498  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {AlocSberSm' 
official  process  was  quite  unsatisfactory  and  suggested  the  use  of 
chloroform  water  in  place  of  distilled  water, .to  extract  the  drug, 
subsequently  heating  the  resulting  percolate  to  1800  F.  to  drive  off 
the  odor  of  chloroform.  The  author  also  proposes  to  increase  the 
amount  of  alcohol  in  the  finished  product. 
Chemical  Examination  of  Ko-Sam  Seeds. — Frederick  B.  Power, 
Ph.D.,  and  Frederic  H.  Lees,  said  that  ko-sam  seeds  (sometimes 
written  kho-sam)  are  the  product  of  Brucea  Smnatrana  Roxb.,  Fam. 
Simarubacece.  The  seeds  are  relatively  small,  thirty  weighing  about 
I  gramme ;  when  crushed,  they  develop  a  peculiar  cheese-like  odor, 
and  have  an  intensely  and  persistently  bitter  taste.  Among  the 
constituents  the  authors  found:  tannin  i-8  per  cent.,  a  fatty  oil  about 
20  per  cent.,  two  bitter  principles,  neither  of  them  quassin.  No 
alkaloids  were  found. 
A  False  Cuspari. — Evelyn  W.  Pollard,  B.Sc,  called  attention  to  a 
quantity  of  bark  that  had  been  offered  in  1902  as  cuspari.  Samples 
of  this  bark  were  found  to  be  identical  with  a  false  cuspari-bark 
described  by  Barclay,  in  Southall's  Materia  Medica.  Mr.  Pollard 
also  made  an  exhaustive  histological  and  chemical  examination  of 
the  bark  and  found  it  to  be  quite  different  from  cuspari  in  every 
respect. 
Compound  Tincture  of  Benzoin. — Alfred  Knight,  A.K.A.,  A. A., 
made  quite  an  exhaustive  report  on  the  variation  in  extractive  of 
the  commercial  tincture.  From  his  investigations  and  experiments 
the  author  concludes  that  the  requirement  of  180  grammes  of  extrac- 
tive per  litre  of  tincture  would  be  reasonable. 
The  Future  of  Pharmacy. — Mr.  Leo  Atkinson  asserted  that  phar- 
macy cannot  be  conducted  on  competitive  lines  without  serious 
risk  to  the  public.  The  author  also  expressed  the  belief  that  when 
the  commercialization  ot  pharmacy  had  once  been  accomplished 
there  would  exist  a  public  danger  that  would  lead  to  prompt  legis- 
lative reform. 
Balearic  Botany. — J.  White,  F.L.S.,  described  a  large  number  of 
medicinal  and  other  plants  collected,  or  seen,  during  a  visit  to 
Balearic  Isles  in  the  spring. 
Crystals  in  Extracts. — F.  H.  Alcock,  F.I.C.,  stated  that  crystals 
of  potassium  chloride,  potassium  nitrate,  calcium  oxalate,  potassium 
dihydrogen  phosphate  and  calcium  tetrahydrogen  phosphate,  had 
all  been  found  in  various  extracts.    The  author  believes,  therefore, 
