^'^'■oct"'^i88'r™''}        British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  535 
Morris,  Director  of  the  Botanical  Gardens  of  Jamaica.  One  sample  con- 
sisted of  small  tubers  and  another  of  slices  of  larger  ones.  The  slices  of 
the  tubers  had  been  dried  by  artificial  heat,  and  they  bore  evidence  of 
having  been  heated  while  still  moist.  The  tubers  lost  17'3  per  cent:  of 
water  between  220°  and  225°F.,  the  slices  14*1  per  cent.  The  tubers  con- 
tained 8*27  per  cent,  of  resin  insoluble  in  ether  (Mayer's  "convolvulin  ") 
and  0"8()  of  resin  soluble  in  ether.  The  sliced  tubers  contained  8*68  of 
insoluble  resin  and  1'21  of  soluble  resin,  these  amounts  being  in  each  case 
calculated  on  the  dry  substance,  showing  that  Jamaica-grown  jalap  yields 
less  resin  than  the  average  of  good  Mexican  jalap,  and  that  it  approaches 
more  nearly  to  that  grown  by  Mr.  Smith  in  the  Botanical  Gardens  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin  ("Pharm.  Journ."  [2],  vol.  x,  p.  549).  Professor 
Tichborne  said  he  considered  the  growth  of  large  tubers  of  jalap  to  be  a 
mistake,  as  he  had  always  found  them  to  be  deficient  in  resin.  Mr.  Young, 
however,  said  that  a  Calcutta  firm,  in  ordering  jalap,  had  desired  to  be  sup- 
plied with  the  largest  obtainable  tubers.  It  may  be  remarked  that  the 
tubers  examined  were  the  result  of  Mr.  Hanbury's  introduction  of  jalap 
into  Jamaica  in  1862. 
Mr.  Bradbury  read  a  paper  by  Mr.  Siebold  and  himself  on  the  Detection 
of  Salicylic  Aci^l  in  Urine,  by  means  of  ferric  chloride,  detailing  the  pre- 
cautions to  be  taken  in  order  to  obtain  a  satisfactory  result. 
A  note  by  the  same  authors  on  the  Alleged  Presence  of  Nicotin  in  Indian 
Hemp  w'ds  then  read,  in  which  they  stated  that  they  had  failed  to  detect  the 
presence  of  nicotin,  but  had  reason  to  believe  they  had  obtained  an  alka- 
loid peculiar  to  this  material,  which  they  intended  to  investigate  further. 
In  the  discussion,  Mr.  Martindale  pointed  out  the  importance  of  applying 
a  physiological  test  in  cases  of  this  kind.  Mr.  Groves  doubted  whether 
th^  results  proved  the  existence  of  a  volatile  alkaloid  as  the  active  princi- 
ple of  Indian  hemp,  since  the  quantity  obtained  was  too  small  to  account 
for  the  activity  of  the  drug.  Mr.  Thresh  suggested  that  in  isolating  vola- 
tile alkaloids  it  was  desirable  not  to  use  methylated  spirit,  and  Mr.  Ger- 
rard  agreed  with  Mr.  Groves  in  thinking  that  the  use  of  caustic  soda  was 
likely  to  bring  about  an  alteration  of  any  alkaloids  that  might  be  present. 
Mr.  Thresh  read  a  paper  by  himself  and  Mr.  Wright  on  Commercial 
Specimens  of  JETf/drobromic  Acid,  showing  that  the  acid  made  by  Fother- 
gill's  process  cannot  be  relied  upon  to  contain  more  than  7  or  8  per  cent, 
of  free  hydrobromic  acid,  and  urging  the  necessity  for  the  introduction  of 
some  authoritative  method  for  preparing  this  acid  of  uniform  strength. 
In  Mr.  Fletcher's  paper  on  the  same  subject,  after  reviewing  the  various 
processes  that  have  been  suggested,  and  pointing  out  their  defects,  he 
described  a  process  adopted  by  himself,  based  upon  the  reaction  of  sulphu- 
retted hydrogen  upon  bromine  in  the  presence  of  water,  which  he  had 
found  to  be  easily  carried  out  and  in  every  way  satisfactory  for  the  manu- 
facture of  the  acid  in  large  (|uantities.  In  the  discussion,  Mr.  Wellcome 
referred  to  the  danger  attending  the  use  of  Professor  Markoe's  process 
("  Amer.  Jour.  Phar,,"  1875,  p.  525  ,  529).  Mr.  Conroy  remarked  that  care 
should  always  be  taken  to  state  the  strength  of  the  acid  supplied  for  phar- 
maceutical uses.    Mr.  Martindale  recommended  cooling  for  the  purifica- 
