458 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Mr. Hanbury said that, as the subject of jalap had been mentioned, it might 
perhaps be interesting to the meeting to learn the substance of what he had 
communicated to the Chairman with reference to the growth of jalap in this 
country. On the previous Saturday he dug up in his father’s garden at Clap- 
ham some roots of jalap. One plant, or a single tuber, was put in last June 
twelve months, consequently it grew in the summer of 1866, remained in the 
open air, or, at least, in the open ground, during the winter of 1866 and 1867, 
and last summer it grew very vigorously. A few days ago it cast its flower. 
The tuber had increased to six large tubers and twenty-four small ones ; so 
that, in fact, there were thirty tubers produced from this one in two seasons. 
The plant grew with great vigour, and produced flowers very late last summer, 
and also the previous summer. He had sent the roots to the Society of 
Acclimatization at Paris, as he believed they wanted them for their garden. 
He mentioned the circumstance to show the prolific nature of the plant, and the 
probability that it might be cultivated with advantage in some parts of Europe. 
He found that the plant grew much deeper in the open air than under glass, 
and with a little protection it seemed to stand the winter with impunity. The 
flowering took place so late—not till November—that no seed was ripened, but 
still the increase by roots completely made up for that want. 
The Chairman asked Mr. Hanbury whether he had examined the quality of 
the roots in any way. 
Mr. Hanbury considered the tubers too precious to cut them up with the 
view of experiments. He dried a few grains of a tuber that had been partially 
eaten by insects, but he had not made any experiments on it. 
Mr. Umney thought the specimen shown by the Chairman was somewhat 
different from that in their Museum. It was somewhat like it, but he thought the 
scent was not that of the rose-seen ted jalap of Guibourt. 
The Chairman said that a good many of the tubers were very large, much 
larger than any of those produced ; and, there being such a large quantity in the 
London market at the present time, he thought it was a good opportunity for 
those who were interested in it to look up the subject. When a large tuber w T as 
broken, the scent of rhodium was very strong indeed. 
Mr. Umney said it had a peculiar scent of peat or something of that kind. 
The Chairman observed that the tuber had been broken some time, and, no 
doubt, the oil had volatilized to some extent. 
The following papers were read :— 
ANALYSIS OF THE WATER OF A REMARKABLE MEDI¬ 
CINAL SPRING IN JAMAICA. 
BY JOHN ATTFIELD, PH.D., F.C.S., 
PROFESSOR OP PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY TO THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF 
GREAT BRITAIN. 
In May, 1867, I received, through Messrs. Hawthorn and Watson, West 
India merchants, a sample of water for minute analysis. It had been sent over 
from Jamaica, with the statement that for weeks past thousands of the negroes 
had been flocking to the spring, under the conviction that the water was a 
panacea for all human ailments. 
The water was clear, bright, and inodorous, strongly saline to the taste. Tts 
specific gravity 1026‘6. One gallon of pure water weighing 70,000 grains, one 
gallon of this water would weigh 71,862 grains; its buoyancy therefore equalling 
that of an average specimen of sea water. 
The quantity of solid matter dissolved in the water was as follows :— 
