February 8, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G3D 
but as to the so-called jujubes manufactured in London, 
it was quite understood that the juice or the fruit of the 
juj ube plant did not enter into their composition. He was 
very sorry that the great fascination of partridge shoot¬ 
ing had prevented Dr. Leared from seeing the ammonia- 
cum plant, as he should have liked to be informed of the 
mode in which it was obtained. Perhaps Dr. Leared might 
Lave heard from the natives whether the drug ammoniacum 
was obtained from the root, from the stem, or from both. 
In the museum there was a very interesting specimen of 
the stem of the Persian ammoniacum plant, with the am¬ 
moniacum in situ. That result had been produced, not by 
incisions, but by the attacks of beetles or some ci’eatures of 
the kind, in consequence of which the gum had exuded and 
covered the stem. The poisonous nature of Spartium 
Junccum had been referred to in the paper. The Spanish 
broom had been examined by Dr. Stenhouse, who had 
found a new principle in it, and therefore, anything in 
connection with that subject was of interest. Of course, 
the drug was a strong diuretic. With regard to starch, 
no doubt it was present in plants allied to the arum, and 
could probably be obtained in large quantities from the 
large corms and underground stems without much diffi¬ 
culty. He apprehended that the poisonous quality was 
got rid of not so much by washing as by a certain amount 
of temperature that was employed in the preparation of 
the substance. 
Mr. Collins said that there seemed to be two kinds of 
■* harmala ’ seed, and both seemed to have had that name at 
first. Those of Peganum harmala he had compared with 
a herbarium specimen. The other was certainly those 
of a rutaceous plant, but whether it was a variety of 
Peganum harmala , he (Mr. Collins) could not say. He 
-did not see in the Herbarium of the British Museum 
any specimen which showed a variation in the seed 
between those two. With regard to argan, he could 
not help wondering why the oil had not been intro¬ 
duced into this country. Sir William Hooker, in the 
‘Journal of Botany,’ gave a very good account of it, 
and it had been very highly spoken of. As to Tacout 
galls, they were very small, and they did not seem to 
be equal to the Morea galls. The latter were intro¬ 
duced. to commerce some time ago, but from inquiry 
which he had made, he found that they were not 
considered good enough to be sent. The dealers 
■said that when the galls were very small they did 
not like them, because they were very often mixed 
with foreign substances. With regard to euphorbium , it 
would have been very interesting if the plant from Kew 
Lad been sent to the meeting, because it had now, 
through the researches of Dr. Cosson,* some historical 
interest. It would be remembered that Dr. Berg some¬ 
time ago made an examination of certain parts of the 
stems found in the specimens, and he gave it the name 
of Puphorhium resinifera. Dr. Cosson having examined 
specimens which he received from Mr. Hanbury and 
others, said that he believed that Dr. Berg was 
correct. Dr. Hooker in the meantime had obtained a 
plant from Mr. Cartensen, and this was now growing. 
The only matter to be cleared, and to make one sure that 
it was this species which yielded the gum euphorbium, 
was the flowering of the specimen. That event would 
prove whether Dr. Berg and Dr. Cosson were correct. 
As to the wormwood, if he remembered rightly, Mr. Wil- 
komm and Dr. Berg gave it the new specific name of 
Cina, There was an article in the Journal on the sub¬ 
ject.! Mr. Wilkomm had proved what Dr. Berg had 
said to be correct. They had given that new specific 
name to the Barbary worn seed. 
At the request of the President, Dr. Leared consented 
to leave his specimens on the premises of the Society for 
two or three days, that other members might have an op¬ 
portunity of examining them. 
* Pkarm. Journ. [3] vol. ii. p. 1049. 
t Pharm. Journ. [3J vol ii. p. 762. 
Proposed Additions to the British Pharmacopceia. 
The President informed the meeting that Professor 
Redwood was anxious to make an important statement 
with regard to the Pharmacopoeia. 
Professor Redwood said he should occupy but a very 
few minutes, as the usual time for adjournment was 
already passed. He might resume the subject at another 
meeting, probably ; but there was an object in its being 
brought before the members of the Society before the 
next meeting was held. He referred to proposed altera¬ 
tions and additions to be made in the British Pharma¬ 
copoeia. The work had now been published about six 
years, and it had, during that time, been reprinted, and 
would require to be reprinted again very shortly. In 
introducing a reprint of it on the next occasion, it was 
proposed to add to it a supplement or appendix which 
should contain certain new remedies which had been 
established in medical practice since the work was pub¬ 
lished. The question arose as to whether, on this occa¬ 
sion, a new edition should be brought out, or an altera¬ 
tion or addition made simply in the existing one. It 
had been considered that there were very serious diffi¬ 
culties and objections that would attach to issuing a new 
edition at the present time. The difficulty of inducing 
the medical profession generally to take up a new phar¬ 
macopoeia was very great, and there were many other 
difficulties that would stand in the way. It was gene¬ 
rally considered and recognized that ten years was about 
the time that a pharmacopceia should be allowed to 
remain in circulation before it was materially and gene¬ 
rally altered; and therefore it was proposed merely to 
issue now a supplement or appendix with the reprint. 
This would be attached to the end of the reprint, and 
would be issued separately besides; so that those who 
had the work already could possess themselves of it in 
addition to the original work. The next question was, 
as to what this appendix should contain. There were 
several medicines and preparations that ho had himself 
suggested, and other persons (members of the Pharma¬ 
copoeia Committee of the Medical Council) had suggested 
others. It was desirable to induce pharmacists and 
others in this country, and in Scotland and Ireland, to 
make suggestions of what they thought shoald be in¬ 
troduced into the appendix of the Pharmacopoeia at the 
present time. Now there wore certain things that were 
quite obvious, as, for instance, hydrate of chloral and 
nitrate of amyl. Acetic aether he proposed more espe¬ 
cially with a view to its use subsequently, when the 
Pharmacopoeia was more generally altered. Then there 
were chloroform water (aqua chloroformi) and mustard 
paper (charti sinapis). There was a preparation of 
elaterium, which it was suggested to introduce in the 
form of a diluted powder (pulvis elateiii compositus), 
which would consist of elaterium with nine times or seven 
times (he should say nine times) its weight of sugar of 
milk. In that diluted form its administration would bo 
facilitated and rendered more safe. Tincture of orange 
peel was a question which had been before them, and i> 
was suggested that, leaving the present tincture in the 
Pharmacopoeia, they, neveitheless, might aid a tincture 
of the fresh peel; but that, however, was a question 
to be considered, and in reference to which they were 
anxious to receive the opinions of practical pharmacists. 
Then it was proposed to introduce a syrup of liquorice 
(syrupus glycyrrhizm). Some of the medical members 
of the Committee had suggested that that would be a 
convenient preparation to order frequently in prescrip¬ 
tions. Then they had such things as the hypophosphites, 
hypophosphite of lime and hypophosphite of sola, and 
the sulphites, as, for instance, sulphite of soda, although 
he should himself consider that the hyposulphite, which 
was now in the Pharmacopoeia among the tests, would 
answer every purpose, and be quite as effective as the 
sulphite. Then there was oxide of bismuth, and there 
were two preparations which were suggested and brought 
under the notice of the Society some time ago, by Dr. 
