HEALTH. By a Medical Student.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1985, 28 March 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

HEALTH. By a Medical Student.

" The great science of chemistry " (days the most eloquent of living Englishmen) " is the potent factor to which we must look for the improvement and conservation of public health. Public health means publio happiness, and publio happiness is the millennium which we should all strive to attain." Suoh is the pregnant dictum of Mr. Bright, one which will be re echoed by every senuble person, and although the tendency of modern legislation is decidedly inquisitorial it is Btrange how ineffective are the steps taken by the guardians of the public weal to promote that important subject. Aots of Parliament on the subject of Hygiene there are almost without number, but they are mostly of a vexatious character and ineffective in operation. The butcher, the baker, the grocer, the publican, and the druggist are hodged round by laws which, while very annoying, are of little publio benefit, for they only touch on the surface instead of beginning at the bottom. If a chemist sells a grain of poison, and makes a slight omission in placing a proper label on it, ho ia liable to (severe punishment, but numbers of people may bo injured through the use of bad or worn-out medicine, and no notioe is taken of it. The imaginary evil is attacked, while the real ono ia passed by. This faot has oflen struck me, and, as an expert, it has led me into an investigation of the medioines manufactured and vended in Melbourne, which I trust will be of use to the inhabitants and to the people of Australia generally, for it will, I am sure, be readily admitted that pure medicines are of paramount importance when viewed from the standpoint of public health. There are in Melbourne many deservedly respected chemists, and foremost amongst these (both from the age of the establishment and the magnitude of the business done, ia the firm of 11. Franoia and Co., of IJI Bourke st.East. As an excellent field for my investigations, I accordingly visited the premises of this firm, and, upon expressing a desire to have a look through, was most courteously shown over it by Mr. Francia. A passing description of the promises may not be out of place. Although the building is large, the business doing has compelled the firm to utilise every part. The retail department occupies a considerable portion of the first floor, and is so well arranged that a number of people can be served at the same time without the least inconvenienco ; on account of the large business doing the stook is always fresh. Next to this are the dispensaries, which are constructed so as to be free .from interruption — a most important point. No poisonous drugs are to be found here ; they are isolated, and kept under lock and key in the front portion of shop, and are so oheoked

