BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
151 
■M r ' Abraham said that the desirability of using pickled elder-flowers in order to 
obtain a water of good keeping properties was incontestable. 
Mr. Pooley remarked that the odour of this water was finer than that from the 
fresh flowers. 
“ ON COMMERCIAL CARBONATE OF BISMUTH. BY MR. C. UMNEY. 
[Abstract.^ 
“ Commercial carbonate of bismuth having been suspected to be contaminated by 
basic nitrate, the author had analysed six samples, and gave in his paper the nume¬ 
rical results. In one case no nitrate was present, and the other five contained but 
small and probably accidental quantities. 
“ In preparing carbonate of bismuth, by precipitating a solution of the nitrate by 
an alkaline carbonate, carbonate of soda was preferable to that of potash, but carbonate 
of ammonia with subsequent ebullition yielded the purest precipitate.” 
“ ON THE PHARMACEUTICAL APPLICATIONS OF GLYCERINE. 
BY MR. F. BADEN BENGER. 
[Abstract .] 
“ In this paper a short history was given, and a resume of its applications in phar¬ 
macy. The preparations known as ‘ plasma,’ in which glycerine with starch is sub¬ 
stituted for lard, as a basis of ointments, had been made the special subject of experi¬ 
ment by the author. He had found tous-les-mois starch superior to any other in 
making the simple plasma. Fifty grains of tous-les-mois were to be rubbed with one 
ounce of glycerine, and the mixture heated to 240° for a few minutes or till it became 
translucent. lie thought that plasma might replace lard in ointments having a ten¬ 
dency to become rancid, but its relatively great expense would preclude its general 
adoption. The glyceroles, or solutions of different substances in glycerine, were then 
noticed. A good ‘tincture of myrrh and borax’ could be made by dissolving one 
part of borax in two of glycerine, and adding tincture of myrrh. As substitutes for 
syrup, the glyceroles did not appear to possess any superiority. Its use as an exci¬ 
pient in pill-making was strongly advocated.” 
The President referred to a series of experiments upon plasmata, a variety of 
which "were prepared and put away in jars, but in a few months all the specimens 
were mouldy. The use of glycerine as an excipient for pill masses must be extremely 
sparing, or the pills would lose their shape. 
Mr. Abraham said that glycerine had the property of irritating the skin to some 
extent. On behalf of the class of fatty preparations condemned by the author of the 
paper, he thought that the blame more properly attached to their faulty manipulation. 
They need not necessarily become rancid, and he thought the chief reason why they 
did so was because the lard was not freshly rendered. 
Glycerine had been used for dissolving the extract of Calabar Bean in use in 
ophthalmic medicine, but here the glycerine irritated the eye. 
Mr. Brady alluded to a preparation of tar that had been used in France, and 
which might be considered as a glycerole of tar, though its mode of preparation was 
unknown. He had made a somewhat similar and very satisfactory compound by the 
use of starch and glycerine.* 
Mr. Walker had employed an essential oil for dissolving tar, with satisfactory 
results. 
Mr. D. II anbury had the authority of ophthalmic surgeons for saying that glyce¬ 
rine produces smarting when applied to the eye. In order to dissolve the extract of 
Calabar Bean the glycerine must be strong, and it was then an efficient solvent of 
nearly the whole. The addition of water precipitated this solution. 
Mr. Ekin, on the authority of Mr. Benger, stated that some foreign glycerine, 
when diluted, became acid very soon, which was not the case with Price’s. 
Mr. Reynolds had found some of the better foreign glycerine to have a faintly 
alkaline reaction when received, and it gave off a volatile principle when warmed, 
leaving idtimately an ash of '3 per cent., which contained chlorine, lime, alumina, etc. 
* Pharm. Journ., 2nd ser. vol. iv. p. 127. 
