201      Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations.  {A\p?!^  ml**' 
Werner  Wendelstorff  (leaves),  Fred.  Schmidt  (arsenic  and  its  preparations). 
The  valedictory  address  was  delivered  by  Prof.  Hubert  Primm. 
St.  Clair  Pharmaceutical  Association  of  Southern  Illinois. —  At  the 
quarterly  meeting,  held  March  10th,  Prof.  J.  M.  Maisch  was  elected  to  hono- 
rary membership.  A  memorial  was  then  read,  signed  by  Messrs.  A.  Rudolph, 
H.  Steingoetter  and  A.  G.  F.  Streit,  setting  forth  the  great  utility  of  a  prepa- 
ratory school  of  pharmacy,  and  offering  to  teach  chemistry,  materia  medica  and 
pharmacy.  The  report  was  accepted,  and  the  signers  of  the  report  were 
appointed  a  committee,  with  power  to  take  all  necessary  steps. 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain. — At  the  pharmaceutical  meet- 
iug  held  March  4th,  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Hills  presiding,  Professor  Bentley  gave 
an  account  of  the  origin  and  uses  of  coca  leaves,  of  which,  according  to  John- 
ston, 30,000,000  pounds  are  annually  used  in  South  America. 
Mr.  Greenish  read  a  note  on  a  decomposed  ginger  lozenge,  which  had  been 
made  partly  of  potato  starch,  but  had  become  mouldy,  then  absorbed  moisture, 
and  finally  broke  down  into  a  soft  granular  mass;  in  the  mould  a  fungus  was 
found,  belonging  to  the  same  genus  as  the  one  to  which  the  potato  disease  is 
said  to  be  due  ;  hence  Mr.  Greenish  attributed  the  dextrin  found  in  the  lozenge 
to  be  the  produce  of  diseased  potatoes,  spores  of  the  fungus  of  which  had 
clung  to  the  starch.  Messrs.  Hills  and  Hampson  attributed  the  decomposition 
to  the  ginger  rather  than  to  the  starch  ;  by  keeping  them  in  dry,  stoppered 
bottles  the  mould  is  prevented. 
Mr.  Daniel  Hanbury  read  a  paper  on  the  Ngai  camphor  from  China,  which, 
from  botanical  specimens  sent  by  Mr.  Fred.  H.  Ewer,  was  ascertained  to  be 
obtained  from  Blumea  balsamifera,  De  C,  a  tall,  coarse-looking  herbaceous 
plant  of  Eastern  Asia,  an  abundant  weed  in  Assam,  Burma  and  the  Indian 
Islands.  This  camphor  is  sold  there  at  $250  the  pecul  =  133^  lbs.,  about  ten 
times  the  price  of  Formosa  camphor,  and  at  one -eighth  the  price  of  the  best 
Malay  camphor.  It  is  used  medicinally,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  the  scented 
Chinese  inks.  Mr.  S.  Plowman,  in  a  paper  read  at  the  same  meeting,  describes 
the  crystals  and  its  physical  and  chemical  properties  ;  it  is  isomeric  with  Borneo 
camphor  Cio  His  O,  but  has  a  different  odor,  is  harder  and  more  brittle,  and 
volatalizes  at  a  higher  temperature  (158°  C),  its  boiling  point  being  about 
210°  C. 
Mr.  F.  Baden  Benger,  alluding  to  the  paper  of  Mr.  Towerzey,*  read  a  paper, 
in  which  he  proposes  to  keep  medicinal  hydrocyanic  acid  in  a  bottle  shaped 
liked  the  barrel  of  an  ordinary  half-ounce  syringe,  drawn  out  into  a  long  and 
fine  point  at  one  end,  which  is  sealed  in  the  flame  of  a  spirit  lamp  or  Bunsen 
burner  ;  it  is  then  filled  with  the  acid,  and  a  piece  of  vulcanized  sheet  rubber 
is  tied  tightly  over  the  mouth.  When  required  for  use,  the  point  is  scratched 
with  a  file  and  broken  off;  by  pressiug  the  finger  on  the  rubber  any  amount  of 
acid  may  be  taken  out,  only  the  same  bulk  of  air  entering  the  tube  when  pres- 
sure is  removed.    It  is  then  placed  with  its  point  below  the  surface  of  mercury 
*  See  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy.  February,  p  69. 
