54S 
PHAltMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. 
Mr. Hills admitted that percolation, had its advantages in some cases, but 
taking tinctures generally, he was convinced that maceration for six days with 
good agitation was more easily accomplished, and yielded a more satisfactory 
product. 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. 
The Fifth and last Scientific Meeting for the present Session was held in St. George's 
Hall, on Monday evening, 18th April, at 9 o’clock; Mr. G. Blanshard, President, in 
the chair. 
Professor Archer, Director of the Industrial Museum, on being introduced by the 
Chairman, read the following Notes on some of the new Materia Medica products, exhi¬ 
bited in the International Exhibition of 1862. 
Having collected in the Exhibition of 1862 many hundreds of specimens of Materia 
Medica, I propose from time to time to bring under the notice of this Society such of 
them as I think may prove interesting, either from their novelty, utility, or any other 
prominent quality. For this evening I have selected two small groups which have no 
connection with each other, but were most convenient to myself, and I believe both 
possess considerable interest. 
The first I present to your notice is a series of Extracts, prepared by M. Berjot, y'eune 
pharmacien of Caen, one of the most extensive manufacturers in France. A single glance 
at these beautiful preparations will show the great difference between them and the 
pharmacopoeial preparations of this country. These extracts are prepared from decoc¬ 
tions, made in vacuo , which have been passed through percolators, similar to that which 
I have before me, but how he secures the extremely light and frothy character I 
am unable to explain, or whether it has any real advantages ; my own opinion is that it 
must have, because if kept perfectly dry we are sure of greater uniformity of strength than 
when an indefinite quantity of moisture is present. One difficulty certainly attends them, 
and that is their remarkable hygroscopic quality, which causes them so rapidly to absorb 
moisture from the atmosphere, that if exposed, even for a few seconds, a noisy crepitation 
is heard, almost like the crackling of a piece of very dry wood in burning. 
M. Berjot overcomes this difficulty in an ingenious way. In the wide mouths of his 
bottles, which have screw tops, he places a small chamber filled with unslacked lime, 
which from its still greater power to absorb moisture arrests all that can pass in through 
the well-closed screw stopper. The extracts are those of the grey, yellowq red, and 
orange Cinchona barks, and of Krameria root. M. Berjot’s annual production of these 
light extracts is no less than 4100 lb. Besides these, I have from the same manufac¬ 
turer a most interesting series of certain prepared flowers and leaves, used in French phar¬ 
macy ; these are so beautifully prepared, and are such examples of that care which is the 
crowning merit of pharmaceutical manufacturers, that I am sure they will command the 
admiration of the Society. They consist of the flowers of Viola odorata , Vinca major , 
Centciurea cyanea, Althaea officinalis , Lamium album, JPapaver Rhoeas, Malva rotnn- 
clifolia, and Spartium junceum , and of the leaves of Conium maculatum. All of these 
have the appearance of having within the present hour been plucked from the pro¬ 
ducing plants with the greatest care; the colours of all are as bright as when grow¬ 
ing. The forms of the flowers are perfect, not a petal is crushed, the odour is 
scarcely impaired, and the leaves of the hemlock are as green as when growing. I have 
no doubt that the method pursued in preparing these parts of plants so perfect, has been 
by burying them in hot sand very fine and dry, and in order to prevent any change from 
damp, M. Berjot has applied his most ingenious lime-chambers also to these. The spe¬ 
cimens before the Society are at least three years old, for they were in London all of 
1862, and since then have been in our Industrial Museum, to which they were generously 
presented by M. Berjot; yet during the time they have been under my care, although 
anxiously watched, they have not shown the slightest change. If these preparations 
have to us no other value than as examples of what may be done by ingenuity and nice 
manipulation, they will be of the utmost use to those who thoughtfully examine them. 
Our colonies furnished many curious contributions to Materia Medica, and I have 
selected one of the smallest of our colonial groups for this evening, viz. that of the Island 
of Trinidad. 
The first is a drug, called on the island Mapourito ; it is the root of Petiveria alliacea , L., 
