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THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
The forty-fifth annual general meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of 
Great Britain was held on 19th May last. The Report, to the leading features 
of which we make reference in an editorial note, was adopted, hut not without 
considerable discussion. A strong feeling was manifested in favour of enlarging 
the scope of the Pharmaceutical Journal , and a resolution was carried recom- 
mending to the favourable consideration of the council the desirability of extend- 
ing the usefulness of the Journal, A vigorous but unsuccessful effort was 
made by the Scotch members to obtain a satisfactory settlement of the 
differences at present existing between the society and the North British Branch 
by the appointment of a committee, elected from the English and Scotch 
members, to deal with the question. 
A Cleanly and Economical Method of Applying Ointments. — At a 
meeting of the Manchester Medical Society on 21st April Dr. Brooke exhibited 
a number of ointments, prepared with a solid base, composed with cacao, butter, 
wax, and oil, or lanolin, and cast into the form of sticks (“ salve-sticks”). He 
had found them particularly useful in making applications to the face and 
hands, since, their melting point being high, they did not run at the temperature 
of the body, as did ointments prepared with the ordinary bases; and, when 
dusted over with powder, they were practically invisible. When covered with 
Mather’s, or Seabury and Johnson’s adhesive rubber (waterproof) plaster, they 
offered a mode of applying remedies to the skin which was more durable 
than the Unna-Beiersdorf plasters, and less expensive. With this protective 
covering, they were especially applicable to the treatment of psoriasis by chry- 
sarobin, and possessed several advantages over the methods of Pick, Auspitz, 
and Besnier, in that the fatty menstruum was preserved ; they did not need 
such frequent renewal ; they were more readily applied, and did not cause any 
disagreeable dragging on the skin and hairs. The fear of staining the clothing 
was completely removed, and the patient might, moreover, bathe without dis- 
turbing the dressing. They were supplied enclosed in small cases, like those 
used for cosmetics, so that they could be conveniently carried in the pocket. 
Somewhat similar preparations, which had been since brought out and described 
by Dr. Unna, were also shown. 
The British and Colonial Druggist reports that at a recent meeting of the 
Royal Botanic Society, Dr. Cogswell read a paper upon “ Camassia esculenta 
the camass of the North American Indians, a liliaceous plant, whose bulbs 
were once a staple food of the aborigines of the Western slope of the Rocky 
Mountains, though now it has given place in great measure to the white man’s 
corn and vegetables. The season of flowering was held as a high festival by 
the tribes that assembled together to dig up the bulbs, the maiden who 
gathered the greatest quantity being estimated the most eligible for matrimony. 
Specimens of the plant in flower from the Society’s garden were shown at the 
meeting. 
A preliminary meeting of the British Association, in connection with the 
visit of the Association to Manchester, was held on 8th May. It was resolved to 
raise the sum of £3000 to cover the expenses of the visit. 
At the May meeting of the Microscopical Society the president exhibited and 
described anew condenser which he had invented, styled the “The Desideratum.” 
It is put forth as a substitute for the expensive condensers now in use, and it 
appeared to be regarded by the meeting as a very valuable addition to microscopic 
accessories. 
A dentist in Berlin has been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for 
kissing a lady on whose teeth he was operating in his house. 
