs. Hehner and Hobbs, who reported that the following gentlemen had been duly elected as Officers and Members of Council for the current year :

The names of those Members of Council whose terms of office has not yet expired, and who, consequently, do not retire this year, are :—

J. CARTER BELL, F.C.S., F.I.C.

J. CAMPBELL BROWN, D.Sc., F.C.S., F.I.C.

C. A. CAMERON, M.D., F.R.C.S., F.I.C.

BERNARD DYER, F.C.S., F.I.C.

OTTO HEHNER, F.C.S., F.I.C.

W. WALLACE, F.C.S., F.I.C.

The Scrutineers also reported that for the office of Second Secretary two gentlemen had received an equal number of votes.

They further reported that the following gentlemen had also been duly elected :

As Honorary Members-Michel E. Chevreul, F.R.S., of Paris; C. Remigius Fresenius, Ph.D., of Wiesbaden; A. W. Hofmann, D.C.L., F.R.S., of Berlin. As Member-W. Hodgson Ellis, Public Analyst for District of Toronto, Canada. As Associates-W. Bouchier, Assistant to Dr. Bernays; B. A. Burrell, Assistant to T. Fairley.

The following gentlemen were proposed as Members of the Society, and will be balloted for at the next meeting:-Thomas Stevenson, M.D., F.C.S., F.I.C., Guy's Hospital; Horace Swete, M.D., F.C.S., of Worcester; W. Douglass Hogg, of Paris; Dr. Paul Vieth, of London; H. J. Yeld, M.D., F.C.S., of Sunderland; W. Johnstone, of King's Lynn, and J. J. Broadbent, F.C.S., of Charing Cross Hospital.

Dr. Muter proposed, and it was carried unanimously, that a vote of thanks be given to the Chemical Society for the use of their rooms during the past year.

A vote of thanks to the Members of Council for their services during the past year was proposed and carried unanimously, and suitably acknowledged by the Past President. Dr. Dupré moved, and Dr. Bartlett seconded, a vote of thanks to the Secretaries for their services during the past year, which was carried.

The Annual Dinner was afterwards held at the Café Royal, Regent Street, where, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, many of the Members and their friends passed an agreeable evening.

The next meeting of the Society will be held at Burlington House, on Wednesday, the 16th February, at Eight o'clock.

THE ANALYSES OF THE PUBLIC WATER SUPPLIES OF ENGLAND. THE purity of the water supply of the large towns of England has been for a long time a prominent matter in the consideration of the public, and a matter of almost daily discussion in the leading London and Provincial newspapers, as well as a certain and somewhat lengthy source of argument year by year before Parliamentary Committees and in the House of Commons itself.

A certain section of the public have taken the matter up from the standpoint that a water supply for drinking purposes, ought to be not only free from all injurious constituents, but that, in order to be perfectly satisfactory, it should practically possess the characters of distilled water as far as regards freedom from either organic or inorganic constituents. Following their opinion to its logical conclusion, these persons naturally conclude that no river supply could by any chance be fit for household use, and that no matter how much the proportion of drainage matter which may find its way into a stream is oxidised, even by flowing 20 miles down the stream, its injurious effects were liable to be as bad as when it was originally poured in.

Others, again, hold that water from deep wells in the chalk strata, containing a large quantity of lime salts, although organically pure, is liable to produce, or any rate to increase, certain diseases, by introducing too large a quantity of earthy salts into the system. It is not the business of the Society of Public Analysts to decide between these and the various other statements which have been made, but the proposals for legislation which occur from year to year in reference to water supplies, render it very desirable that authentic and reliable information as to the actual analyses of the various waters used, not only in London, but also in the leading towns of the kingdom, should be in the hands of those whose duty and interest it is to guide the national deliberations on the subject.

In order to meet this public necessity, the Society of Public Analysts have discussed the matter and decided to publish a monthly series of analyses, which shall be made on a perfectly uniform system, somewhat more full than those which have been previously in nse. This series will include not only monthly analyses of the London waters, and as far as practicable all the towns included in the Registrar-General's reports, but in addition to these, periodical analyses, at longer or shorter intervals as the case may be, of the water of any other towns in which the supplies seem of a sufficiently public character, and the population is sufficiently large to justify such a step.

At present neither the Society nor its members (by whose signature the returns are authenticated) express any opinion whatever as to the relative qualities of the waters, beyond those contained in the figures and facts of the analyses themselves, although it is possible that at a future time some such expression of opinion may be made.

The details of the analyses are, however, so complete, that those who are in the habit of collating such results can form a fair judgment for themselves.

There are several special features in the scheme which require notice. The analysts who are co-operating in it are working on uniform instructions, and accordingly to absolutely uniform processes; the result is that, for the first time, a fair comparison can be made between the water supplies of London and of the provincial towns. The analyses are not only fuller than heretofore published, but some important modifications have been made, especially as regards the temperature at which the determination of oxygen absorbed is made, which, although altering these analyses slightly from those which have preceded them, yet do in the opinion of the Society greatly increase the delicacy of the analyses for the detection of pollution.

The form in which the analyses are reported, namely, by giving the results in grains per gallon, has been adopted after mature deliberation, as that which, in the judgment of the majority, would render the analyses most valuable to those who have to consult the tabulated figures.

The instructions under which the analysts are working are in print, and the Secretary will be happy to furnish a copy of them to any person interested in water analysis on receipt of a request for the same.

The Editors of this journal will endeavour, from month to month, to publish the particulars of the sources of any public supplies of which it may be possible to obtain authentic and reliable details, and some of these particulars are published in this number.

The returns for next month will probably comprise all the missing places in the Registrar-General's list of large towns, and probably some six or eight places not included among those reported on in this number.