182 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
I regret that I have not been able to extend these observations to commercial 
samples of olive oil of different qualities, and to have included a greater number 
of fixed oils, from the great difficulty of procuring specimens of reliability in 
purity or condition. 
The paper was illustrated by a drawing of the apparatus used by the author; 
in the absence of Mr. Warren it was fully explained by the Secretary. 
Mr. Young moved a vote of thanks to the author of this able and important paper. 
He believed that there was great necessity for examining the purity of fixed oils. Quite 
recently he found that he could not get a quantity of linseed-meal, because all the 
mills were crushing poppy-seed for oil, the purpose of which, he was credibly informed, 
was for export to Italy, and admixture with olive oil. At any rate, poppy oil was 
seldom met with in this country under its own name. 
Professor Attfield seconded the vote of thanks, and warmly commended the 
paper. 
Mr. Reynolds alluded to the great battery-power used by the author of the paper— 
thirty-two cells,—the inconvenience of which would be a fatal objection to the method 
as a ready test for fixed oils. He regretted the absence of Mr. Warren, as be should 
have wished to ask if the introduction of a Ruhmkorff’s coil into the electrical circle 
would not give the requisite intensity with much less battery-power. 
Mr. Brough was surprised that Mr. Warren had not adopted the standard unit of 
resistance used by the constructors of the marine telegraph cable, which was the one 
approved by a committee of the British Association. The adoption of such a standard 
was most desirable. 
ON GLYCELTTJM, A PROPOSED BASIS EOR OINTMENTS. 
BY T. B. GROVES, F.C.S. 
Some years ago, when stirring together on my plate a mixture of mustard, 
sugar, vinegar, and olive oil, I observed a tendency towards combination, and, 
on persevering with the process, I eventually obtained a semi-transparent paste 
of soft consistence, which, when mixed with a further proportion of vinegar, 
gave an elegant emulsion. I subsequently found that by modifying my method 
I could obtain this result very readily. Since then, I have, as occasion required, 
prepared a very useful salad paste, which, being composed of the simple materials 
common to all salad dressings, formed a kind of universal basis, and being desti¬ 
tute of vinegar, kept well for a length of time. It was made thus:— 
Take of 
Mustard.5iij 
Syrup.3j . 
Olive oil.5uj 
Mix the mustard and syrup in a mortar to a smooth paste, then add gradually, 
with constant trituration, the olive oil. When nicely made it forms a soft paste, 
which, after a few days’ rest for the elimination of air-bubbles, becomes nearly 
transparent. When mixed, by gradual addition with vinegar and flavouring 
ingredients to taste, it forms, to my mind, an excellent and simple salad dress¬ 
ing. This is not strictly pharmaceutical, but it was out of this arose the idea 
of the subject of this paper—Glycelseum. 
It of course soon occurred to me that other oils besides olive could be so 
emulsed, and that compounds so obtained might be made to serve the purposes 
of the surgeon or of the doctor,—might be used to favour the assimilation of 
oil, or as dressings for wounds and such-like. Mustard was of course inadmis¬ 
sible for either purpose. I must here observe that if the ingredients for the 
