798 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 5, 187?. 
the vinegar did. The cheapness was an element that was 
not to be altogether overlooked. Acetic acid was one of 
the cheapest and at the same time one of the most efficient 
vehicles which could be used for the administration of the 
active principle of ipecacuanha, and the experience that 
they had hitherto had of this vinegar of ipecacuanha had 
proved it to be constant in its character. It did not change 
its colour, and threw down no precipitate, but retained 
permanently the whole active principle of ipecacuanha. 
Therefore taking into account the facility with which it 
was made, its cheapness, great constancy, and admitted 
efficacy, he thought nothing could be urged against its in¬ 
troduction into the Pharmacopoeia. The oxymel again was 
a preparation made of the acetate, and would, he believed, 
prove to be a most acceptable addition to the preparations 
of the Pharmacopoeia. Then with regard to the nitrite of 
amyl, he confessed he was not very strong as to the neces¬ 
sity of introducing it into the Pharmacopoeia. But he 
must say that he considered it to be a very powerful and 
valuable therapeutical agent, possessing an action which no 
other preparation could replace. Being a very powerful as 
well as efficacious remedy, and being moreover a prepar¬ 
ation which was not always, as met with in commerce, 
uniform in its characters and properties, it was just one of 
those substances which it was most desirable to have 
defined in the Pharmacopoeia, because here again the object 
of the Pharmacopoeia was definition. When nitrite of 
amyl was ordered there should be no question as to what 
the preparation was that should^be used. If there were a 
secondary list in the Pharmacopoeia, this would probably 
be one of the things that would in the first instance be 
put into it. He had heard a secondary list strongly ad¬ 
vocated on many occasions, but he had never yet been a 
convert to the propriety of having such a list in the Phar¬ 
macopoeia. The question that would be most difficult to 
solve was this : Who was to define what was to go into 
the secondary list, and what into the primary list ? This 
led him to speak of the United States’ Pharmacopoeia, in 
which a secondary list had been inserted. He had been 
engaged in studying that work and in testing some of the 
formulae for preparations which were introduced into it; 
and he must say that he had been struck with what 
appeared to him to be many inconsistencies in it. There 
was one other preparation to which he wished to refer, 
and to which reference had been made by Mr. Martindale, 
and that was the oleum phosphoratum. Mr. Martindale 
seemed to think that the instructions which he (Professor 
Redwood) proposed to give for its preparation, consisting 
of the purification of the oil of almonds before its use, was 
an unnecessary refinement. It might be so for some 
samples of oil; but he was quite certain that much, if not 
most, of the oil of almonds met with in commerce, if it 
be used simply as a solvent for the phosphorus, gave rise 
in a short time to a precipitate in the oil. The oleum 
phosphoratum as ordered in the Paris Codex, for instance, 
was found to undergo change. Some of the phosphorus 
seemed to be acted upon by some resinous or organic mat¬ 
ter in the oil, and that was got rid of and decomposed by 
subjecting the oil to a high temperature ; and if the tem¬ 
perature were carefully observed, no material alteration 
in the oil, so as to alter its general character, took place. 
The oil became colourless, but it did not acquire any dis¬ 
agreeable odour if heated up to 400° Fahr. He believed 
that the operation, although it might not be absolutely 
necessary, was a desirable precaution to take so as to 
ensure uniformity in the result, and to guard against de¬ 
fects which otherwise would be likely to occur. The 
object he had in view in introducing this discussion was 
to call forth the opinions of pharmacists, and he felt 
greatly indebted to those gentlemen who had come for¬ 
ward and favoured the Society with their opinions and 
experience. Referring, in conclusion, to the letter of 
Professor Attfield, as to the nomenclature which might be 
looked forward to in future Pharmacopoeias, he (Professor 
Redwood) said he could not hold out much hope or ex¬ 
pectation of anything being stated in the proposed appen¬ 
dix that would tie the authors of the Pharmacopoeia to 
the nomenclature which they should adopt four or five 
years hence. He thought the prevailing opinion of the 
Pharmaceutical Committee and of the Medical Council 
would be “ Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” 
When the time came for bringing out a new Pharmaco¬ 
poeia they would then consider what the nomenclature 
should be that it was advisable to adopt. At the same 
time he had no hesitation in saying he had every confi¬ 
dence that when that time came, the nomenclature which 
Professor Attfield would like to see adopted would be 
introduced. 
The Mustard of the Pharmacopeia. 
Mr. Greenish then read a paper on “ The Mustard of 
the Pharmacopoeia.” The Paper is printed at p. 782, 
and gave rise to the following discussion :— 
Mr. Martindale said he had tried at several places, 
but had failed to get the mustard of the Pharmacopoeia, 
except at one establishment in London. Powdered white 
mustard seed alone, he thought, was generally supplied ; 
this was very different from that which was used in the 
north of England, and supplied by Dewar, of Newcastle- 
on-Tyne. 
Professor Bentley said that his experience did not 
accord with what Mr. Martindale had stated with refer¬ 
ence to white mustard seed, for all the mustard he (Pro¬ 
fessor Bentley) had examined certainly contained a notable 
proportion of black mustard seed. He did not think that 
white mustard seed would in itself at all meet the desire 
of those who used mustard ; and at the same time the 
use of black mustard by itself would be so powerful, so 
pungent, that unless a certain agreeable character was 
imparted to it the mass of the people would not use it; 
but if they mixed with it white mustard seed they got an 
agreeable flavour. It was for that reason especially that 
white mustard was used, and used advantageously The 
admixture of other substances was a question which he 
would not go into at the present moment, as it would 
raise the whole inquiry with respect to what was com¬ 
mercial mustard, and the still further subject of its adul¬ 
teration. 
Mr. Bland believed that exaggerated notions prevailed 
with regard to the adulteration of mustard, and that the 
principal obstacle in the way of getting the genuine 
article had been the unwillingness to pay a decent price 
for it. For several years past he had been supplied with 
mustard which was stated by the manufacturer to be 
genuine, and he believed that that representation was 
perfectly correct. There was no starchy matter mixed 
with it, but it was purely a mixture of white and black 
mustard, and there was an entire absence of any foreign 
colouring matter. He was sorry to say that, generally 
speaking, the public were not good judges of mustard, 
preferring that which was sold by the oilmen and grocers 
at from 8 d. to Is. per lb. He had had some experience 
with regard to the fixed oil that had been recommended 
as a remedy for rheumatism, but he was not inclined to 
attribute to it any great value. 
toliitmmtorg irafo ITato yroteciimgs. 
Alleged Death through the Use of Adulterated 
Vinegar. 
In charging the grand jury at the Liverpool Spring 
Assizes, on the 27th March, Mr. Baron Pollock called 
attention to a charge of manslaughter against a woman 
named M‘Grath, for causing the death of her infant child, 
eight weeks old, by negligence in administering an over¬ 
dose of cough medicine. The child was delicate almost 
fromi ts firth, and; he prisoner applied to a medical man, 
who vised her to po to the union for medical aid. In- 
