CONVEUSAZIONE IN EDINBURGH. 
583 
'*Bartlane. Three kinds of burdock are in use of which the root is employed. 
Years ago they were in repute here as antiscrophulous remedies, and I have seen 
them ordered, though but rarely. 
*Bavme de Tolu —Balsam of Tolu. It is observed in a nsite, that whereas 
formerly it was firm and dry, breaking into pieces in the cold, it is always now 
found in a soft condition, and a doubt is expressed as to its being from the same 
tr-ce, as it is often sophisticated. 
(To he continued.') 
Mr. Hills observed that as some allusion had been made to the present prac¬ 
tice of ordering concentrated medicines, and as Dr. Harley was present, he ap¬ 
pealed to him to use his influence with the profession to discourage a practice so 
dangerous to the patient as well as inconvenient to the dispenser. Tie thought 
that potent remedies should not be prescribed in less than one, two, or three 
tablespoonful doses. 
CONVERSAZIONE IN EDINBURGH. 
On the evening of Thursday, 8th March, the Pharmaceutical Society gave a conver¬ 
sazione in the Industrial Museum of Science and Art. Notwithstanding the very 
inclement state of the weather, the galleries-were crowded with a numerous and brilliant 
assemblage of ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Kemp, of Portobello, President of the North 
British section of the Society, along with other members of Council, received the 
visitors. The reception commenced at eight o’clock, and before the hour of lecture about 
nine hundred were promenading the various departments of the Museum. The bright 
and beautiful manner in which the interior of the building was lighted up, and the 
admirable and interesting mode in which the various articles were exposed, gave the 
greatest pleasure and gratification to those, who had responded to the invitation of the 
President and Council. Those present were of course in evening dress, and all felt how 
much enhanced the comfort and the pleasure of the evening was, by the presence of so many 
of the fair sex, at least one-half of the company being ladies. A little before nine o’clock 
the large Lecture Hall attached to the Museum was thrown open, and as there w'as 
accommodation for about a thousand individuals, every one had an opportunity of being 
present at a lecture given by Dr. Stevenson Macadam on Spectrum Analysis. In the 
room, among those present were—Dr. John Smith, President of the College of Physicians, 
Professor Balfour, Professor Archer, Dr. Bell, Dr. Bedford, Dr. Fowler of Corstorphine, 
Dr. Nasmyth, Dr. Craig of Ratho, Dr. A. Gamgee, Dr. Young, Dr. Burns Thomson, Dr. 
Davidson of Madagascar, Dr. Myrtle, Dr. James Young, Dr. Miller, Dr. Andrew^ Wood, 
Dr. Robertsou, Councillor Cousin, Councillor Callender, Bailie Falsbaw, the Master of 
the Merchant Company, Rev. Messrs. Guthrie, Deans, R, Maepherson, Mackenzie, 
Bruce, Bartholomew, Horn of Corstorphine, Bruce, and Renwick ; Scott Moncrieff, Esq,, 
Mr, Macnab of theRoyalBotanic Gardens, C. Pearson, Esq., C. A., David Page, Esq., F.G.S., 
J, Phipps, Esq., F. Pilkington, Esq., W. Reid, Esq. of Drem, Colonel Ryley, Robert Tod, 
Esq. of Clerwood, Gourlay Steele, Esq., Messrs. Kiuninmont, Moffat, and Black from 
Glasgow, etc. etc. 
The President, in a few complimentary remarks, introduced the lecturer, after which 
Dr, S. Macadam gave a very interesting lecture on Spectrum Analysis. Commencing 
wdth Newton’s discovery of the decomposition of light through the glass prism in 1701, 
he proceeded to refer to the labours of Wollaston and Sir David Brewster in connection 
with the solar spectrum. Having glanced at the investigations of Kirchhoff, Huggins, 
and W. A. Miller, Dr, M. proceeded to illustrate his subject by means of a very powerful 
battery, composed of about 80 cells. The prisms used were those of bisulphide of 
carbon, and having, by means of the electric light, produced the various prismatic 
colours, he proceeded to burn different metallic substances, such as sodium, barium, 
potassium, lithium, thallium, and several other kindred substances, producing in every 
case, most successfully, the striking, remarkable, and beautiful coloured bands by which 
they are individually recognized. The lecturer was much applauded, and concluded by 
