March 23, 1872-3 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
775 
fromMitgs jof Scientific Satieties. 
THE ROYAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. 
The Eighth Ordinary Meeting of this Society for the 
present session was held on Monday evening, 18th 
current; Professor Kell and in the chair. 
Professor Balfour read a notice of the fruiting of the 
ipecacuanha plant in the Edinburgh Royal Botanic 
Garden. The learned Professor explained that the culti¬ 
vation of this plant had received an impetus from the en¬ 
couragement given by the India Office to its introduction 
into India, where it is of great value as a remedy for dysen¬ 
tery. There had been despatched from this country two 
hundred and seventy-seven specimens. The plants had 
Been forwarded to different parts of India, and there was 
every reason to hope that the experiment would prove 
successful. Passing on to speak of the plants in the Bo¬ 
tanic Garden, the Professor stated that one which had 
been there for a long time had flowered regularly, while 
one obtained more recently from Rio Janeiro had not yet 
put forth a flower, although it had that morning shown 
some symptoms of doing so. By manipulating the 
blossoms of the flowering plant, it had latterly been got 
to produce fruit. It could also be readily propagated by 
means of cuttings from the root. 
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY. 
At the Pharmaceutical Meeting held on February 
20th, under the presidency of Dr. Pile, several interest¬ 
ing specimens were exhibited. 
Professor Parrish exhibited some annatto seed from 
Para, said to be used for obtaining a finer tint of colour 
than that which is produced by annatto. 
Professor Maisch exhibited specimens of syrup of 
senega and syrup of ipecac, prepared by Mr. J. B. 
Moore from his formulae (published in American Journal 
of Pharmacy, March, May and July, 1870), which had 
been kept for over sixteen months; also syrup of orange 
flowers, prepared of double the strength of the officinal 
syrup; also from George W. Kennedy, of Pottsville, 
Pennsylvania, mistura cretae, having the sugar replaced 
by glycerine, and kept for ten months. Mucilage of 
gum arabic was also exhibited by the Professor, made 
by him in 1870, in which half the water was replaced by 
glycerine (see Mr. Rother’s paper, on page 768 of the 
present number). This mucilage had been made for 
-certain investigations which have not been finished. 
Professor Parrish exhibited to the meeting camphor 
in the state of powder, prepared by Mr. C. H. Heinitsh 
last October by sublimation, as proposed by Mr. Lowd. 
It was still in a pulverulent condition, and consisted of 
very minute crystals. 
Professor Procter presented a specimen of the oil of 
the liver of the sun-fish, prepared by Mr. Marvin (manu¬ 
facturer of cod-liver oil) at Portsmouth, N. H. This oil 
has a bright orange-yellow colour, an odour differing 
from cod-liver oil, and was prepared in the same manner 
as cod-liver oil. Nothing is known of its medicinal 
properties. This fish is the Tetraodon mola , a species of 
ostracion described in the tenth volume of Cuvier’s work 
(Pisces). 
Professor Procter now exhibited some specimens of 
organic principles, made by Prof. E. S. Wayne, of Cin¬ 
cinnati. These were—hj r drastin, from Hydrastis Cana¬ 
densis ; sulphate of berberina, from the same plant; 
marrubin, the bitter principle of horehound; phloridzin, 
from apple-tree bark ; xanthoxvlin, from the bark of 
J ianthoxylum fraxineum , and celastrin, from Celastrus 
acandcns. The celastrin, which now for the first time is 
noticed, is in perfectly white crystalline masses of minute 
crystals like chloral hydrate. 
Professor Maisch exhibited cinnamic acid and styracin 
of various degrees of purity, obtained from liquid storax. 
Styracin may be readily obtained in tufts of snow-white 
needles, by crystallizing it from petroleum benzine. He 
likewise showed some bibromide of camphor,^ H 16 0 2 Br 2 , 
discovered by Laurent in 1840, and monobromated cam¬ 
phor, C 20 H 15 BrO 2 , discovered by Swartz in 1862, and 
lately recommended by Prof. Deneffe as a sedative for 
the nervous system. (See Piiarm. Journ. ante , p. 529.) 
In attempting to make this new therapeutic agent on a 
somewhat larger scale, an explosion took place while the 
closed vessel was kept in boiling water, in consequence 
of the pressure exerted by the confined vapours of hydro - 
bromic acid, uncombined bromine and camphor. Suitable 
precautions having been taken in anticipation of such a 
possibility, no injury was sustained. The monobromized 
camphor resembles Borneo camphor in odour. 
Professor Bridges said it afforded him much pleasure 
to call the attention of the meeting to a new industry in 
the United States, the manufacture of phosphorus, by 
Messrs. Rose and Lowell, of Rancocas, Burlington 
County, New Jersey. The bottle on the table, marked 
Jan., 1872, was believed to contain the first stick of 
phosphorus cast in America, and presented a handsome 
appearance. Dr. Pile remarked that Mr. Rose had 
informed him in conversation that it was made from 
spent bone-black from the sugar refineries, and pays a 
profit at the market rates. The manufacturers are 
already able to supply it in large quantities. 
In calling the attention of the meeting to the recent 
veto of the Pharmaceutical Bill by the Governor, Pro¬ 
fessor Parrish rehearsed the history of the Bill in detail, 
from its origin. It was prepared by a committee in 
consequence of the demands made by the public press, 
endorsed by the druggists of Philadelphia met in con¬ 
vention, adopted by both houses of the Legislature, and 
now vetoed by the Governor, who, from the objections 
as reported in the papers, must have been much deceived 
in the character and effect of the Bill. The objections 
were commented upon, and in conclusion Professor Par¬ 
rish asserted that the profession much needed the pro¬ 
tection of such a law to give character and standing to 
it, and the public also needed it for their protection. 
Dr. Rogers said that pharmacists were emphatically 
on the same platform with the physician; without 
skilfully prepared remedies, the physician’s art would 
be, indeed, very much crippled. Physicians should 
stand by the pharmacists and demand the passage of 
this Bill. They needed competent persons to dispense 
their prescriptions, and were well assured that accidents 
rarely happen with the educated pharmacist. 
Professor Rogers referred to the outrageous frauds 
recently discovered in the sale of medical diplomas. He 
said that the trade had been going on for some time, and 
only recently the profession and. public had found it 
out. The parties had been until then adroit enough to 
cover their tracks, but occasional correspondence had 
brought it to light. Without the participation of the 
faculty, the press took it up and forced it upon the 
attention of the Legislature. A committee of inves¬ 
tigation had been appointed, and the faculty of the 
University of Pennsylvania were summoned to testify 
before it. The investigation threatening the culprits, 
they had not attempted to defend their case, but at¬ 
tempted a flank movement and attack upon the Uni¬ 
versity of Pennsylvania. The Doctor explained the 
careful mode of printing diplomas, and the impossibility 
of their falling into the hands of those who would make 
fraudulent use of them. The charge of their over-issue 
was a mere invention, entirely unsupported by evi¬ 
dence. The medical schools known as the Philadelphia 
University of Medicine and Surgery (Paine’s), the 
American University of Philadelphia and the Eclectic 
Medical College (Buchanan’s)—pretended to have com¬ 
petent rules for governing them; but it was proved that 
they had not lived up to them in any particular. lie 
hoped for legislative action to relieve the public from this 
imposition, practised not only in the United States, but 
