3D2 
rilAEMACEUTICAL MEETING, EDINBUllGII. 
(10 litres) ; lime-tree hath, and other baths made with leaves or flowers, prepared in the 
sime manner as the aromatic bath. Besides the foregoing there are two ollicinal pedi- 
luvia, one of hydrochloric acid, the other of mustard. These officinal formulae for baths 
ai-e intended to guide the druggist; he is to supply, in a suitable bottle, the quantities 
■sufficient for a bath ; in two instances, directions are especially given to prevent accident, 
one in the case of the liquid sulphurous bath, for which the directions are, “ Dissolve 
and filter : enclose this solution in a bottle of peculiar form, in order to avoid mistakes 
the other in the case of the corrosive sublimate bath, the directions for which are, 
“ Dissolve, and enclose the liquid in a bottle, which you will label in a very distinct 
manner ‘ Solution for Bath.’ ” 
Gljjcerh is the name applied to a class of medicines which have either glycerine or 
glycerated starch as their basis. The formula for glycerate of starch is as follows:— 
Powdered starch (10 grammes); glycerine (150 grammes); mix the substances, heat 
them gently in a porcelain capsule, with constant stirring, until the mass becomes gela¬ 
tinous. 
With glycerine or glycerate of starch as their basis, there are the following officinal 
preparations:—Glycerates of iodide of potassium, iodurated iodide of potassium, tar, sul¬ 
phur, extract of belladonna, and tannin. 
Escharotiques are described as substances which, taking the title of Cather^tiques 
when of milder action, are employed to cauterize the skin, or to destroy fungous growths 
of wounds or ulcers, for the purpose of converting them into an eschar, which is detached 
more or less promptly. Eed oxide of mercury, arsenious acid, mineral ac[d, caustic 
alkalies, chlorides of antimony, mercury, zinc, concentrated solution of iodine, and other 
substances, as different in their nature as in their action, are employed as escharotics or 
cathcretics. These are the formulse given for this class of preparations, two of w’hich 
are entitled Trochisci, but it is to be remembered they are for external use. 
Furairjations. —With this class are combined odoriferous pastilles. The following 
description is given of the class:—Fumigations consist in the expansion of a gas or 
vapour, which is either dispersed through the atmosphere or directed to a particular part 
of the body. All substances which are susceptible of volatilization, or which by their 
deconjposition give rise to elastic fluids, may be employed as the basis of fumigations. 
Water or alcohol, either pure or charged with aromatic principles, ether and ethereal 
solutions, sugar, juniper-berries, resins, amber, chlorine, iodine, sulphur, sulphurous 
acid, hypochlorite of lime, and red sulphuret of mercury are the substances in most 
common use for mechanical fumigation. Certain fumigations are intended to operate 
tupon the atmosphere, and not upon the body. Sometimes they serve to mask offensive 
odours, for which purpose any of the volatilizable substances which afford agreeable 
■perfumes may be employed. Sometimes their object is, by a chemical decomposition, 
to attack and destroy deleterious miasmata, which we suppose to be floating in the 
Atmosphere. The acids and chlorine are more commonly employed for hygienic fumi- 
-gations. Formula are given for the following preparations:—Odoriferous fumigating 
pastilles, fumigatory or antiasthmatic paper (containing nitrate of potash, belladonna, 
stramonium, digitalis. Lobelia injiata, (Enanthe Phellandrium, myrrh, and olibanum), 
nitre-paper, arsenical-paper, and cigarettes of belladonna, digitalis, hyoscyamus, tobacco, 
and stramonium. 
The last Chapter (LXXV.) is devoted to formulse extracted from the principal foreign 
Fharmacopoeias. I have already mentioned those taken from the British Pharmacopoeia; 
•others are collected from the Pharmacopoeias of Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, 
Denmark, Germany (Magdeburgi), Plamburg, Hanover, Norway, Saxony, and Wurtem- 
berg. The appendix of the Codex contains extracts from the laws and regulations which 
govern the practice of pharmacy in France. Time will scarcely permit me to do more 
than merely dip into this part of the work, but, in the prospect of legislation in this 
country, it may not be uninteresting to the Society to get even a slight insight into the 
position of the pharmacien. I am not quite sure that you will entirely approve of the 
paternal interest manifested by the Imperial Government for the welfare of its people ; 
some of the regulations you will doubtless concur in, others may perhaps seem to affect 
the liberty of the subject more than you would desire. But this you will, I think, 
admit, that—whether in consequence of these laws, or in spite of them, I do not pretend 
to say—pharmacy holds a very honourable position in France, and that some of the 
most prominent scientific men of that country have emanated from its schools. Besides, 
