LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
259 
Mr. Abraham, in presenting to the Museum specimens of the Physostigma venenosum , 
■—the ordeal bean of Old Calabar,—gave an account of the plant and its properties. He 
exhibited drawings, kindly lent for the purpose by Dr. Nevins. 1st, of a young plant 
growing in the garden of James Leisham, Esq., produced by a seed which was known 
to have been in Liverpool about nine years, and which resembled one now in the 
Botanic Garden, presented by the Rev. Mr. Thompson, lately a missionary in Old 
Calabar. 2nd, of portions of the plant in more advanced stages of its growth. Mr. 
Abraham stated that seeds newly brought from Africa, which lie had presented to the 
Botanic Garden, and seeds which Mr. Tyerman had obtained from another source, had 
not germinated after the lapse of several months from the time they were planted. 
He described the therapeutical effects of the bean, and the modes in which it had been 
exhibited. He said that an extract, made by exhausting the powdered bean with 
alcohol, evaporating the spirit, and mixing the solution with a mixture of one part of 
glycerine with three parts of water, had given entire satisfaction to the oculists to 
whom he had supplied it. It did not irritate the eye, did not spoil, and was preferred 
by them to paper soaked in the extract. He said that the seeds were at present scarce 
in this country, and not to be obtained from ordinary commercial sources; but it was 
probable that they would soon be plentiful, and as they possessed properties of a very 
poisonous and insidious character, it was very desirable that they should not fall into 
improper hands. 
l)r. J. B. Edwards exhibited a number of beautiful electrical discharges in vacuo , in 
illustration of their applicability to telegraphy, and the transmission of signals at sea, 
and on railways, and to miners’ lamps. 
The cordial thanks of the meeting were accorded to Mr. Turner and Mr. Abraham, 
and to Dr. Edwards, for their valuable discourses. 
The third meeting of the session was held on Nov. 5, at the Royal Institution ; the Pre¬ 
sident in the chair. Ladies having been specially invited to this meeting, a large num¬ 
ber were present. 
The following gentlemen were duly elected Members:—Messrs. T. Lloyd and W. T. 
Stanton. As Associate, Mr. Henry Shore. 
Various donations to the library were announced, and the books pirrcliased by the 
Council for the library were on the table. 
Dr. Edwards delivered a very lucid lecture on “ Spectrum Analysis,” demonstrating 
the subject with brilliant experiments and projections by electric light of the spectra of 
copper, zinc, thallium, sodium, and other elementary substances ; the characteristics of 
which were beautifully delineated upon a screen twenty feet in diameter. 
Dr. Nevins moved a vote of thanks to Dr. Edwards, for his very successful demon¬ 
stration of this interesting subject, and the audience testified their approval by hearty 
applause. 
The fourth meeting of the session was held at the Royal Institution,' on the 19th 
November ; the President in the chair. 
Messrs. Robert Morgan, A. Willers, W. Challieu, and H. Jones were duly elected 
Members. 
The following donations to the Library were announced :— £ Correspondence between 
Dr. Inman and Professor Hamilton, on Gaseous Exhalations and Miasmata as a cause of 
Nuisance,’ etc., from the authors ; the Proceedings of the Liverpool Architectural So¬ 
ciety, and of the Polytechnic Society, from the respective Societies ; and the ‘ Chemist 
and Druggist ’ for November, from, the editors. 
The Secretary announced the resolution of the Council, with Dr. Edwards’s concur¬ 
rence to open a Practical Pharmacy class, on the afternoons of Tuesday and Fridays, 
from three to five o’clock, to which pupils connected with the Association will be ad¬ 
mitted on the usual terms. 
The Secretary read the following communication from Professor Hamilton, of Queen’s 
College, Liverpool. 
“ Queen’s College, Liverpool, 15th Nov. 18(13. 
“Dear Sir,—I had a conversation with Dr. Waters some time ago, about an interesting 
case of chylous urine which he had under his care, and I informed him that if Dela- 
rue’s parchment paper was a fair specimen of a colloid, I had succeeded in causing a col¬ 
loidal solution to pass through a colloidal membrane, and that this circumstance might 
have some bearing on the occurrence of chyle or albumen in urine. 
