AmMay"'i87h8arm"}  Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations,  267 
tion  of  Prof.  Maisch  (February  number,  p.  87),  and  after  examining  the  drug  as 
imported  into  Great  Britain,  he  concludes  that  it  is  not  G.  robusta,  Nutt.,  but  G* 
squarrosa,  Dunal.  The  following  characters  are  given  for  roughly  distinguishing 
the  species  for  pharmaceutical  purposes  :  G.  squarrosa — leaves  narrowly  lanceolate, 
tapering  downwards  to  a  small  cordate  base  so  that  the  upper  portion  of  the  leaf  is 
broadest;  scales  of  the  involucre  subulate  and  strongly  curled  backwards.  G.  robusta 
— leaves  oblong,  broadest  at  base,  obtuse,  and  nearly  twice  the  width  of  the  preced- 
ing; scales  of  the  involucre  similar  but  less  squarrose.  G.  integrifolia — leaves  entire 
but  very  sparingly  serrated,  more  tapering  at  apex  and  longer  than  the  preceding. 
G.  inuloides — leaves  nearly  as  broad  as  those  of  robusta,  oblong,  wider  at  the  base, 
and  furnished  with  short  closely  set  more  obtuse  teeth  ;  the  flower  heads  almost 
immersed  in  large  leafy  bracts.  G.  glutinosa — leaves  lanceolate,  tapering  to  the  base 
broader  than  the  first ;  scales  of  the  involucre  linear,  short-pointed  and  erect.  G. 
rubricaulis  (G.  hirsutula) — stem  purplish,  involucre  hairy,  upper  leaves  larger  at  the 
base,  lower  leaves  tapering  towards  the  stem. 
Mr.  A.  W.  Gerrard  read  a  paper  on  the  alkaloid  and  active  principle  of  Duboisia 
myoporoides.  It  was  prepared  by  diffusing  the  aqueous  extract  in  water,  precipitat- 
ing with  alcohol,  evaporating  the  filtrate,  diluting  with  water,  adding  ammonia  and 
agitating  with  chloroform.  The  alkaloid  is  a  yellow  viscous  mass,  freely  soluble  in 
alcohol,  chloroform,  ether,  benzol  and  carbon  bisulphide,  fairly  soluble  in  water  and 
imparting  to  it  a  decided  alkaline  reaction.  It  was  not  obtained  crystalline,  and  of 
its  salts  only  the  sulphate  and  hyrobromate  crystallized  in  needles.  It  is  very  sim- 
ilar in  its  reactions  to  atropia,  but  differs  from  it  in  being  more  soluble  in  water,  to 
require  more  acid  for  neutralizing,  and  to  yield,  when  boiled  with  baryta,  an  unplea* 
sant  odor,  while  atropia  by  the  same  treatment  gives  off  a  pleasant  odor  reminding 
of  gaultheria.  With  strong  sulphuric  acid  in  the  cold,  atropia  remains  unaffected, 
but  on  heating  the  mixture  it  darkens,  evolving  a  pleasant  aromatic  odor,  which  the 
addition  of  potassium  bichromate  intensifies  and  at  the  same  time  yields  a  green 
precipitate  of  chromium  oxide  and  vapors  of  an  acid  reaction,  Duboisia  alkaloid 
gives  with  sulphuric  acid  in  the  cold  a  reddish-brown  color  and  when  heated  an 
odor  unpleasant  and  suggestive  of  butyric  acid  ;  upon  the  addition  of  potassium 
bichromate,  no  reduction  to  the  oxide  was  apparent,  but  the  evolved  vapor  was  of 
acid  reaction.  In  its  physiological  action,  the  alkaloid  was  found  to  entirely  agree 
with  atropia. 
Dr.  Paul  confirmed  the  statements  as  to  the  amorphous  condition  of  most  of  the 
compounds.  A  note  had  been  received  from  Mr.  A.  Petit,  of  Paris,  giving  similar 
results  and  stating  that  the  aqueous  solutions  of  the  alkaloid  were  fluorescent  and 
dichroic,  being  yellow  by  transmitted  and  blueish  green  by  reflected  light 
Dr.  Bancroft,  of  Brisbane,  who  discovered  the  properties  of  duboisia,  stated  that 
the  watery  extract  was  equal,  weight  for  weight,  to  atropia,  and  the  physiological 
action  of  the  two  alkaloids  would  probably  not  be  found  identical. 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Paris.— At  the  meeting  of  February  6,  a  note  by 
Mr.  Carles  was  read,  communicating  the  analysis  of  citron  juice,  which  resulted  as 
follows  :  free  citric  (and  malic)  acid  577,  supercitrates  of  potassium  -96,  of  calcium, 
