'"^"NJn  Js™  }  Minutes  of  Pharmaceutical  Meetings.  521 
butter,  and  where  this  is  the  case  there  will  seldom  be  any  difficulty  in  dropping 
out  the  hardened  cone  after  a  very  few  minutes. 
A  mould  was  also  exhibited,  made  by  A.  H.  Wirz,  of  this  city,  which  opens 
near  the  apex  of  the  cone,  so  as  to  allow  pressure  upon  the  point  of  the  suppo- 
sitory in  its  removal.  This  was  objected  to  by  those  who  had  tried  a  similar 
device,  as  blunting  the  end  of  the  suppository,  and  often  proving  ineffectual  in 
its  removal.  Prof.  Parrish  exhibited  an  improvement  on  the  ordinary  method 
of  adjusting  the  solid  moulds  in  the  refrigerating  tray;  twelve  of  the  moulds 
are  soldered  on  to  a  tin  diaphragm,  which  is  suspended  near  the  top  of  the  vessel 
containing  the  ice,  and  four  handles  being  soldered  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
diaphragm,  by  inverting  and  dropping  it  the  suppositories  may  all  be  dropped  out 
together.  This  obviates  the  necessity  of  handling  the  moulds  singly,  and 
facilitates  the  rapid  preparation  of  suppositories. 
He  also  exhibited  a  material  made  of  glycerin  and  gelatin,  which  possesses 
a  consistence  suited  to  suppositories  and  is  at  the  same  time  soluble  in  the  fluids 
of  the  vagina  or  lower  intestine.  It  is  used  in  England  in  certain  cases  in 
which  a  soluble  suppository  would  be  preferable  to  an  oily  one.  Two  disadvan- 
tages have  been  observed  in  this  material.  It  appears  rather  elastic  and  flexible 
for  easy  introduction  by  pressure,  and  where  tannin  is  present  in  the  medicinal 
ingredients,  it  is  liable  to  form  the  insoluble  and  nearly  inert  tannate  of 
gelatin. 
Suppositories  being  under  discussion,  several  methods  of  introducing  extracts 
into  the  cacao  butter  were  spoken  of.  Charles  Bullock  stated  that  it  was  the 
practice  of  some  to  thrust  a  small  cylinder  into  the  plain  suppository,  on 
withdrawing  which  an  opening  is  left,  into  which  the  medicinal  ingredient  can 
be  dropped.  This  is  not,  however,  a  desirable  method,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  extract  is  not  in  this  way  diffused,  but  remains  in  a  comparatively  insoluble 
mass.  Prof.  Parrish  exhibited  some  suppositories  of  extract  of  hyoscyamua 
which  he  had  prepared  by  a  process  communicated  to  him  by  Prof.  Israel  J.  Gra- 
hame.  The  extract,  being  softened  with  a  little  water,  is  triturated  on  the 
ointment  slab  with  the  melted  cacao  butter,  as  if  an  ointment  were  to  be  made 
It  is  then  returned  to  the  capsule,  and  very  gently  warmed,  if  necessary,  before 
being  poured  into  the  moulds.  Great  care  is  necessary  not  to  render  the  cacao 
butter  too  fluid,  in  which  case  the  suppositories  poured  last  would  contain  an 
undue  share  of  the  extract.  Prof.  Grahame  has  used  a  similar  process  very 
successfully  in  making  assafoetida  suppositories.  James  T.  Shinn  spoke  of  this 
process  as  according  substantially  with  his  own  in  manipulating  with  the 
extracts. 
Prof.  Maisch  exhibited  specimens  of  cundurango,  and  gave  a  history  of  its 
introduction  into  the  States  ;  also  mezquite  gum,  and  the  fruit  of  the  tree, 
Algarohia  glandulosa,  brought  from  Western  Texas  ;  also  the  seeds  of  Strychnos 
potatorum,  obtained  from  the  Curator  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Lon- 
don, and  which  prove  to  be  identical  with  those  he  exhibited  and  experimented 
upon  at  a  previous  meeting;  also  the  "Japanese  Cinnamon  Root,"  which  is 
believed  to  be  used  to  adulterate  powdered  cinnamon. 
Specimens  were  presented,  from  Henry  Cramer,  of  a  bark  believed  to  be  that 
of  DicypiLlium  caryophyllaium,  or  South  American  Clove  Tree  ;  also  a  plant 
of  Viscum  album,  Mistletoe,  found  in  the  midst  of  a  case  of  imported  herbs. 
