Am'octuSarm'}    British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  513 
test,  and  that  as  such  opium  yields  about  50  per  cent,  of  extractive,  an  extract 
of  opium  of  20  per  cent,  morphine  strength  is  always  too  soft  if  fine  opium  has 
been  used  in  its  preparation.  Mr.  Conroy  is  of  opinion  the  standard  of  the 
dry  powdered  drug  should  be  at  least  12^  per  cent.,  the  official  preparation 
being  correspondingly  increased  in  strength.  In  the  discussion  that  followed 
Mr.  J.  C.  UmnEy  said  a  nux  vomica  extract  that  was  too  thin  could  be  stiffened 
by  adding  to  it  extractive  obtained  by  treating  the  marc  from  the  first  opera- 
tion with  a  more  dilute  spirit.  Mr.  J.  Barclay  said  extract  of  opium  could  be 
similarly  stiffened  with  an  extractive  obtained  by  treating  opium  with  hot 
water,  but  it  was  pointed  out  that  such  an  extractive  might  contain  narcotine 
and  other  objectionable  substances.  The  President  was  inclined  to  favor  the 
use  of  sugar  of  milk  rather  than  glucose  if  an  extraneous  agent  were  employed 
at  all. 
In  the  succeeding  paper  Mr.  A.  H.  Ai^EN  offered  a  contribution  to  the 
solution  of  the  difficult  question  of  the  assay  of  aconite  preparations.  Appar- 
ently the  best  method  would  depend  upon  the  determination  of  the  quantity  of 
crystallizable  alkaloid,  but  a  difficulty  arises  in  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  extrac- 
tion of  all  the  crystallizable  alkaloid  in  that  condition.  The  method  that  com- 
mends itself  to  Mr.  AleEN  depends  upon  the  ready  saponification  of  the  aconite 
alkaloids.  After  extracting  the  alkaloid  by  Farr  and  Wright's  process  and 
converting  it  into  hydrochloride  it  is  saponified  by  boiling  with  sodium  hydrate, 
the  products  being,  in  the  case  of  aconitine,  benzoic  acid  and  aconine.  The 
benzoic  acid,  dissolved  out  with  ether,  is  titrated  with  ^6  normal  baryta  water 
in  the  presence  of  phenolphthalein,  and  the  results  are  then  calculated  out  on 
the  assumption  that  each  equivalent  of  benzoic  acid  represents  an  equivalent  of 
crystalline  aconitine.  The  correctness  of  this  assumption  was,  however,  after- 
wards questioned  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Umney,  who  said  that  he  could  confirm  the 
statements  of  Wright  and  Jurgens,  that  Aconitum  Napellus  contains, 
besides  crystalline  aconitine,  a  gummy  base  that  yields  on  saponification  a 
proportion  of  benzoic  acid,  which  would  by  this  method  be  reckoned  in  terms 
of  aconitine,  although  he  had  taken  a  grain  of  it  without  inconvenience. 
The  next  paper,  by  Messrs.  R.  H.  DaviES  and  Pearman,  apparently  had  its 
origin  in  an  attempt  to  answer  a  question  on  the  "  blue  list,"  as  to  whether  the 
time  has  not  arrived  when  it  is  possible  to  give  a  better  definition  of  Oletim 
eucalypti,  B.  P.  The  authors  recorded  the  results  of  a  large  number  of  experi- 
ments upon  the  chemical  and  physical  properties  of  a  series  of  essential  oils 
from  different  species  of  Eucalyptus.  A  definite  answer  to  the  question  has 
not,  however,  been  arrived  at ;  but  if  it  be  granted  that  eucalyptol  is  the  most 
important  constituent  of  eucalyptus  oil,  some  indications  as  to  the  relative 
value  of  an  oil  may  be  given  by  its  effect  on  polarized  light,  pure  eucalyptol 
being  practically  inactive.  An  oil  with  a  rotatory  action  equal  to  that  exerted 
by  ordinary  "  amygdalina  "  would  therefore  be  relatively  of  low  value.  The 
"  globulus  "  oil  is  known  to  contain  a  fair  amount  of  eucalyptol,  and  to  it  may 
be  added,  according  to  the  authors,  the  "oleosa"  and  "  dumosa  "  oils. 
The  Conference  then  adjourned  for  luncheon,  and  on  resuming  Mr.  John 
Moss  read  a  communication  upon  Cascara  Bark  and  its  Extracts,  which  pos- 
sibly may  lead  to  a  modification  of  the  official  formula  for  one  of  the  prepara- 
tions of  this  drug.  The  author  has  found  that  although  boiling  water  does 
extract  all  the  active  constituent  of  the  bark,  the  whole  of  these  are  not 