in dispensing that it is simply impossible for any one to be injured by preparations containing those potent agents, as, when such h wanted the dispenser ha» the drug brought, the quantity checked, and then immediately restored to its place in the cupboard. An architectural arrangement permits a maximum amount of light to enter them. Adjoining these is the surgical imtrument department, which embraces all that comes under the head of medical appliance?, such as galvanic batteries— ranging in value from a few shillings to many pounds— arm-sliuga, air and water-beds pillows and cushions, the hot air and vapor bath (a moat simple and ingenious apparatus for household use within the reach of everyone), and, indeed, every requisite for the aiok chamber, the mere mention of whioh would require a volume. Beyond this is a small office used chiefly for showing and fitting onelastio stockings, belts, &c , a large stock being ranged around. Still further on is a laboratory chiefly used for the pieparation of the various tinctures, pill masses, ointments, powders, &a. In one cerner is a Coffey's still— a miniature laboratory in itself — in which the various processes of distillation, evaporation, boiling, drying, Ac, can be carried on. It is principally u?ed now, however, for distilling water for dispensing use, the increasing business of the firm necessitating the employment of larger and more modern apparatus. (The chief laboratory of thia firm is at 146 Little Lonsdale-street East, which is described further on ) The second and third floors are used as store-rooms, with the exception of the front portion of the upper flat, which is used as a dormitory for assistants on night duty, as the premises are never left without a competent person in charge, so that medicine can be obtained at any houi ; and another loom, in which young people are continually employed putting up Seidhl/ Powders, Seltzogene Charges, etc., and the numerous preparations of the firm, such as Dandelion Coffee for the liver, Pepsine Wine for indigestion, etc., etc. Ranged along one side were Essences, Lavender Water, and numerous peifumps, emitting an exceedingly pleasant odor. The back rooms were stored with patent medicines, and all the storerooms were splendidly stocked. At the top of the staircase is the book-keeper's office, about to be fitted up for the rapidly-increas-ing business of the Medical Agency Department ; provision is also made for a commodious packing-room, as the firm does a large country business, medicines being despatched daily to all parts o£ tbe colony, in addition to a considerable wholesale trade, principally among medical men. Other portions of this room are used for the storage of the medicinal mineral waters and other goods of a cogaate character. Above this ie another flat of the same size, where are to be found the innumerable roots and herbs that require a dry atmosphere for their preservation. It would be quite impossible^ for me to give anything like a detailed description of what I saw at .'5l Bourke-atreet East, nor is it my purpose to do so, as the lafeoratory is the goal which I wish to attain. I was anxious to see the laboratory, as that is the place upon which depends to a great extent the quality of prepared medicines. I was shown over it, and had everything explained by Mr. Parker, the manager, a gentleman of great experience, he having been 30 years in the laboratory of Hearon, Squire, and Francis, the world-known druggists, of Coleraan-stieet, London. The building was scrupulously clean and fitted up with the most recent inventions and improve^ appliances used in the manufacture of pti-u-raaceutical preparations. Ranged alouj.- '<ne side were several differently-sized -teurapans, whioh supplied with steam fr ;ia a perpendicular boiler. I noticed a peculiarity in the construction of these pans — the steamjacket only covering the lower portion — which elicited the information that by this arrangement the contents were saved the risk of injury from burning or boiling over, the sides being fully exposed to the cooling action of the atmosphere. One of these pans, by a vqry simple arrangement, ct»a bo utilised as a still by connecting it with a oondenser containing two worms, one of which is uacd for " diuwing over " medicated waters, such as cinnamon, dill, caraway, chorry-laurel, Arc, and the other for condensing the spare steam from the boiler. Large jan stood around filled with fluid extracts, such as Cinchona, Ergot, Sarsaparilla, Dandelion, &c. ; Concentrated Infusions and Di coctiona, Syrups and Liquors, Sweet Spirits of Nitre, Spirits of Sal Volatile, itc. Others contained the solid extiacts, such as Gentian, Compound Colooynth, Liquorice ; and everything, in fact, of this description which it is possible to manufacture in the colony. There were also numerous Flavors, a noticeable one being a lemon flavor made from the fresh lemonpeel, and particularly serviceable for making summer drinks. • A rich, thick looking fluid I found was a medicinal food of rare quality— Syr. Feri. Phosph Co. — containing a great amount^ of nutrition for the brain, aui strengthening matter for the blooJ. The raw mateiial from which these highly oiored and beautifully colored liquids are produced by the processes of peroolation, distillation, evaporation, by steam and water bath, pressing, crushing, drying, calcining, Ac., were also shown me, and I subjected them to a critical comparison with their products, the results being eminently satisfactory, fully impressing me with the conviction that given such fresh and pure products to work upon, the medicines vended from the establishment of Francis & Co. must be of a quality unsurpassed by any chemist in the world, whioh is a matter of no Bmall moment to the people of Austratia. I also noticed a very small hydraulic press, capable of working to a pressure of 30 tons. As time was pressing, I could not stop longer to examine the various other objects of interest, and left fully impressed with the sterling worth of what I had seen. Great responsibility, undoubtedly, rests upon the chemist. It is within his power to be either a public blessing or a public curse. The triumphs of human intellect have placed potentialities within his grasp. Three thousand years of man's discoveries have given him a talisman more wonderful than ever Aladdin possessed. Certainly he has not yet discovered the Philosopher's Stone, nor the Elixir of Life. Nor will he, because he has cast aside the Chimeras and Philters begotten of human ignorance, and descended to the wanf3 and realities cf everyday hCe. The splendid science from which ho takes his name has been, by a great writer, placed at the head of the material discoveries whioh increase the sum total of human happiness. Buckle institutes a beautiful comparison between it and geology, the one dealing with matter in its most minute forms, the other taking for its subject the globe itself; but while geology may tell us of the formation and changes of the earth's crust; take us back 10 000 years, and show us the cave-dwellars strivin" to keep alive the first dawnings of human reason ; speak to us of glaoial periods, or of a time when the palm tree and the spicos of equatorial regions grew in luxurianco at the poles, and take us, step by step, through the various changes that have now enwrapped them in everlasting ice, it cannot alleviate the slightest pain, nor mitigate tne simplest disease that afflictß humanity. Geology deals with a dead past, but the labors and the skill of the ohemist are brought to bear on a suffering present. The ohemiat id the real scientist, for true knowledge consists in the alleviation of human suffering, and what an amount of evil has been destroyed by the laboratory who can tell ?