554  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {Am'0Jc°tUri884a!m' 
Messrs.  Benger  and  Plowman,  and  as  the  circumstances  were  not  favorable 
to  much  discussion  the  proceedings  wTere  brought  to  a  conclusion  about  the 
usual  hour.  The  first  was  a  note  on  "Tincture  of  Quinine,"  by  Mr.  T. 
Wright,  which  contained  an  account  of  many  interesting  experiments  as  to 
the  causes  of  precipitates  that  form  in  it  and  the  way  of  avoiding  them  ;  the 
outcome  of  which  was  the  conclusion  that  a  concentrated  neutral  tincture 
of  quinine  of  uniform  strength  could  be  best  obtained  by  using  the  hydro- 
chlorate  of  the  alkaloid  instead  of  the  sulphate.  In  connection  with  this 
subject  Mr.  Martin  dale  expressed  a  hope  that  hydrobromate  of  quinine 
would  be  included  in  the  next  edition  of  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  next  two  papers  were  extremely  technical.  In  one  Mr.  Hodgkin 
gave  his  reasons  for  supposing  that  "  China  bicolorata,"  or  "  Tecamez  bark." 
is  derived,  like  "  cuprea  bark,"  from  a  species  of  Remijia,  which  he  is 
inclined  to  regard  as  a  third  species  of  the  genus  yielding  cinchonine  alka- 
loids and  names  Remijia  bicolorata.  In  the  other  Mr.  Hooper,  the  recently 
appointed  quinologist  to  the  Government  plantations  in  Madras,  gave  the 
results  of  the  analyses  of  some  old  cinchona  barks,  the  most  notable  point 
in  which,  perhaps,  is  that  he  found  in  one  of  them  1*99  per  cent,  of  quini- 
dine,  being  more  than  had  been  previously  observed  in  any  bark. 
Last  year  Mr.  Maben  and  Mr.  Conroy  reported  to  the  Conference  on  the 
possibility  of  using  sesame  oil  for  pharmaceutical  purposes,  and  expressed 
opposite  opinions  as  to  its  availability  for  the  manufacture  of  lead  plaster, 
the  former  gentleman  stating  that  it  was  suitable  if  a  larger  proportion  of 
lead  oxide  were  used  than  is  ordered  officially.  He  has  since  repeated  and 
extended  his  experiments,  and  sent  with  his  note  describing  them  some 
samples  confirmatory  of  his  opinions.  He  obtained  very  good  results  wThen 
the  proportion  of  lead  oxide  was  increased  40  or  50  per  cent. 
Another  paper  by  Mr.  Maben,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Dechan,  was  a 
"  Report  on  the  Strength  and  Condition  of  Commercial  specimens  of  Hy- 
drargyrum cum  Creta,  Pilula  Hydrargyri  and  Unguentum  Hydrargyri." 
The  statements  contained  in  this  communication  will  no  donbt  cause  it  to 
be  studied  with  considerable  interest  and  it  provoked  much  comment 
among  the  members  present  at  the  Conference.  Twelve  specimens  of  grey 
powder  were  found  to  vary  in  the  amount  of  unoxidized  mercury  they  con- 
tained between  21*2  per  cent,  and  49-6  per  cent. ;  mercurous  oxide  ranged 
between  traces  and  6-15  per  cent. ;  and  mercuric  oxide  between  0*65  per 
cent,  and  4'67  per  cent.  Eight  samples  of  blue  pill  were  examined,  six  of 
which  contained  no  trace  of  either  oxide ;  they  varied  in  percentage  of 
mercury  from  28*45  to  41 -3  per  cent.  The  samples  of  ung.  hydrargyri  also 
varied  considerably,  only  one  out  of  eight  containing  the  B.  P.  proportion 
of  mercury. 
Mr.  E.  C.  C.  Stanford  has  been  pursuing  his  investigations  of  various  bodies 
reputed  to  contain  iodine  and  has  now  added  oysters  and  burnt  sponge  to 
the  list  of  those  examined.  Persons  who  have  hitherto  pinned  their  faith 
to  the  special  medical  efficacy  of  Anglo-Portuguese  oysters  being  due  to  the 
iodine  they  contain,  may  perhaps,  upon  learning  that  this  quantity  is  only 
equal  to  four  parts  in  ten  millions,  feel  they  may  extend  their  masticatory 
operations  to  other  varieties  without  risking  much  loss.  Turkey  sponge 
turns  out  to  be  about  four  times  as  rich  in  iodine  as  honeycomb  sponge. 
