be charged in respect of each licence granted in pursuance of this Act such sum, not exceeding five shillings, as the local authority may think fit to charge. Sect, 10 provides, that should the local authority refuse to grant a licence, the person applying for the same may petition the Secretary of State to grant such licence, forwarding him at the same time the reasons in writing why the said local board refused to grant the said licence. Sect. 11. Any officer authorised by the local authority may purchase any petroleum from any dealer in it, or may, on producing a copy of his appointment purporting to be certified by the clerk or some member of the local authority, or producing some other sufficient authority, require the dealer to show him every or any place, and all or any of the vessels in which any petroleum in his possession is kept, and to give him samples of such petroleum on payment of the value of such samples. When the officer has by either of the means aforesaid taken samples of petroleum, he may declare in writing to the dealer that he is about to test the same, or cause the same to be tested, in manner set forth in Schedule I, to this Act; and it shall be lawful for him to test the same, or cause the same to be tested, at any convenient place at such reasonable time as he may appoint, and the dealer or any person appointed by him may be present at the testing; and if it appear to the officer or other person so testing, that the petroleum from which such samples have been taken is petroleum to which this Act applies, such officer or other person may certify such fact, and the certificate so given shall be receivable as evidence in any proceedings that may be taken against a dealer in petroleum in pursuance of this Act. But it shall be lawful for the dealer proceeded against to give evidence in proof that such certificate is incorrect, and thereupon the court before which any such proceedings may be taken, may, if such court think fit, appoint some person skilled in testing petroleum to examine the samples to which such certificate relates, and to declare whether such certificate is correct or incorrect. Any expense incurred in testing any petroleum of such dealer in pursuance of this section shall, if such dealer be convicted of keeping, sending, conveying, selling, or exposing for sale petroleum in contravention of this Act, be deemed to be a portion of the cost of the proceedings against him, and shall be paid by him accordingly. In any other event, such expenses shall be paid by the local authority out of any funds for the time being in their hands. Sect, 12 imposes a penalty on any dealer who refuses information, or wilfully obstructs the local authority or any officer of the local authority in the execution of the Act. Sect, 13 authorises a search for petroleum. Sect, 14 empowers her Majesty by Order in Council to apply the Act to other substances. SCHEDULE I. Directions for testing petroleum to ascertain the temperature at which it gives off inflammable vapour. The vessel which is to hold the oil shall be of thin sheet-iron; it shall be two inches deep and two inches wide at the opening, tapering slightly towards the bottom; it shall have a flat rim, with a raised edge one quarter of an inch high round the top; it shall be supported by this rim in a tin vessel four inches and a half deep, and four inches and a half in diameter; it shall also have a thin wire stretched across the opening, which wire shall be so fixed to the edge of the vessel that it shall be a quarter of an inch above the surface of the flat rim. The thermometer to be used shall have a round bulb about half an inch in diameter, and is to be graduated upon the scale of Fahrenheit, every ten degrees occupying not less than half an inch upon the scale. The inner vessel shall be filled with the petroleum to be tested, but care must be taken that the liquid does not cover the flat rim. The outer vessel shall be filled with cold or nearly cold water. A small flame shall be applied to the body of the other vessel, and the thermometer shall be inserted into the oil so that the bulb shall be immersed about one and a half inches beneath the surface. A screen of pasteboard or wood shall be placed round the apparatus, and shall be of such dimensions as to surround it about two-thirds, and to reach several inches above the level of the vessels. When heat has been applied to the water until the thermometer has risen to about 90° F., a very small flame shall be passed across the surface of the oil on a level with the wire. If no pale blue flicker or flash is produced, the application of the flame is to be repeated for every rise of two or three degrees in the thermometer. When the flashing-point has been noted, the test shall be repeated with a fresh sample of oil, using cold or nearly cold water as before, withdrawing the source of heat from the outer vessel. When the temperature approaches that noted n the first experiment, and applying the flame, test at