PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
599 
place it upon the table on Wednesday evening, as I gather from the Journal 
the subject may then be further referred to. In this instance, sapo mollis was 
employed, in place of sapo durus as directed in the Pharmacopoeia, but suffi¬ 
ciently in excess to compensate for the substitution. My impression is, that 
the difference in behaviour arises in a great measure from the fact that the one 
is a potash, and the other a soda, soap.” 
Then they had the liniment in the two forms in which it had been produced 
by different pharmaceutists ; in the one case a solid mixture somewhat resem¬ 
bling cold-cream, and in the other a tremulous jelly, semi-transparent, or almost 
perfectly transparent. In both these states the liniment appeared to be capable 
of being kept for any reasonable time, and the question arose—and it was a 
question to which it was very desirable that practical men should direct their 
attention—which of the two was really the most advantageous to have ordered 
in the Pharmacopoeia ? Then he had received a communication from Mr. 
Long, of Croydon, who referred to two of the preparations of the Pharma¬ 
copoeia, and thought that some reference might advantageously be made to 
them in the course of this discussion. The one was the preparation which, in 
the present Pharmacopoeia, was called aqua camphorse, which in the Lon¬ 
don Pharmacopoeia was named mistura camphorse, and the other was the 
infusion of roses, which was formerly called infusum rosse compositum, 
and was now named infusum rosse aeidum. Mr. Long found that, iu his expe¬ 
rience, most medical men continued to prescribe these preparations by the 
names used in the London Pharmacopoeia, and he thought it desirable that 
some reference should be made to this subject, with the view of ascertaining 
whether medical men really did prefer the one preparation rather than the 
other, and, if they did, whether it would not be desirable that that preparation 
which was generally preferred should be the one ordered in the Pharmacopoeia. 
On referring to these preparations they would see at once there was a very 
slight difference—no practical difference—between the mistura camphorse and 
the aqua camphorse of the British Pharmacopoeia. The only difference was 
that in the London process the camphor was reduced to powder with a few 
drops of spirit, whereas in the new process no spirit was used. The solution in 
both cases would be practically the same, namely, a saturated solution of 
camphor. In the case of the infusion of roses there was a greater difference, 
the process iu the present Pharmacopoeia being that of the Dublin College, in 
which there was no sugar. It might certainly be a fit subject for consideration 
as to which of these processes was the better. Perhaps, before he sat down, he 
might be allowed just to call the attention of the meeting to one or two prepa¬ 
rations which were referred to by himself on first introducing the subject, but 
with respect to which no practical remarks had yet been made, although it was 
very desirable that some opinion should be elicited. One was extractum ergotse 
liquidum, and the' question was whether, in its preparation, the exhaustion of 
the ergot by means of ether, could be omitted without disadvantage ? Had 
any practical pharmaceutist any experience to communicate with reference to 
this question? Another preparation which had been to some extent adverted 
to, but which it would be very desirable to have more information upon was 
the emplastrum belladonnse. In the British Pharmacopoeia a process was given 
for that plaster, in which the alcoholic extract of belladonna was added to resin 
plaster. Some remarks had been made upon this plaster by a gentleman who 
was present, but he (Dr. Redwood) had heard from other sources complaints 
with reference to it, to the effect that it was much more liable to escape from 
beneath the leather on which it had been spread, and to penetrate through the 
leather, and become a source of annoyance to the patient on this account than 
the old plaster, which was made with the aqueous extract. Now, having had 
several specimens of the plaster made by different operators, he had observed 
