March 22, 1S73.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
753 
BRIGHTON ASSOCIATION OF PHARMACY. 
At a meeting of this Association on Friday, March 6th, 
in the Hanover Lecture Hall—the President, Mr. W. 
D. Savage, in the chair—an interesting paper on the 
potato and its commercial products, was read by Mr. J. 
Mathews. After showing that the subject of his paper 
was an interesting one, Mr. Mathews observed that next 
to 'wheat the potato is of the greatest importance as an 
article of human food. It has this advantage over the 
cereal grains, that it affords food three months earlier. 
As compared with w r heat, its nutritive properties are low, 
yet one acre of potatoes give more food for man than two 
acres of oats. The potato consists of the tuber of Solarium 
tuberosum, a plant of the natural order Solanacece. It 
was introduced into England probably about the year 
1597, by Sir Walter Raleigh ; but before its introduction, 
considerable quantities of sweet potatoes, consisting of 
the tubercules of Batatas edulis, a plant of the natural 
order Convolvulacece, were imported into this country from 
Spain and the Canary Islands. This is the potato alluded 
to by Shakespeare, and which is still cultivated in tropical 
countries, though not now in England. 
Potatoes, the lecturer said, contain a large quantity of 
starch, which is all found very near the surface, the heart 
containing very little. Hence potatoes should be pared 
thin, or better still, should be merely -washed. The starch 
is separated from potatoes in large quantities, and is sold 
as potato flour, British arrowroot, etc. It may be dis¬ 
tinguished from arrowroot by the naked eye, and by the 
touch, but the only means of detecting its presence with 
certainty is by the microscope. By a p eculiar manufacturing 
process it is converted into substances resembling tapioca 
and sago, and is used to adulterate those articles. Large 
quantities of it are converted into dextrine, and a great 
deal is also consumed in the manufacture of potato spirit, 
which is much cheaper than grain spirit, and is therefore 
extensively employed in making cheap perfumer y. It has 
a disagreeable smell, owing to the large amount of amylic 
alcohol contained in it. This amylic alcohol, which used 
to be rejected, is now converted into a number of beautiful 
flavouring essences, such as essence of jargonelle pear, 
apple, etc., and it is also the source from which the nitrite 
of amyl, a powerful medicine, is obtained. 
At the conclusion of the paper, a hearty vote of thanks 
was given to Mr. Mathews for his instructive address, and 
the president gave a description of the method of making 
sugar from starch, as seen in operation by him. 
Mr. W. H. Smith observed that it was quite new to 
him that potatoes did not contain starch in their centre, 
and although he was unable to make a positive statement 
about it, yet the section he would presently exhibit was at 
any rate taken very near the centre of a potato, and 
every cell was full of starch granules. He was also sur¬ 
prised to hear the potato spirit was used in perfumery for 
cheapness because the actual cost of grain spirit was very 
little; it is the duty imposed upon it which makes it so 
expensive. 
Mr. Schweitzer explained that potato spirit is employed 
in perfumery because its peculiar odour is preferred, and 
not on account of its cheapness. 
Mr. Cornish thought that if the centre of the potato 
did not contain starch it would not present a floury 
appearance. 
An interesting discussion ensued as to the best way 
of planting potatoes. The President said be had found 
by experience that an entire potato, the size of a pullet’s 
egg, gave the best results. 
The meeting then resolved itself into a conversazione, 
and specimens of fruit essences, etc., were exhibited by 
Mr. Mathews, and various starches under the microscope 
by Mr. W. H. Smith. 
NORTHAMPTON PHARMACEUTICAL 
ASSOCIATION. 
A special meeting was held on Monday, March 10th, 
1873. The President being unavoidably absent, Mr. 
Druce was voted to the chair. Donations were announced 
of the Calendar and Journal from the Pharmaceutical 
Society, a large number of prescriptions from Mr. F. P. 
Brown, and twenty-four specimens of officinal materia 
medica from Messrs. P. Jeyes and Co. The Chairman 
said that he had noticed with great satisfaction the large 
and in every way successful classes that had been con¬ 
ducted during the winter session. He was also pleased 
to say that three new members had recently joined them. 
The examination in Botany would be held on March 
17th; Materia Medica, March 21st; and Pharmacy on 
March 24th—the first two conducted by Mr. W. Sandall, 
and the latter by Mr. G. N. Maxwell, and he was sure 
the Association was to be congratulated upon obtaining 
two such able gentlemen to perform such onerous duties. 
Mr. Wallis then read a very interesting and instructive 
paper on Sponge: its Structure and Position in the 
Animal Kingdom—remarking that it was his first paper. 
He proceeded to describe the appearance of sponge, and 
to notice the very slight claim it had to the name of an 
animal, seeing that its power of locomotion was limited 
to its youth, and that it had no blood-vessels or alimentary 
canal. But that it did belong to the animal kingdom 
had been first proved by Mr. Ellis, and, with few excep¬ 
tions, it w’as classed as such by the leading naturalists of 
the day. He then v, r ent on to describe its habitat—the 
various species of sponge, both British and foreign—the 
manner in which commercial sponge was collected by 
divers, and its preparation for use by steeping it in cold 
w'ater, the conci’etions which it contained being separated 
by occasional beatings, afterwards washed in water acidu¬ 
lated with hydrochloric acid, and sometimes bleached by 
means of sulphurous acid. Having referred to the spicula 
so generally present in sponge, and to their composition, 
he explained how burnt sponge was prepared, and gave 
its composition, referring any medicinal effect it might 
have to the iodide and bromide of potassium it contained. 
He concluded by expressing his belief that the study of 
even animals so low down in the scale as sponge would 
repay the trouble of the investigator. 
Mr. Druce then read a paper on Guarana, descriptive 
of its origin, composition, therapeutical effects, and mode 
of preparation. 
Votes of thanks to Messrs. Wallis and Druce, to the 
various donors, including one to Mr. Mayger for the loan 
of chemical apparatus and one to Mr. W. Marriot for 
the loan of a microscope, were passed. 
SHEFFIELD PHARMACEUTICAL AND 
CHEMICAL ASSOCIATION. 
The general monthly meeting was held on Wednesday 
evening, March 12th inst.—Mr. W. Ward, F.C.S., Presi¬ 
dent, in the chair. There was a somewhat better attend¬ 
ance than at the last monthly meeting. 
After some preliminary business, a lecture was deli¬ 
vered by A. H. Allen, Esq., F.C.S., on “The True Na¬ 
ture of the Phenomena attributed to the Agency of 
Spirits.” In the course of the lecture, which was lis¬ 
tened to with great attention, Mr. Allen said, that the 
spiritualistic phenomena were of several distinct kinds. 
First, there was mere meaningless table-rapping and 
turning; secondly, the interpretations of the knocks into 
distinct and intelligible communications from spirits. 
These simpler “ manifestations ” were merely the result 
of unconscious muscular action. The lecturer had him¬ 
self taken part in table-rapping, and though some of the 
answers were sufficiently curious, a careful consideration 
of the effects and proper modification of the arrange¬ 
ments invariably proved the rapping to be directly, but 