every rise of two degrees in the thermometer. Pharmacy Act (31 & 32 Vict. c. 121)The following are the more important provisions of this Act: Sect. 1. From and after the 31st day of December 1868 it shall be unlawful for any person to sell or keep open shop for retailing, dispensing, or compounding poisons, or to assume or use the title "chemist and druggist," or chemist or druggist, or pharmacist, or dispensing chemist or druggist, in any part of Great Britain, unless such person shall be a pharmaceutical chemist, or a chemist and druggist within the meaning of this Act, and be registered under this Act, and conform to such regulations as to the keeping, dispensing, and selling of such poisons as may from time to time be prescribed by the Pharmaceutical Society with the consent of the Privy Council. Sect. 2. The several articles named or described in the Schedule (A) shall be deemed to be poisons within the meaning of this Act, and the council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (herein. after referred to as the Pharmaceutical Society) may from time to time by resolution declare that any article in such resolution named ought to be deemed a poison within the meaning of this Act; and thereupon the said society shall submit the same for the approval of the Privy Council, and if such approval shall be given, then such resolution and approval shall be advertised in the "London Gazette," and on the expiration of one month from such advertisement the article named in such resolution shall be deemed to be a poison within the meaning of this Act. Sect. 17. It shall be unlawful to sell any poison, either by wholesale or retail, unless the box, bottle, vessel, wrapper, or cover in which such poison is contained be distinctly labelled with the name of the article, and the word "poison," with the name and address of the seller of the poison. And it shall be unlawful to sell any poison of those which are in the first part of Schedule (A) to this Act, or may hereafter be added thereto under section 2 of this Act, to any person unknown to the seller, unless introduced by some person known to the seller; and on every sale of any such article, the seller shall, before delivery, make, or cause to be made, an entry in a book to be kept for that purpose, stating in the form set forth in Schedule (F) to this Act, the date of the sale, the name and address of the purchaser, the name and quantity of the article sold, and the purpose for which it is stated by the purchaser to be required, to which entry the signature of the purchaser and of the person, if any, who introduced him, shall be allfixed. And any person selling poison otherwise than is herein provided shall, upon a summary conviction before two justices of the peace in England, or the sheriff in Scotland, be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for the first offence, and to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds for the second or any subsequent offence; and for the purposes of this section, the seller on whose behalf any sale is made by any apprentice or servant, shall be deemed to be the seller; but the provisions of this section, which are solely applicable to poisons in the first part of the Schedule (A) to this Act, or which require that the label shall contain the name and address of the seller, shall not apply to articles to be exported from Great Britain by wholesale dealers, nor to sales by wholesale to retail dealers in the ordinary course of wholesale dealing, nor shall any of the provisions of this section apply to any medicine supplied by a legally-qualified apothecary to his patient, nor apply to any article when forming part of the ingredients of any medicine dispensed by a person registered under this Act: provided such medicine be labelled in the manner aforesaid, with the name and address of the seller, and the ingredients thereof be entered with the name of the person to whom it is sold or delivered in a book to be kept by the seller for that purpose; and nothing in this Act contained shall repeal or affect any of the provisions of an Act of the session holden in the fourteenth and fifteenth years in the reign of her present Majesty, intituled "An Act to Regulate the Sale of Arsenic." See ARSENIC. Phosphates in Food-See FOOD. Phosphoretted Hydrogen- Hydride of phosphorus (PH). See PHOSPHORUS. Phosphorus (P = 31) — A non-metallic element discovered by Brandt in 1669. Relative weight, 62; theoretic specific gravity of vapour, 4284; observed specific gravity, 4'42; fusing-point, 111·5° F. (44-2° C.); boiling-point, about 550° F. (288° C.) Phosphorus is prepared on a large scale by the distillation of superphosphate of lime with charcoal. The superphosphate is changed by the process into tribasic calcic phosphate and phosphoric acid, and this free acid is deoxidised by the charcoal-carbonic oxide, hydrogen, and free phosphorus being the ultimate products. The two stages may be thus represented : ་ Colourless. Attached energetically by