EDINBURGH MEETING. 
477 
Mr. Deane said that was also his opinion. Hith 'rto he had endeavoured to 
carry out the spirit of the Act, and had found no difficulty ; but, at the same 
time, he had no doubt that in some country places, and even in some parts of 
London, there would be a considerable difficulty with regard to certain things 
that came under the denomination of poisons. However, with the endeavour 
which he believed was being made, to come to some understanding with the 
Privy Council, he had no doubt that things would be made smooth, and that 
the new Act would not be found so burdensome as some people seemed to 
apprehend. 
Mr. Williams said he should be happy to second the motion from the chair, 
if it were necessary. 
The motiou was then put and carried unanimously. 
Mr. Dickinson moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman, which was carried 
and briefly acknowledged, and the meeting then separated. 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH MEETING. 
A meeting was held in St. George’s Hall, on Friday evening, 8th January, at nine 
o'clock; Mr. Ainslie, President, in the chair. There was a very full attendance. 
A paper was read “ On the Results of some Recent Discoveries relating to the Che¬ 
mistry of the Blood, and the action of Poisonous Agents upon it,” by Arthur Gamgee, 
M.D., F.R.S.E. 
Dr. Gamgee illustrated the subject by various spectra, diagrams, and microscopes. 
In consequence of the unexpected illness of Dr. Gamgee, a full notice of this interesting 
paper is unavoidably postponed until next Journal. A very cordial vote of thanks was 
tendered to Dr. Gamgee by the Chairman, seconded by Mr. Aitken, and carried with 
acclamation. 
The following remarks “ On the Residue of Opium after making Tinctura Opii,” by 
Mr. William Robertson, Druggist, Elgin, was read by the Secretary :— 
“ In making the ordinary tinctura opii, the question has often occurred to me,—Is 
the opium used in the process completely exhausted of its morphia? With the view 
of satisfying myself upon the point, I preserved the refuse obtained at various times in 
making the tincture, until I had acquired, in a perfectly dry state, two pounds avoirdu¬ 
pois. I am quite unable, from positive data, to say how much solid opium this quan¬ 
tity represents, but estimating inferentially, my calculations lead me to set it down at 
five pounds six ounces avoirdupois. 
“ From recent experiments, I find that six ounces of opium used in making eighty 
ounces of the tinctura, according to the Pharmacopoeia, left of insoluble residue two and 
a quarter ounces. Hence five parts are soluble and three insoluble in proof spirit. 
“I operated upon the whole two pounds of dry residue,—adopting the process of the 
P. B. for obtaining morphise hydrochloras,—the result is that I have obtained forty- 
eight grains of morphiae hydrochloras. The percentage is small, but it is none the less 
satisfactory. Taking the quantity of opium as above computed, at five pounds six ounces, 
the yield of morph, hydrochl. is somewhat more than one grain and a quarter in the 
thousand, or, in the dry state in which I used it, three grains and one-seventh.” 
Mr. Nicoll and Mr. Young stated to the meeting that they understood it had long 
been the custom of many to accumulate the residue, and, from time to time, proceed to 
recover the morphia left, after exhausting for tinctura ; but their impression was that, 
unless in times of high prices of opium, such as the present, the trouble spent in ob¬ 
taining the small quantity of the alkaloid scarcely repaid the manipulator. 
After an intimation as to proposed evening classes for Pharmacy the meeting ad¬ 
journed. 
