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BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
The Annual Meeting of the Conference will this year be held at Norwich, on 
Tuesday, the 18th of August, at 10 a.m., and following days. Norwich is an 
ancient and interesting city, containing 80,000 inhabitants. Its cathedral, the 
erection of which dates back to 1096, is chiefly Norman. The Castle, many of 
the churches, the Guildhall, St. Andrew’s Hall, and the quaint picturesque 
buildings scattered about the city all add to the architectural, archaeological, 
and historical importance of the town. The museum is celebrated for its 
ornithological collection, which is one of the best in the kingdom. The British 
Association for the Advancement of Science will also hold its meetings at 
Norwich during the third and fourth weeks of August. An unusually large 
number of papers for the Conference are promised, and the local committee 
propose holding a small and select Exhibition of Objects connected with 
Pharmacy. 
PROVINCIAL TRANSACTIONS. 
LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
Eleventh General Meeting, held at the Royal Institution, March 12th, 1868; Mr. 
Shaw in the chair. Ladies were invited to be present at this meeting. 
The following donations were announced:—The ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal ’ for March. 
The Proceedings of the Liverpool Polytechnic Society. 
Thanks were voted to the donors. 
Mr. Symes exhibited a sample of the Glucose which he had mentioned at the previous 
meeting, and presented it to the Museum; also a sample of tincture of orange-peel pre¬ 
pared from the fresh peel. He thought that it was much superior to that made with 
dried peel. To dry orange-peel so as to preserve its aroma, he put it on a wooden tray 
before a gentle fire. 
He then brought forward the subject of Linimentum ammonias. In the new Phar¬ 
macopoeia three parts of oil are ordered for one of ammonia, and he found that this gives 
a product which is too thick to pour from a bottle, and he thought that the old propor¬ 
tions should not have been altered. 
Mr. Shaw said, that in his opinion, in order to have a product which should be ob¬ 
tained of uniform character from all pharmacists, the Pharmacopoeia should not be 
deviated from, and that dried orange-peel should always be used to make the tincture. 
With regard to linimentum ammoniae he invited discussion, in order that the subject 
might be considered in any revision of the Pharmacopoeia. 
Mr. Sharp said, that the preparation of Linimentum ammoniae had received great 
attention from the Pharmacopoeia Committee. 
Mr. Symes replied, and then the Chairman called upon Mr. Sharp to read the paper 
for the evening on “The Applications of Science to the Production of Artificial Sub¬ 
stances.” 
Mr. Sharp stated, that for the sake of the conscientious performance of the task he 
had undertaken, he had endeavoured to trace back the artificial to its earliest begin¬ 
nings, and after much research was fain to conclude that its origin was too far back to 
reach. Suffice it that this nineteenth century finds us such adepts in the art of making 
things appear what they are not, that the most Utopian dreams of the alchemist seem 
but trifles compared with the modern realizations of gold-making, diamond-manufacture, 
and endless adaptations of tinfoil and pinchbeck. Birmingham would be a heaven to 
the old chemist, who bent over crucible and crouched to look with scorched eyes into 
his glowing furnace,—the weary days and nights, and longings after the yellow metal 
that never lined the bottom of his crucible would be over. No need for implorings of 
the Trinity to bless his efforts to make money by a readier process than that of bis 
fellow-mortals. Behind the black walls girding fiery furnaces, and sending back echoes 
