588  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {Arn^;S^aTm' 
absolute  alcohol.  At  present,  with  the  use  of  improved  machinery,  about  18 
or  20  per  cent,  of  oil  was  obtained  by  cold  pressure,  but  whether  this  was 
wholly  soluble  in  the  same  amount  of  alcohol,  he  had  not  ascertained.  The 
total  yield  by  hot  pressure  is  from  twenty-eight  to  thirty  per  cent.  Mr. 
Thompson  wished  to  know  how  cold  pressed  oil  might  be  discriminated  from 
that  made  by  heat  and  pressure.  It  was  stated  that  the  former  could  be  recog- 
nized by  the  alcohol  test  before  alluded  to,  and  by  the  mild  odor  and  bland 
taste  which  are  quite  different  from  that  made  by  heat  and  pressure.  Mr. 
Thompson  said  the  whole  tenor  of  the  paper  just  read  and  the  consequent  dis- 
cussion showed  that  it  was  quite  important  that  linimentum  ammonise  and  simi- 
lar preparations  should  be  prepared  extemporaneously  for  present  need  only  | 
The  registrar  moved  that  the  subject  of  linseed  oil,  cold  and  hot  pressed,  be 
referred  to  a  committee  of  three,  and  it  was  recommended  that  Dr.  A.  W.  Mil- 
ler be  placed  on  the  committee,  he  having  had  a  great  deal  of  experience  with 
oils  ;  some  years  ago  he  had  presented  samples  of  cold-pressed  linseed  oil.  It 
was  mentionedthat  such  an  oil  had  great  advantages  over  the  ordinary  flax-seed 
oil  used  by  painters ;  and  the  registrar  stated  that  he  had  been  informed  by 
veterinary  surgeons  that  the  cold  pressed  oil  was  the  only  article  fit  for  use  in 
their  practice.  The  chair  appointed  on  the  committee  Dr.  Miller,  and  Messrs. 
Thompson  and  England.  The  paper  of  Mr.  England  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Publication. 
Mr.  C.  S.  Gallaher  read  a  paper  upon  a  Crystalline  Principle  from  Cimicifuga, 
showing  that  crystals  could  be  obtained,  and  the  tests  demonstrated  them  to 
be  cane  sugar.   The  paper  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Publication. 
Mr.  F.  X.  Moerk  read  a  paper  upon  a  Cancer  Cure.  Prof.  Maisch  alluded  to  the 
large  amount  of  arsenic  found  in  this  cure,  which  seems  to  have  originated  in 
Easton,  Pa. ;  and  read  a  letter  from  Dr  Pursell,  of  Bristol,  Pa.,  giving  the  his- 
tory of  several  cures  of  epithelioma  which  had  come  under  his  notice.  The  pa- 
per was  referred  to  the  committee. 
Dr.  C.  B.  Lowe  alluded  to  the  late  Exhibition  of  the  Horticultural  Society, 
and  called  special  attention  to  the  crotons,  which  are  of  the  same  genus  from 
which  croton  oil  is  obtained;  the  display  of  plants  of  the  family  of  Maranta 
was  also  quite  large,  and  the  leaves  were  often  marked  in  a  peculiar  manner, 
as  though  they  had  photographs  upon  them ;  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Lotus 
plant  was  exhibited  ;  also  several  species  of  Nepenthes  and  some  leaves  of  the 
Victoria  regia,  about  four  and  one-half  feet  in  diameter,  showing  both  upper 
and  lower  sides.  Professor  Maisch  stated  that  the  genus  Croton  comprised  over 
four  hundred  different  species,  many  of  which  were  under  cultivation;  the 
handsomest  display  of  crotons  he  had  ever  seen  was  ten  years  ago,  in  the 
Lieutenant-Governor's  gardens  at  Toronto,  where  quite  a  number  of  differ- 
ent species  were  grown,  many  of  them  with  beautifully  variegated  foliage. 
Professor  Maisch  also  exhibited  a  sample  of  sarsaparilla,  from  Messrs.  Wm. 
R.  Warner  &  Co.,  which  had  been  offered  as  the  Honduras  variety,  but  really 
was  a  handsome  specimen  of  Mexican,  and  it  is  evident  that  it  was  packed 
in  the  locality  where  it  grew,  as  the  binding  root  must  have  been  fresh  when 
put  on ;  as  far  as  could  be  seen  it  was  free  from  the  rhizome  and  portions 
of  stem  which  usually  accompany  the  Mexican  variety.  Another  curiosity 
in  the  shape  of  a  root  was  a  sample  of  mandragora  roots,  three  in  number, 
which  had  considerable  likeness  to  the  human  form;  it  was  highly  esteemed 
