EDINBURGH MEETING. 
521 
a common number for linseed-cake. Then there was 27| per cent, of mucila¬ 
ginous matter. So that there was really nothing that chemical analysis would 
indicate as showing the valueless character of the cake itself. 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. 
A meeting was held in St. George’s Hall, on Wednesday evening, 27th January, at 
nine o’clock; Mr. Aitken, Vice-President, in the chair. 
Professor Archer read the following paper:—“ On the General Features of the Materia 
Medica Collection in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art.” 
In forming a collection of the industrial materials yielded by the mineral, vegetable, 
and animal kingdoms, to illustrate the industrial pursuits of man, I felt that it would 
be a serious omission to leave out those which are used in medicine, although, generally 
speaking, they do not form attractive objects in museums. Moreover I perceived, that 
although the medical corporations of this city possess very fine special collections, they 
did not embrace much beyond the materials employed in British Pharmacy, and were 
not sufficiently free to all students, especially to the pharmaceutist; I therefore aimed in 
the first place to collect such specimens as were unknown in British Pharmacy, or were 
so rare as to be objects of especial interest. How far this has been done, I hope to show 
in this paper. 
The first contribution of importance which was added to the collection was a large 
series of medicinal substances, illustrating very fully the ‘ Materia Indica of Ainslie,’ one 
of the most interesting and instructive books ever published upon this subject. For 
this valuable gift the museum is indebted to Professor Christison. In 1862 great acces¬ 
sions were made from the Exhibition held that year in London, amongst which the 
most notable was a series of the most important of the medicinal products of Brazil, 
chiefly collected and prepared by Senhor Theodor Peckholt, M.D., who, us a scientific 
pharmaceutist, deserves to be warmly recognized by the European Societies. The col¬ 
lection consists of—1st, fruits, seeds, barks, roots, and fungi ; 2nd, starches, many of 
which were from sources quite new to us, such as Sisyrinchium galaxoides, Helmia bulbi- 
fera, Mirabilis dichotoma , Ipomcea operculata, Cocculus cinerascens, besides the various 
species of yam ( Dioscoreo ), arums, colocasia, sweet-potato ( Batatas edidi s), etc. ; 3rd, 
vegetable juices, extracts, gums, resins, etc. Amongst these are a dragon’s-blood from 
Croton erythrema , another red gum from Andira angica, and several others not previ¬ 
ously known in Europe. 4th, a series of expressed oils, most of them new to European 
collections. It is perhaps allowable to mention here that Dr. Peckholt also exhibited 
upon that occasion a very large series of admirably-prepared chemicals, especially the 
active organic principles of a number of Brazilian plants, which will probably some day 
or other be of considerable importance to European pharmacy. I regret to say that I 
did not obtain any of these. Some of the more remarkable amongst them were Agonia- 
dina, from the bark of Plumeria lancifolia , Mart.; Pereirina, from Geissospermum Vel - 
losii; Poncetina, from Euphorbia pulcherrima, etc. 
Many other Brazilian medicines were obtained at the same time, both vegetable and 
animal; of the latter I hope to give an account to the Society on some future occasion 
in a paper on the animal products in the collection. 
On the same occasion I obtained from the Commissioner for Venezuela specimens of 
the berry yielding the myrtle-wax of that country, also very fine cebadilla seed and 
simaruba bark. Many rare and interesting substances were also obtained from the col¬ 
lections sent by other countries, and especially by the British Colonies, more especially 
Hongkong, from which was sent a complete collection of the materia medica of China. 
This was much lessened by busy fingers during the Exhibition, but such as it was at the 
close, it came into my hands, and is now in our museum. 
One of the most remarkable instances of enlightened enterprise was shown by the 
French Government, who ordered in all the colonies of the empire that every natural 
product, animal, vegetable, or mineral, having any known use, should be collected, and 
the wonderful collection so formed was shown in the Exhibition of 1362. I am happy 
to say that collection, presented by the Department of Science and Art, is now in our 
museum, aod amongst some thousands of specimens comprising textiles, dyes, tanning 
substances, oils and oil-seeds, gums, food materials, etc., of which it is chiefly composed ; 
