December 10,1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
Roscoo had signified his willingness to attend to give a 
lecture. 
The announcement was received with acclamation by 
the members present and the meeting adjourned. 
ABERDEEN ASSOCIATION OF ASSISTANT 
CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS. 
At the Half-yearly Meeting of the Aberdeen Associa¬ 
tion of Assistant Chemists and Druggists, held in the St. 
Nicholas Lane Hall, on Thursday, 24th ult., the fol¬ 
lowing were elected office-bearers for the next six 
months :— President , Mr. Donald ; Vice-President , Mr. 
Tocher ; Treasurer, Mr. Barron ; Secretary, Mr. Gordon ; 
Committee , Messrs. Cassil, Maitland, Hosil, Lunnan and 
Joss. This Association still continues to flourish with 
all its former interest and vigour ; its roll is still as full, 
and the state of its financial matters is very healthy. 
During the last six months several valuable and in¬ 
teresting papers have been delivered by various of its 
members, some upon objects connected with the drug 
trade, and others upon more general subjects, about 
which it no less behoves the young chemist to understand 
something, even in this age, in which pharmaceutical 
education is so much talked of. 
ipmwtoitijs of jSncntiffc Sorittics. 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
Meetings of Executive Committee. 
October 5th, 1870. 
In connection with the recent Annual Meeting at 
Liverpool a letter was read from the Local Committee, 
begging that the offer of a grant of money, which had 
been made by the Conference, as usual, to defray the ex¬ 
penses of the Meeting and Exhibition, might be recalled, 
a considerable surplus being already in hand. The Exe¬ 
cutive Committee, after some discussion in which the 
liability of the Conference for such costs was fully con¬ 
firmed, acceded to the request, and the General Secre¬ 
taries were instructed to convoy to the Local Committee 
at Liverpool the formal thanks of the Executive Com¬ 
mittee for the highly successful, liberal and judicious 
manner in which the objects of the Conference had been 
fulfilled and advanced by the Chairman, Secretary and 
every other member of the Liverpool Committee. 
Mr. James Collins was elected Assistant-Secretary and 
Sub-Treasurer for 1870-71. 
The following gentlemen were reappointed a Com¬ 
mittee of Publication for the proposed Year-Book of 
Pharmacy:—Messrs. Carteigho, Groves, Hanbury, Ince 
and Stoddart, with Professor Attfield as Secretary. 
Messrs. Cruse, Hayland, Garlc, Henderson, Ilopkin, 
Bell, Hall, Flood, Tryer and Kent, were elected members 
of the Conference. 
December 7th, 1870. 
The Year-Book Committee reported that two hundred 
pages of the volume were already in type, and that 
the other three hundred would bo printed in about a 
fortnight. The work had been delayed in August and 
September, owing to the serious illness of the editor, 
Mr. Brough. Hoping against hope, arrangements were 
postponed until help became essential. The manuscript 
had been completed and the book conducted through the 
press by Mr. Joseph Ince. 
The Transactions of the Conference, edited, as hitherto, 
by the General Secretaries, would be bound up with the 
Year-Book. 
Messrs. Davies, Knowles, Curtis, Cocking, Clarke, 
Ilartt, Howman, Gregory, Thomas and Breton were 
elected members. 
*** Members joining during the current year, Juno 
473 
30th, 1870, to June 30th, 1871, and paying the annual 
subscription, five shillings, will bo entitled to one copy of 
the Year-Book. Gentlemen desiring membership are- 
invited to send in their names and addresses, legibly 
written, to the Secretaries, Professor Attfield, 17, Blooms¬ 
bury Square, London, W.C., or Mr. R. Reynolds, Brig- 
gate, Leeds. 
ROYAL SOCIETY. 
The series of experiments undertaken by Dr. Parlces 
and Count Wollocwicz, with the object of ascertaining 
the effects of pure alcohol and brandy on the human 
body, a report of which was laid before the Royal Society 
last May,* has been followed by another series in which 
the experimenters have investigated the effects of claret 
of good quality. On the whole the results arrived at are 
very nearly identical with those of the former experi¬ 
ments. There was a marked increase in the action of 
the heart and an acceleration of the pulse, coinciding 
nearly with the effect produced by pure alcohol; there 
was no unequivocal alteration of temperature in the 
axilla or rectum, no alteration in the elimination of ni¬ 
trogen, no alteration in the phosphoric acid of the urine, 
some augmentation of the free acidity of the urine: no 
alteration of the alvine discharges. They think that 
claret w T ine, in doses of ten to twenty ounces daily, can¬ 
not be distinguished in its effect from pure alcohol. They 
do not go so far as to say that the dietetic effects of red. 
Bordeaux wine and of dilute alcohol are identical; but 
the difference between them must be sought in their 
effects on primary digestion and assimilation. The in¬ 
fluence of the sugar, of the salts, and of the acidity, 
must also be ascertained by other methods than those 
adopted by them. As to the quantity which might be 
thought moderate, ten ounces of wine, containing about 
one fluid ounce of pure alcohol, did not cause the least 
unpleasant feeling of heat or flushing to a robust and 
healthy man to whom it was given, but twenty ounces- 
caused him to feel uncomfortable, the face was somewhat 
congested, and he was a little drowsy. With regard to 
this man taking any alcohol at all, they were decidedly 
of opinion that he w r ould be better without it, as his 
heart naturally acts quickly and strongly enough. He 
had gone through the Abyssinian campaign, and stated 
that when the force was without rum, owing to a defi¬ 
ciency of transport, he had not felt the want of the sti¬ 
mulant, although some of his comrades did. 
LINNEAN SOCIETY. 
At the Meeting of this Society on Dec. 1st a paper by 
Dr. Hance was read, “ On the Source of Radix Galangse 
minoris of Pharmacologists.” The source of the Greater 
Galangal has long been known to be Alpvna Galanga, 
Linn., that of the Lesser Galangal has been more ob¬ 
scure. Galangal is not used in English medical prac¬ 
tice, and on the Continent has become almost obsolete; 
its export from China is, however, considerable, and is 
rapidly increasing, as the following table will show :— 
lb. Value. 
1867 . 112,000 . £478 0 7 
1868 . 177,641 . 1206 13 5 
1869 , 370,800 . 3046 16 9 
During an expedition to the island of Hainan, a quan¬ 
tity of the root which furnishes the Lesser Galangal was 
observed exposed to the sun in baskets. On a subsequent 
occasion the plant itself was discovered at a spot six miles 
inland, at an elevation of 100 feet above the sea, grow¬ 
ing in a dry red soil, the result of volcanic action. Here 
it is evidently planted, but was subsequently detected 
growing .wild in jungles in the same island; 20 or 30 
stalks spring from each root, hut rarely more than one or 
two bear flowers. The fruit appears to be the bitter 
* Pliarm. Journ. 3rd Scries, Yol. I. p. 136. 
