Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
Oct.,  1885.  J 
British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
519 
the  true  value  of  remedial  agents.  Before  concluding  his  address,  the  Pre- 
sident directed  the  attention  of  the  meeting  to  some  of  the  alterations  and 
other  features  of  novelty  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  just  issued. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  President's  address  the  usual  vote  of  thanks 
was  passed,  and  the  reading  of  papers  was  commenced,  the  first  paper 
taken  being  a  "  Report  on  the  Assay  of  Atropa  Belladonna,"  by  Professor 
Wyndham  Dunstan  and  Mr.  Ransom.  The  second  was  a  report  on  an 
allied  subject  by  the  same  authors.  Owing  to  the  nature  of  the  room  in 
which  the  first  meeting  was  held,  the  reading  of  these  papers  was  very 
imperfectly  heard,  and  what  discussion  followed  took  a  direction  rather 
different  from  that  in  which  the  authors  dealt  with  the  subject.  Regret 
was  expressed  by  the  President  and  others  that  l*rofessor  Dunstan  was  not 
present  to  take  part  in  the  discussion  and  that  members  of  the  Conference 
were  thus  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of  congratulating  him  on  his  recent 
appointment.  Incidentally  the  President  also  remarAcd  that  it  seemed  to 
be  unfortunate  that  the  extract  of  belladonna  leaves  had  been  omitted  from 
the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  since  the  alcoholic  extract  of  the  root  would 
not  furnish  a  plaster  of  the  same  character  as  that  which  had  hitherto  been 
used,  and  Mr.  Umney  also  expressed. surprise  at  the  change.  Mr.  Martin- 
dale  said  he  had  found  a  plaster  made  from  extract  of  the  root  to  meet 
approval,  but  that  with  the  green  extract  he  had  obtained  a  dirty  discolored 
plaster.  Mr.  St.  Dalmas  suggested  that  this  result  might  have  been  due  to 
the  use  of  an  extract  of  German  origin.  Mr.  Borland  also  disapproved  of 
the  omission  of  the  extract  of  the  leaves,  inasmuch  as  the  public  would  still 
contiime  to  require  the  "  green  plaster  "  to  which  it  had  been  accustomed. 
The  next  paper  was  on  "  Cotton-seed  Oil,"  by  Mr.  Gilmour,  pointing  out 
the  possible  pharmaceutical  applicability  of  this  oil,  on  account  of  its  cheap- 
ness and  bland  character.  The  author  described  several  kinds  of  this  oil 
obtained  from  different  sources.  One  peculiarity  of  the  oil,  mentioned  as 
interesting  from  a  pharmaceutical  point  of  view,  was  its  difficult  saponifi- 
cation bj^  lime  or  ammonia,  though  when  mixed  with  a  small  proportion 
•of  olive  oil  it  readily  formed  an  emulsion  that  was  jDermanent. 
"  Eucalyptus  Oil "  was  the  subject  of  the  next  paper,  by  Mr.  MacEwan  ; 
and  the  occurrence  of  several  different  varieties  in  commerce  was  pointed 
out,  with  some  suggestions  as  to  the  sources  from  which  they  were  derived, 
and  the  desirability  of  further  investigation  in  order  to  define  the  character 
that  the  oil  ought  to  j^ossess.  The  paper  was  opportune,  as  pointed  out  by 
Mr.  Umney,  since  the  oil  has  now  been  made  official,  and  there  is  need  of 
its  being  better  known. 
Ill  a  "  Report  on  Pressed  Ergot,"  read  by  Mr.  Moss,  and  describing  some 
•eicperiments  carried  out  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Groves,  it  was  shown  that 
by  expressing  the  fixed  oil  ergot  could  be  reduced  to  a  cake  that  was  less 
liable  to  attacks  of  insects  and  alteration  by  atmospheric  influence  than 
ergot  in  its  normal  condition.  A  liquid  extract  prepared  from  this  pressed 
ergot  had  been  employed  medicinally  and  found  to  be  as  efficacious  as  that 
made  from  ergot  in  the  ordinary  way. 
Mr.  Dott  read  a  series  of  ''Laboratory  Notes,"  pointing  out  the  extreme 
variability  of  comniercial  caustic  soda,  and  the  volatility  of  mercuric  chlo- 
ride and  of  iodoform  ;  also  on  berberine  sulphate  and  tests  for  apomorphine. 
