436 
CHEMICAL DISCUSSION ASSOCIATION OE THE PHARMA- 
CEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING, 
22ND JANUARY, 1866. 
At the last anniversary meeting of the Association the committee had occasion 
to congratulate the members upon the number and character of the communi¬ 
cations that had been received during the session ; it is their pleasing duty 
again to speak in high terms of the observations and discoveries reports of which 
have been presented at the meetings, at the same time they cannot help noticing 
with regret the greatly diminished attendance of the general body of the mem¬ 
bers. They trust, however, that during the year that is commenced, such 
accession may be made to their numbers as may compensate for those of whose 
co-operation the association is deprived by business engagements or removal. 
The treasurer’s accounts show a balance in hand of £5. 19s. 3d.; and as it 
has been thought unnecessary to maintain the subscription at the present rate, 
it is now reduced from five shillings to two shillings and sixpence per annum. * 
The following is a summary of all the communications that have been received 
during the past year, and of which some have since appeared in the ‘ Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Journal — 
Feb. 6th, 1865. “ On the Phosphate of Ammonia, Ph. Br.,” by Air. J. Watts, 
Senior Bell Scholar. Published in the Pharm. Journ. vol. vi. p. 507. 
A curious experiment was exhibited by Mr. J. Broughton, B. Sc. When dry 
ammoniacal gas is passed into solution of iodine in absolute alcohol containing 
some bisulphide of carbon, the colour of the iodine gradually disappears, and as 
the gas continues to pass the solution becomes tinted of a fine purple colour, 
which, however, is extremely fugitive and disappears in a few minutes. The 
presence of a very small quantity of water is found entirely to prevent this re¬ 
action. 
March 6th, 1865. “ On Resin of Jalap,” by Mr. A. F. Haselden. Published 
in Pharm. Journ., vol. vi. p. 563. 
April 3rd, 1865. Dr. Attfield exhibited a specimen of cane sugar which had 
been deposited from some Linimentum Belladonna?, Ph. Br. 
A paper was read “ On Phosphoric Acid of Different Densities,” by Mr. J. 
Watts. Published in the Report of the British Pharmaceutical Conference, and 
in Pharm. Journ. vol. vii. p. 191. 
Alay 1st, 1865. u On some Rare Essential Oils,” by Mr. C. Umney. The 
author described the volatile oil of Bucliu, which was found to consist of a fluid 
oil and a crystalline stearoptene. Of the former, 1*4 per cent, had been ob¬ 
tained ; of the latter, *5 per cent. The volatile oil of cascarilla had also been 
examined. 1*2 per cent, had been procured from cascarilla bark, and it was 
found to have a specific gravity of -917, not *938, as stated in Pereira’s 1 Materia 
Aledica.’ 
“ Note on Sp. Ammon. Aromat. Meth.,” by Air. C. Umney. 
June 12th, 1865. Some remarks upon the British Pharmacopoeia test for 
chloroform were made by Mr. C. II. Wood. He had found, in spite of ob¬ 
jections that had been raised against the potassium test, and although chloro¬ 
form apparently quite pure usually evolves a trifling amount of gas when treated 
by that method, yet for practical purposes the test might safely be made use of. 
A paper was afterwards read “ On the Spectrum of Polarized Light,” by Mr. 
A. Waugh, illustrated by apparatus constructed by the author. A polarized 
ray which has been made to pass through a plate of selenite, and is examined 
by the aid of a Nichols prism, presents certain dark bands in the spectrum. 
Such bands are found to appear and disappear in complementary portions of the 
