138 
Pharmaceutical  Colleges,  etc. 
J  Am.  Joub.  PharMo. 
\    Mar.  1, 1873. 
always  traced  to  the  iron  filings  employed,  while  the  iodine  was  free  from  lead. 
Mr.  Umney  had  likewise  observed  this  contamination  when  crude  iodine  was 
employed,  but  never  with  resublimed  iodine  and  iron  wire. 
Dr.  Arthur  Leared  read  an  interesting  paper  on "  Some  drugs  collected  m 
Morocco,"  and  exhibited  many  specimens.  From  the  discussion  we  select  the 
following  remarks  : — 
"Mr.  Hanbury  said  that  Dr.  Leared  had  referred  to  a  seed  extremely  like- 
that  of  Peganum  Harmala,  but  black  instead  of  brown.  Peganum  Harmala 
was  a  plant  well  known  in  the  East,  and  its  seeds  possessed  a  remarkable  pro- 
perty of  affording,  when  digested  in  spirit,  a  green  fluorescent  solution.  With 
regard  to  orris  root,  which,  they  were  told,  had  lately  come  into  the  market 
from  Morocco,  he  had  the  other  day  observed  the  curious  fact  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century  price  currents  always  used  to  contain  both  Flo- 
rentine orris  root  and  Barbary  orris  root.  The  Barbary  orris  root  was  entirely 
derived  from  Iris  germanica,  the  common  blue  flay  of  our  gardens.  With  re- 
gard to  cumin  we  were  told  that  it  was  used  by  the  Jews  in  their  bread,  and 
also  for  flavoring  pickled  tunny  fish.  In  the  middle  ages  it  was  much  used  m 
Europe  as  a  spice  and  a  condiment.  Dr.  Leared  had  drawn  attention  to  the 
remarkable  fact  of  caraways  being  brought  from  Morocco.  He  (Mr.  Han- 
bury) confessed  that  when  he  was  shown  Morocco  caraway  seeds  in  London 
some  time  ago.  he  hardly  knew  howr  to  believe  his  eyes,  for  the  caraway  was  es- 
sentially a  northern  plant,  dwelling  in  Scandinavia  and  the  colder  parts  of  Eu- 
rope. On  looking,  however,  at  Jackson's  'Morocco,'  a  work  published  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  he  found  that  the  author  distinctly  mentioned 
caraway  seeds  as  an  export  of  Morocco,  and  upon  his  (Vlr.  Hanbury's;  sowing 
some  of  the  Morocco  caraway  seeds  last  spring,  he  obtained  a  plant  exceed- 
ingly like  that  of  Europe.  As  to  grains  of  paradise,  it  might  be  true,  as  stated* 
by  the  people  of  Morocco,  that  their  drug  came  from  Europe,  but  it  was  a  very- 
curious  fact  that  at  Tripoli  and  the  towns  on  the  northern  coast  of  Africa  grains 
of  paradise  were  still  brought  by  caravans  corning  from  Soudan  and  Timbnctoo,. 
and  from  the  tropical  parts  of  Africa  east  of  Sierra  Leone.  They  were  so 
brought  in  the  middle  ages,  and  shipped  to  the  ports  of  Italy  ;  and  as  they 
came  from  an  unknown  and  remote  region,  and  were  much  esteemed,  they  ac- 
quired their  present  name,  the  people  supposing  that  no  place  but  Paradise 
could  produce  anything  so  delightful.  In  subsequent  times,  when  there  was 
direct  trade  between  Western  Africa  and  Europe,  grains  of  paradise  were  an 
article  of  very  large  import,  being  brought  direct  even  to  Englaud  and  France. 
They  were  once  in  common  use  as  a  condiment  for  human  food. 
"Professor  Bentley  said  that  Mr.  Hanbury  had  anticipated  some  of  the  re- 
marks he  had  intended  to  make.  He  must  say  that,  although  he  had  come  to 
the  meeting  fearing  that  the  paper,  being  technical,  would  be  uninteresting,  he 
had  found  it  quite  the  contrary,  and  had  listened  to  it  with  great  gain.  Re- 
searches such  as  those  of  Dr.  Leared  were  the  only  means  by  which  they  could 
get  any  historical  knowledge  of  old  remedies,  or  form  an  acquaintance  with  new 
ones.  As  to  orris  root,  it  was  very  interesting  to  find  that  it  came  in  such 
large  quantities  from  Mogador,  in  Morocco.  Dr.  Leared  had  referred  to  only 
one  species  of  zizyphus,  though  there  were  several  species  known  by  the  com- 
mon name  of  jujube  ;  but  as  to  the  so-called  jujubes  manufactured  in  London, 
it  was  quite  understood  that  the  juice  or  the  fruit  of  the  jujube  plant  did  not 
enter  into  their  composition.  He  was  very  sorry  that  the  great  fascination  of 
partridge  shooting  had  prevented  Dr.  Leared  from  seeing  the  ammoniacum 
plant,  as  he  should  have  liked  to  have  been  informed  of  the  mode  in  which  it 
was  obtained.  Perhaps  Dr.  Leared  might  have  heard  from  the  natives  whether 
the  drug  ammoniacum  was  obtained  from  the  root,  from  the  stem,  or  from  both. 
In  the  museum  there  was  a  very  interesting  specimen  of  the  stem  of  the  Per- 
sian ammoniacum  plant,  with  the  ammoniacum  in  situ.    That  result  had  beea 
