530   PAPERS  READ  AT  THE  BRITISH  PHARM.  CONFERENCE. 
by  the  author.  He  had  found  tous-les-mois  starch  superior  to 
any  ether  in  making  the  simple  plasma.  Fifty  grains  of  tous- 
les-mois  were  to  be  rubbed  with  one  ounce  of  glycerin,  and  the 
mixture  heated  to  240°  for  a  few  minutes  or  till  it  became 
translucent.  He  thought  that  plasma  might  replace  lard  in 
ointments  having  a  tendency  to  become  rancid,  but  its  relatively 
great  expense  would  preclude  its  general  adoption.  The  gly- 
cerols, or  solutions  of  different  substances  in  glycerin,  were 
then  noticed.  A  good  "tincture  of  myrrh  and  borax"  could 
be  made  by  dissolving  one  part  of  borax  in  two  of  glycerin, 
and  adding  tincture  of  myrrh.  As  substitutes  for  syrup,  the 
glyceroles  did  not  appear  to  possess  any  superiority.  Its  use 
as  an  excipient  in  pill-making  was  strongly  advocated. 
ON    THE  APPLICATION  OF    DIALYSIS  IN    DETERMINING  THE    NATURE  OF  THE 
CRYSTALLIKE  CONSTITUENTS  OF  PLANTS.     BY  J.  ATTFIELD,  PH.  D.,  F.   C.  S. 
The  author  had  dialysed  a  few  plant-juices,  the  first  that 
came  to  hand,  and  from  each  bad  obtained  some  of  the  crystal- 
line constituents.  The  tops  of  the  common  potato  yielded  a 
crop  of  nitrate  of  potash,  some  cubes  of  chloride  of  potassium, 
hexagonal  crystal  not  analysed,  sugar,  and  an  ammonia  salt. 
The  deadly  nightshade  gave  nitrate  of  potash,  an  unknown 
magnesia  salt  in  square  prisms,  sugar,  etc.  Pea-pods  yielded 
only  sugar.  The  common  garden  lettuce  contained  nitrate  of 
potash,  tetrahedra  of  undetermined  composition,  sugar  and 
ammonia.  Cucumbers  furnished  sugar,  ammonia  and  sulphate 
of  lime.  The  cabbage  also  furnished  sulphate  of  lime  and 
ammonia.  Stramonium  contained  so  much  nitrate  of  potash, 
that  dried  portions  quite  deflagrated  on  being  ignited. 
From  these  experiments  the  author  thought  the  proposed 
application  of  dialysis  promised  to  be  of  great  service,  directly 
and  indirectly,  in  investigating  vegetable  physiology. 
ON  THE  PURITY  OF  FOREIGN  IODIDE  OF  POTASSIUM.     BY  F.  C  CLAYTON. 
The  high  price  and  large  consumption  of  this  article  has 
made  it  one  which  the  manufacturer  has  special  temptations  to 
adulterate.  Of  late  years  very  large  quantities  of  foreign  make 
have  found  their  way  into  our  markets,  giving  rise  to  keen 
competition,  which,  in  the  case  of  drugs,  is  often  far  from  im- 
proving their  quality.    From  these  considerations  we  might 
