530 
British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
Am.  Jour.  Piiarm. 
Oct.,  1882. 
aid  of  original  scientific  research.  It  also  mentioned  tlie  resignation  of  one 
of  the  General  Secretaries,  Mr.  M.  Carteighe,  in  consequence  of  his  acces- 
sion to  the  Presidency  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain,  and 
stated  that  the  consequent  vacancy  had  been  temporarily  filled,  at  the 
request  of  the  committee,  by  Mr.  Sidney  Plowman.  From  the  financial 
statement  it  appeared  that  during  the  past  year  the  expenditure  had 
exceeded  the  income  by  about  £65,  which  was  partly  due  to  a  falling  off  in 
tlie  number  of  members  from  whom  subscriptions  had  been  received.  In 
alluding  to  this  deficiency  the  President  remarked  that  the  introduction  of 
the  Parcels  Post  System  would  lessen  the  expense  of  distributing  the  "Year 
Book  "  in  future,  and  he  expressed  an  opinion  that  an  appeal  to  the  regis- 
tered chemists  and  druggists  who  are  not  already  members  of  the  Confer- 
ence should  be  followed  by  an  increase  of  members  sulficient  to  prevent  a 
deficit  in  future  years ;  further,  that  although  the  committee  had  felt  com- 
pelled to  defer  for  the  present,  for  financial  reasons,  the  compilation  of  the 
General  Index  which  had  been  sugested,  the  postponement  would  only  be 
of  short  duration. 
The  address  of  the  President  was  undoubtedly  the  most  important  feature 
of  the  meeting.  The  Conference  has  been  privileged  in  previous  years  to 
hear  admirable  addresses  from  different  presidents,  but  in  no  previous  year 
has  a  more  marked  impression  been  produced.  As  the  address  has 
been  printed  in  exienso,  it  is  not  necessary  to  summarize  it  here, 
neither  will  this  be  the  best  opportunity  for  its  criticism.  As  re- 
marked by  one  of  the  speakers,  it  will  doubtless  be  read  with  pleasure 
by  all  English  speaking  pharmacists,  and  the  decided  opinions  expressed, 
couched  in  language  that  admits  of  little  misunderstanding,  will  probably 
evoke  a  considerable  amount  of  discussion.  Indeed,  that  it  has  already 
attracted  attention  outside  the  pharmaceutical  circle  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  the  "  Times  "  has  already  devoted  a  leading  article  to  the  discus- 
sion of  some  of  its  topics.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  sixy  here  that  the  address 
was  admirably  delivered  and  was  listened  to  with  that  silent  attention 
which  is  sometimes  better  evidence  of  interest  than  the  most  boisterous 
applause. 
The  first  papers  read  consisted,  as  usual,  of  reports  of  work  undertaken 
at  the  request,  and  with  the  aid ,  of  the  Conference.  The  first  was  a  "  Report 
on  the  Differences  between  the  Essential  Oils  of  Cinnamon  and  Cassia,"  by 
Mr.  A.  H.  Jackson.  The  reporter  stated  that,  tested  from  a  j)hysical  stand- 
point, the  oils  possess  distinctive  and  characteristic  odors  and  that  the 
cinnamon  oil  has  a  more  fiery  taste  than  the  cassia,  but  that  neither  the 
relative  densities  nor  the  refractive  energies  are  sufficient  guides  in  distin- 
guishing mixtures  of  these  oils,  though  the  density  of  the  oil  of  cassia  was 
found  to  be  somewhat  greater  than  that  of  the  oil  of  cinnamon.  The 
chemical  examination  seemed  to  show  that  the  constituent  or  constituents 
in  which  the  oils  differ  from  each  other  are  present  only  in  extremely 
small  proportion.  The  next  report  was  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Gerrard,  "On  the 
Alkaloidal  Value  of  Belladonna  Plants,"  which  was  a  continuation  of  a 
report  on  the  same  subject  presented  last  year.  The  exj)eriments  referred 
to  in  the  rej^ort  were  made  upon  uncultivated  plants  in  their  first  year's 