Red or Amorphous Phosphorus. Bright red. Amorphous. Specific gravity, 9-14 Insoluble in bisulphide of carbon. Unalterable and Det phosphorescent on exposure to sir, Inflammable at 500 F (260°C.) Action of nitric acid on but slight. Combines with chlorine without production of flame. Not poisonous. Common phosphorus is a violent poison, and its fumes produce on individuals exposed to them for any lengthened period a peculiar disease, known as necrosis of the jaw. This complaint is not so common since the amorphous description of phosphorus has been employed in match manufactories. The amer phous form of phosphorus, indeed, appears to be wholly inert. It has been given in very large quantities to animals, and taken by man in considerable doses, without any apparent effect. (Annuaire de Thérapeutique, 1855, p. 103.) Poisoning by phosphorus, accidental, criminal, and suicidal, is not so common here as in France, in which country it appears to be on the increase, and at present occupies the first place in the criminal statistics-e.g., from 1851 to 1872, in 793 cases of poisoning, 287 or 36-2 per cent. were due to arsenic, and 267 or 31.1 per cent. to phosphorus; whilst in the years 1872 and 1874, in 141 criminal poisonings by arsenic and phosphorus, only 74 were due to Prsenic. This increase may be ascribed in a great measure to the ease with which common phosphorus may be obtained by the pur chase of some kinds of matches, as also the various phosphorous pastes used for the destruction of vermin. Besides this, the taste and odour of phosphorus in a free state is not difficult to conceal, nor is it very repulgive, for Tardieu remarks that he has made dogs swallow the different phosphorous pastes without the animals evincing any repugnance. It is to be hoped that it will be made compulsory in all countries to manufacture matches with the amorphous phosphorus only, both for the sake of the health of the workmen, and also in order to decrease cases of poisoning by this substance. Symptoms of Poisoning by Phosphorus.— The symptoms, although various, may be referred to three distinct forms-viz., a common form, a nervous form, and a hæmorrhagic form.-(TARDIEU, Étude Medico-legale sur l'Empoisonnement.) Each of these forms may succeed each other, and only constitute periods in the same case; but it cannot be doubted that each may show itself alone, unaccompanied by the rest, during the whole course of the malady produced by the poison. The most common symptoms, and therefore referable to the first form, are that five, six, or even twelve hours after having drunk or eaten something which usually has been referred to as having a disagreeable taste, and may have been followed by alliaceous and phosphorescent eructations, there is pain in the throat and swelling of the tongue. Nausea follows, ending in vomiting, but the latter is not a constant symptom. Vomiting is often followed by colic and diarrhoea; the stomach and bowels are rather tender; the brain is then die suddenly, without the manifestation of any other symptom. More commonly, however, about the second or fourth day jaundice appears, accompanied with albuminuria, and death takes place by coma. The symptoms among infants do not follow this course; they mainly consist of vomiting, somnolence, and convulsions. In the second or nervous form the symptoms are mainly referable to the nervous system. There is extreme prostration, painful cramp, delirium about the fifth or sixth day, and death by coma, often preceded by convulsions. In the hæmorrhagic form the whole course of the disease is slower. Death may not take place for one or two weeks, or even for a month. Vomiting of blood, stools of blood, ecchymoses of the skin, and frequent hæmorrhages from all or any of the mucous surfaces, with great and progressive weakness and increase in the size of the liver, are the most prominent and marked symptoms. In all the above forms the vomited or expectorated matters may be luminous in the dark. In cases where the patient has recovered, a persistent weakness and partial paralysis has been observed. The most constant post-mortem appearances are marks of irritation and inflammation of the stomach and bowels. Sometimes the stomach is perforated. The viscera have frequently presented a luminous appearance, and have emitted white fumes. Fatty degeneration of the liver and other soft organs is also a very constant change. The tissue In any other case the only certain and reliable method for the detection of free phosphorus is that of Mitscherlich. to be examined is cut up into small pieces and placed in a flask with a little water, or if a liquid is under investigation, the liquid may be placed in the flask without water; in any case, a little sulphuric acid is added, sufficient to neutralise any ammonia which otherwise all organic matters give off in considerable quantity when distilled (this addition is absolutely necessary, as phosphorus is not luminAfter twenty-four or thirty-ous in the presence of