^j^w?*!        Pharmaceutical  Colleges,  etc.  281 
end  last  scientific  meeting  for  the  season  on  Thursday,  April  18th,  Mr.  Baildon, 
President,  in  the  chair. 
Mr.  John  Gibson  read  a  paper,  illustrated  by  specimens  and  drawings,  on 
"The  Natural  History  and  Commerce  of  Sponges." 
Messrs.  McFarlane  and  Co.,  of  Edinburgh,  presented  to  the  museum  several 
specimens  of  various  kinds  of  sponges,  adhering  to  pieces  of  rock,  which  had 
recently  been  procured  from  Smyrna. 
The  President  then  delivered  his  valedictory  address. 
At  the  annual  meeting  held  April  19th  Mr.  H.  C.  Baildon  was  elected  Presi- 
dent, and  Mr.  Win.  Gilmour  Vice-President.  After  the  election  of  the  Council 
and  other  officers,  Mr.  Mackay  was  requested  to  continue  to  act  as  honorary 
Secretary.    The  meeting  then  adjourned. 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Paris. — At  the  meeting  held  March  6th,  Mr. 
Stan.  Martin  presiding,  Mr.  Boudet  reported  on  the  transactions  of  the  Acad- 
emie  de  Medicine.  The  subject  of  tannate  of  quinia  occasioned  some  discus- 
sion. Mr.  Roucher  regards  it  as  possessing  rather  less  activity  than  the  sulph- 
ate, but  to  possess  certain  advantages  in  special  cases.  Mr.  Regnault  stated 
Jthat  by  precipitating  acetate  of  quinia  with  tannin,  a  turbid  liquid  is  obtained 
which  will  pass  through  the  filters,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  wash  the  newly 
formed  compound,  which  is  very  soluble  in  acetic  acid,  and  which  separates 
completely  on  the  addition  of  a  little  sulphuric  acid  or  even  of  sulphate  of  soda. 
The  tannate  of  quinia,  freed  from  sulphuric  acid,  is  nearly  insoluble  in  water, 
but  soluble  in  alcohol.  The  speaker  also  believes  that  the  morphia  in  wine  of 
opium  is  not  precipitated  by  the  little  tannin  contained  in  the  cinnamon  and 
cloves,  as  believed  by  Mr.  Delioux  de  Savignac,  for  which  reason  he  had  pro- 
posed to  substitute  these  aromatics  by  sugar,  also  to  replace  opium  by  its 
extract.  (See,  also,  below,  the  account  of  the  meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society  of  Antwerp). 
Mr.  Limousin  read  a  paper  on  sulphovinate  of  soda,  describing  the  mode  of 
preparing  it,  and  reporting  on  some  advantages  it  possesses  over  other  saline 
purgatives,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  its  more  pleasant  and  cooling  taste, 
and  that  it  does  not  produce  subsequent  constipation,  nor  calculi  in  the  bladder* 
like  magnesia  salts. 
A  paper,  by  Mr.  Cauvet,  on  the  distinctive  characters  of  French  and  Asiatic 
rhubarbs,  refers  mainly  to  the  well  known  differences  in  the  direction  of  the  red 
medullary  rays,  and  the  greater  prominence  of  the  brown  cambium  zone  in  the 
former. 
Mr.  E.  Bourgoin  proposes  to  test  oil  of  bitter  almonds  with  an  equal  weight 
of  caustic  potassa;  the  pure  oil  changes  merely  to  a  yellowish  color ;  in  the 
presence  of  nitro-benzole  a  yellowish  red  color  is  produced,  which  rapidly 
changes  to  green  ;  on  the  addition  of  water,  the  mixture  separates  into  two 
layers,  the  lower  of  which  is  yellow,  the  upper  one  green  changing  to  red  in  the 
course  of  a  day.* 
At  the  meeting  held  April  3d,  Mr.  Boudet  reported  on  the  essay  by  Mr.  Le- 
fort  on  the  distribution  of  atropia  in  belladonna  f    Some  discussion  took  place 
*  See  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1857,  p.  544. 
(  See  page  258  of  this  Journal. 
