486 
Pharmaceutical  Colleges,  etc. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t     Oct.  1, 1874. 
alkaloids,  but  also  other  active  substances,  particularly  the  cinchotannic  acid, 
may  be  readily  determined  by  the  pharmacist  himself.  At  the  invitation  of 
the  President,  Mr.  Broughton  contributed  some  important  observations  as  to 
the  state  in  which  the  alkaloids  exist  in  the  barks  (viz.,  one-fifth  quinate,  four- 
fifths  tannate),  furnishing  a  key  to  the  principle  best  applicable  for  their 
extraction.  He  also  mentioned  the  practice  in  India,  of  employing  the  com- 
bined alkaloids.  In  the  discussion  which  followed,  Mr.  Umney,  and  Mr. 
Giles  criticized  severely  the  liquid  extract  of  Cinchona  of  the  B.  P.,  the  former 
recommending  percolation  with  proof  spirit  (product  to  contain  1  in  1). 
"  Prof.  Fliickiger  contributed  two  papers  :  in  one  he  reported  that  he  had 
determined  the  deposit  from  essential  oil  of  nutmegs,  known  generally  as 
myristicon,  to  be  really  myristic  acid  ;  in  the  other  he  described  the  chemistry 
of  elemi. 
"  Dr.  de  Yrij  then  gave  the  result  of  his  experience  of  the  anthelmintic 
virtues  of  pomegranate  root-bark. 
"  It  was  appropriate  that  it  should  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  President  to 
present  the  first  of  the  reports  of  investigations,  towards  the  expenses  of  which 
grants  have  been  made  by  the  Conference  from  the  funds  entrusted  to  it  by 
Mr.  Thomas  Hyde  Hills.  The  subject  was  a  continuation  of  his  researches 
upon  the  aconite  bases.  Mr.  Groves  having  prepared  specimens  of  the 
alkaloids,  the  determination  of  their  chemical  constitution  was  undertaken  by 
Dr.  C.  R.  A.  Wright,  who  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  aconitia,  pseudaconitia, 
and  another  body  wbL'h  Mr.  Groves  at  first  thought  to  be  Mr.  Broughton's 
atisine,  are  polymerides.  Mr.  Broughton  has,  however,  since  stated  that  he  is 
certain  that  the  body  to  which  he  has  given  the  name  of  atisine  is  not  of  the 
same  centesimal  composition  as  aconitia,  so  that  Mr.  Groves'  alkaloid  may 
prove  to  be  a  fresh  discovery. 
"  This  report  was  followed  by  another  that  had  been  entrusted  to  Mr. 
A.  W.  Gerrard,  on  the  official  plasters,  which  was  an  able  criticism  of  the 
present  formula,  and  contained  several  suggestions  for  their  improvement  ;  Mr. 
Gerrard  was  also  able  to  contribute  to  the  information  of  many  present  by  a 
dexterous  demonstration  of  the  art  of  plaster  spreading. 
"The  use  of  oleic  acid  in  pharmacy  was  the  subject  of  a  valuable  paper  by 
Professor  Tichborne,  in  which  he  advocated  the  substitution  of  oleic  acid  for 
soap  in  the  preparation  cf  the  liniments  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  he  illus- 
trated his  argument  by  the  preparation  of  Linimentum  Ammonias,  Lin. 
Potassii  Iodidi  c.  Sapone,  Lin.  Saponis,  and  Lin.  Terebinthinoe.  Objection 
was  raised  as  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  a  sufficiently  pure  oleic  acid,  but 
Mr.  Tichborne  said  that  it  could  be  obtained  with  facility,  and  even  if  this  be 
not  at  present  the  case,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  a  supply  would  follow  the 
demand. 
"  Mr.  Stoddart  then  described  a  modification  of  Liebig's  process  for  the 
estimation  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  afterwards  practically  exhibited  the  method 
of  estimating  the  quality  of  milk  recently  suggested  by  Mr.  Horsley,  of  Chel- 
tenham, which  consists  in  treating  the  milk  in  long  tubes  with  ether  and  water 
by  which  means,  the  casein,  salts  and  butter  fat  are  separated  in  distinct 
layers.    This  process  he  also  proposed  to  extend  to  the  analysis  of  butter, 
