32 
EXAMINATION OF A CONSTITUENT OF CAPSICUM. 
macy and the Constitution of the Philadelphia County Medical 
Society as sufficiently explicit on this subject, 
16th. In reference to the patronage on the part of Physicians 
of particular apothecaries, we are of the opinion, as a general rule, 
that Graduates in Pharmacy should be encouraged in preference to 
others of the same date" of business, and whilst admitting the ab- 
stract right of the physician to send his prescription where he 
pleases, we think that justice should dictate the propriety of his 
encouraging the nearest apothecary deserving of his confidence and 
that of the patient. 
D. Francis Condie, 
Wm. Maybury, 
. G. Emerson. 
William Procter, Jr., 
H. C. Blair, 
John H. Ecky, 
EXAMINATION OF A CONSTITUENT OF CAPSICUM. 
By John T. Plummek, M. D., of Eichmond, Ind. 
Tincture of capsicum, made by displacement, in the course of a 
few days after the filtration, yielded a bulky, but very light, white 
flocculous, distinctly separated from the liquid but remaining sus- 
pended in it. Filtered out it was found : — 
1. Unctuous or soapy to the touch. 
2. White. 
3. Easily saponifiable with potash, forming a pearly looking 
compound. 
4. Neither acetic nor the mineral acids acted on it. 
5. Insoluble in water. 
6. Insoluble in cold alcohol ; yet the displacement was effected 
by alcohol at the temperature of the season. 
7. Tasteless. 
8. Soluble in essential oils. 
9. Very sparingly soluble in boiling alcohol, separating, on 
cooling, in balls or conglomerations of hollow, delicately thin, 
transparent, microscopic spherules. 
10. At 100° (Fah.) it leaves a greasy looking spot on paper; 
at a higher temperature, to soften and render the paper transparent. 
Committee of County 
Medical Society. 
Committee of Phila. 
College of Pharmacy. 