ammonia). The flask six hours, apparent recovery takes place; the may now be adapted to a small Liebig's conpatient walks about, complaining only of wandenser, and distilled by the heat of a sanddering pains about the loins and legs. He bath in perfect darkness. If free phosphorus Lay go on like this for two or three days, and be present, the tube will be more or less lumin not affected. ous, according to the quantity of phosphorus | CH. ROUCHER, Annales d'Hygiène, 1874, t. ii. present. The distillate, which should be p. 406.) received in a small bottle, will be acid, and will, on being shaken, exhibit a luminosity. The distillate may be treated with a little pure nitric acid, evaporated to a small bulk, and tested qualitatively for phosphoric acid by the usual tests. It may also be estimated by precipitation with ammonia and sulphate of magnesia, the resulting precipitate washed, dried, ignited, and weighed, and the amount of phosphorus calculated out from the pyrophosphate of magnesia. Free phosphorus often cannot be found even when known to have been taken; the reason of this is that it has undergone oxidation, and appears under the form of phosphoric acid. In cases where no free phosphorus is found, it has been recommended by some chemists to estimate the phosphoric acid found in the stomach, or even in the tissues. Such a process must inevitably lead to disastrous errors. Phosphates exist in all parts of the body, and even crystals of the ammonia-magnesian phosphate may be found in people who have not taken any free phosphorus, especially when the organs are in a state of decomposition; nor is the phosphoric acid naturally present in the body, fixed and invariable. Jules Lefort found 179 per cent. of phosphoric acid in the muscles of a man who died from disease at La Pitie, and in the muscles of another corpse, that of a man who died from accident, 333 per cent. was found. The liver, the stomach, the lungs, &c., of different subjects, yielded variable quantities of phosphoric acid. must also be remembered that the different varieties of food found in the stomach nearly all contain phosphoric acid, e.g. It Phosphates. Per cent. 0.049 0.395 0.398 0-361 0:458 0:387 0:345 0:465 0514 0.532 Brain of ox (white and grey substance) 0:503 Tripe : 0.760 -(Recherche Toxicologique du Phosphore, Annales d'Hygiène, 1874, ii. p. 405.) Antidote. The evidence appears pretty complete that oil of turpentine is a true antidote to phosphorus. The dose should be about a teaspoonful every four hours.-(See Arsenic, Phosphore, et Antimonie, par M. le Docteur Phthisis, Consumption, Tuberculosis, &c.-Although there are differences be tween phthisis, consumption, and tuberculosis, they are only such as have been pointed out of late years by a more accurate and extended pathology; hence it will be convenient for the study of consumption statistics to define, for the purpose of this article, the term "phthisis" as a disease of the lungs attended by wasting, and returned in the Bills of Mortality as tissic, in the Registrar-General's as phthisis, or tubercular disease, and signified by other writers as consumption, dry-rot, &c.; and it must be premised that a percentage of many other diseases-such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, fibroid changes of the lung-have been for many years returned as phthisis. It is, however, probable that the figures representing the mortality are fairly accurate, as the errors are to a certain extent compensating; and indeed tubercles are often found even in the diseases above mentioned. The pathology of phthisis may be shortly stated thus, that there is a production in the lungs and other organs of a morbid product called tubercle, either in the shape of little, grey, almost structureless masses, or a yellow cheesy-like substance, which is either scattered more or less uniformly through the tissue, or is collected into larger or smaller masses. The tissue around each little mass generally inflames and ulcerates, the ulceration and suppuration being an effort of nature to get rid of the foreign substance. Thus, by successive ulceration a large portion of the lung may be destroyed, or by inflammation of such a tissue as the peritoneum, or the meninges of the brain, a fatal result be rapidly attained. Recent researches would appear to show that tubercle begins in the lymphatics, the first changes being in the epithelial cells (endothelium) lining those vessels. It will be convenient to first prove the importance of the study of consumption to hygienists by referring to the mortality from this disease. Table I., on p. 441, shows the number of deaths from consumption within the London Bills of Mortality from 1629, with several breaks, down to 1832, and is taken from the “Insurance Cyclopædia," art. Consumption, Consumption occupies the first place in the causes of death. For instance, the Regis trar General's returns for 1871, phthisis comes first, with the proportional nume ber of 2364 to 1,000,000 deaths from all |