354 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
The Chairman, in thanking the author for his valuable practical communi¬ 
cation, referred especially to the subject of extract of hops, and said he thought 
it was worthy of consideration whether this extract would not be improved in 
quality if it were made from hops that had not been exposed to the fumes of 
sulphur. It was well known that hopgrowers were in the habit of exposing the 
hops after drying them to these fumes, and the practice was so common that no 
hops could be purchased that had not been thus treated, but he (the Chairman) 
believed the peculiar aroma of the hop was injured by the sulphurous acid. 
He had often wondered that some of the brewers had not tried the use of hops 
in their natural state, feeling assured that the result would be the production of 
a beer of very superior flavour. With reference to the samples of extract that 
had been produced, he thought there could be no doubt that that made by the 
process of the new Pharmacopoeia was decidedly the best. 
Mr. Morson thought it might be satisfactory to the meeting to know that 
the new process for extract of hops which had been introduced into the British 
Pharmacopoeia originated with one of their own body, namely, Mr. Deane. 
Referring to the spirit which was recovered by distillation in the process, he ob¬ 
served that it possessed the peculiar flavour of the hop in a high degree, and he 
thought it might admit of some special application. 
Mr. Haselden said it had also occurred to him that probably this spirit 
might be used for the sake of the flavour it possessed. 
Professor Redwood said some attempts had been made by brewers to prevent 
the loss of the volatile oil of hop, the greater part of which was lost in the pro¬ 
cess of boiling as now conducted, but such attempts had not, he believed, proved 
successful. With reference to the remarks made by the Chairman on the sub¬ 
ject of sulphuring the hops, it must be borne in mind that this practice was 
universally adopted by hopgrowers, and had been so from time immemorial, and 
it was generally found in such cases that there were some good grounds for the 
adoption of the practice. He was not certain what the object of this process 
was, but had conjectured that it was to destroy the larvae of insects which would 
prove destructive or injurious to the hop. lie had discussed the subject with 
brewers, and had not found that they considered the flavour of the hop to be 
injured by fumigating them with sulphur in the usual way, although objection 
was taken to the application of sulphur in the solid state to the growing hop- 
plant, on the ground of its causing the hops to have a disagreeable flavour. 
The Chairman thought the purpose for which the hops were exposed to the 
fumes of sulphur was that of improving their appearance, and giving them a 
good colour. 
ON NITRITE OE SODA. 
BY MR. A. J. ROBERTS. 
It is with some diffidence that I bring this paper before the meeting, feeling 
as I do that there are many present more conversant with the subject than 
myself ; but knowing at the same time that the ranks of the Members must be 
recruited from those of the Associates, and that it is to them that the Society 
looks for future support, I am encouraged to proceed, in the hope that in our 
discussion on the following remarks some facts to the advancement of Pharma¬ 
ceutical science may be elicited. 
There is only one preparation in the Pharmacopoeia in which the nitrite of 
soda is used, viz. spirit of nitrous ether, or, as it is commonly called, sweet 
spirit of nitre ; the object of the compilers of the Pharmacopoeia has apparently 
been to give a process for the preparation of the sweet spirit of nitre which 
should be at once safe and easy of execution, but in the production of the prin- 
