447 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Wednesday, February 7th, 1866. 
MR. SANDFORD, PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
The minutes of the previous meeting having been read, the following 
DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 
were announced, and the thanks of the meeting given to the respective donors 
thereof:— 
The Chemical News. 
The Chemist and Druggist. 
The Medical Press. 
The Technologist . 
The Journal of the Society of Arts. 
The Journal of the Chemical Society. 
The Photographic Journal. 
The Educational Times. 
The Dental Review. p ,.. 
The British Journal of Dental Science. All presented by their respective Editors. 
Pharmacopoeia Helvetica. From the Swiss Apothecaries’ Association 
Official Catalogue of the Italian Department of the Dublin International Exhibi¬ 
tion. From the Royal Italian Commission. . 
Specimens of Mannite, from the leaves, flowers, and unripe fruit of the Olive-tree. 
From Professor De Luca, of the Royal University, Naples. 
Specimens of Port-Royal Senna. From Dr. Tilbury Fox and Professor Bentley. 
Dr Attfield directed attention to some specimens of mannite, presented to 
the Society by Professor de Luca, of Naples. They were part of what the 
Professor had exhibited at the Dublin Exhibition, and he thought they pos¬ 
sessed some physiological interest, as they had been extra .cited hom di&er^t 
parts of the plant, and the relative quantities determined at different periods 
of the development of the parts from which they were obtained. In the 
«Exhibition Catalogue ’ there was a note relating to these specimens, m whic 
the Professor states “ Mannite exists in different proportions m every part 
of the olive-tree : the leaves, flowers, and fruit containing the greatest quan¬ 
tity, the roots, wood, bark, and branches rather less. I his saccharine prin¬ 
ciple is not always found in the same quantity at all stages of vegetation ; at 
the period of blossoming it accumulates m the flowers and diminishes m the 
leaves : the fallen flowers, having once completed the phenomenon of^ e ^ nda - 
tion, no longer contain any mannite ; it has likewise been found lmpossib e t 
obtain the slightest traces" of it in the yellow fallen leaves : mannite exists m 
the fruit as long as it continues green, diminishing in proportion as it;npens 
and disappearing entirely when it becomes perfectly ripe and contains the 
gr AnewCo? °leech cage was exhibited to the meeting by Mr. Shillcock 
It consisted of a round glass jar, surmounted by a perforated zinc cap, and 
intersected by zinc or galvanized iron diaphragms, m which were round holes 
of different sizes, through which the leeches could pass, while the diaphragms 
formed stages on which they could rest. 
PORT-ROYAL SENNA. 
The President called attention to the specimens of Port-Royal Senna which 
had been presented to the Society, and were now upon the table. Ihis senna, 
