138  Minutes  of  Pharmaceutical  Meetings.  {"Mareri.mY"" 
the  German  in  mass  and  in  crystals  is  about  20c.  gold  on  the  pound,  the  crys- 
tals being  the  higher  in  price. 
Mr.  Shinn  exhibited  two  lemons  which  had  been  wrapped  in  tin  foil  since 
November.  On  examination  one  of  them  had  undergone  partial  decomposition, 
while  the  other  remained  fresh,  having  the  characteristic  odor.  They  could  be 
bought  when  plenty  at  15c.  a  dozen,  and  kept  in  this  way  for  a  great  length  of 
time.    [This  is  E.  Baudrimont's  method,  see  this  Journal,  vol.  42d.] 
Prof.  Maisch  exhibited  some  seeds  of  strychnos,  structure  similar  to  that  of 
nux  vomica;  came  as  ballast  from  the  East  Indies,  and  were  bought  by  a  New 
York  drug  house  ;  supposed  to  be  from  Strychnos  tieute  ;  fruit  about  size  of  a 
cherry,  having  six  large  seed.  No  experiments  were  made  toward  obtaining 
strychnia  from  this  species. 
Mr.  England  suggested  a  plan  for  preparing  Huid  ext.  of  vanilla,  using  pow- 
dered quartz  in  connection  with  sugar.  This  was  thrown  into  a  bottle  closely 
corked,  and  boiled.  By  this  means  the  aroma  of  the  vanilla  is  retained,  and 
the  bean  entirely  exhausted. 
Prof.  Procter  spoke  of  purifying  residuary  alcohol,  and  the  difficulty  in  over- 
coming the  odor  of  some  substances — buchu,  or  cubebs,  for  instance.  He  mixed 
alcohol  recovered  from  many  different  preparations,  added  20  grs.  permanganate 
of  potassa  per  gallon  in  ^ij  of  water,  and  after  a  day's  contact  distilled  ;  could 
not  destroy  odor  of  buchu. 
Prof.  Maisch  exhibited  a  specimen  of  cherry  grown  as  an  ornamental  tree  in 
some  Southern  cities,  but  native  of  W.  I.  Islands  and  Panama.  This  plant  has 
a  very  strong  odor  of  hydrocyanic  acid.  Leaves  margin  entire  ;  rarely  so  in  the 
cherry  family.  Prof.  Maisch  pronounced  this  to  be  Prunus  or  Cerasus  occiden- 
talis ;  could  be  used  in  making  cherry  laurel  water,  and  for  preparing  an 
oil  similar  to  oil  of  sweet  almonds,  which  is  almost  entirely  derived,  from  peach 
kernels. 
Some  remarks  were  made  on  a  recent  law-suit  in  our  courts,  growing  out  of 
•<i  lot  of  adulterated  assafcetida,  which  was  purchased  by  a  wholesale  house 
in  this  city,  to  arrive,  for  a  fair  article.  Upon  being  opened  and  examined 
it  was  found  to  be  largely  adulterated  with  gypsum.  From  this  fact  the 
parties  refused  to  take  it.  The  law  was  resorted  to,  and  after  a  thorough 
examination  it  was  found  to  contain  in  some  specimens  as  high  as  60  per 
cent,  of  sulphate  of  lime;  the  case  containing  the  best  article,  when  examined, 
proved  to  be  composed  of  27  per  cent,  of  the  same  material.  The  case  was 
decided  for  defendants  after  a  very  able  charge  by  the  judge  to  the  jury, 
pronouncing  the  assafcetida  unmerchantable. 
Prof.  Maisch  exhibited  a  specimen  of  Tampico  jalap,  which  comes  into  this 
market  very  rarely — then  only  as  a  materia  medica  specimen. 
Prof,  Procter  spoke  of  a  sample  of  saffron,  found  recently  in  London* 
containing  45  per  cent,  of  carbonate  lime. 
Mr,  England  recommended  the  use  of  butter  in  making  citrine  ointment,  being 
careful  to  free  the  butter  from  salt. 
There  being  no  further  business  the  meeting  adjourned. 
Clemmons  Parrish,  Registrar. 
