Amottr,' xlr"m  }         Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations.  519 
the  research  he  also  reports  that  "  treatment  with  alcohol  alone,  unacidulated  by 
any  acid  at  all,  extracted  practically  all  the  alkaloids  present  in  the  roots  examined." 
These  results  confirm  those  obtained  when  Japanese  aconite  was  first  examined  two 
years  ago1  in  regard  to  the  points  of  pharmaceutical  interest,  namely,  that  Japanese 
aconite  contains  more  alkaloid — amounting  to  about  2-5  per  cent,  soluble  in  ether 
— than  any  other  kind  of  aconite,  and  that  the  crystallizable  alkaloid  obtainable 
from  it  is  of  a  specific  nature.  In  the  course  of  the  discussion  Mr.  Greenish  sug- 
gested the  desirability  of  ascertaining  the  botanical  origin  of  the  Japanese  aconite 
roots  worked  upon,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  as  met  with  in  commerce  this 
drug  is  not  always  of  the  same  character.  This  point  is  of  special  importance,  as 
this  kind  of  aconite,  as  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Umney,  is  now  the  kind  almost  exclu- 
sively met  with  in  the  market.  The  examination  of  atis  roots  [Aconitum  heterophyl- 
lum)  has  not  led  to  any  definite  results  sufficient  either  to  confirm  or  controvert  those 
recorded  by  Broughton,  some  years  ago,  in  reference  to  the  substance  he  termed 
"atisine."  In  the  examination  of  the  flowers,  leaves  and  stalk  of  aconite  plants  no- 
definite  result  was  obtained,  and  although  the  quantity  of  material  worked  upon 
amounted  to  nearly  three  hundredweight,  it  was  only  by  inference  from  the  com- 
parative absence  of  inconvenience  experienced  in  working  that  the  non-existence  of 
poisonous  alkaloids  was  conjectured. 
The  next  report  presented  to  the  Conference  contained  a  statement  of  the  results 
obtained  by  Mr.  Thresh  in  carrying  out  the  investigation  of  commercial  ginger,  for 
which  a  grant  was  placed  at  his  disposal  last  year.  These  results  show  that  ordinary 
Jamaica  ginger  contains,  in  the  portion  extracted  by  ether — (1)  a  crystalline  fat, 
consisting  of  a  dark  red,  tasteless  and  odorless  portion,  insoluble  in  strong  alcohol, 
a  white  amorphous  tasteless  and  odorless  portion,  soluble  in  alcohol,  and  a  wax-like 
tasteless  and  odorless  resin;  (2)  a  red  fatty  substance,  very  pungent  and  soluble  in 
alcohol  5  (3)  a  limpid,  volatile,  straw  colored  oil  of  an  aromatic,  somewhat  camphor- 
aceous  taste,  having  a  sp.  gr.  of  0  853  at  150  C;  (4)  a  neutral  resin,  soluble  in  strong 
alcohol;  and  (5)  acid  resins  of  a  dark  brown  color.  The  pungent  or  active  prin- 
ciple of  ginger,  to  which  Mr.  Thresh  gives  the  name  of  "gingerol,"  is  a  viscid 
odorless  liquid,  about  the  consistency  of  treacle,  readily  soluble  in  alcohol  even 
when  dilute.  That  portion  of  ginger  which  is  insoluble  in  ether  consists  chiefly  of 
mucilage,  inorganic  constituents,  a  substance  precipitated  by  tannin,  metarabin, 
cellulose,  albumenoids,  etc.  The  comparative  examination  of  different  kinds  of 
ginger  showed  that  the  variety  most  esteemed  contains  only  half  as  much  essential 
oil  as  the  others,  also  less  active  principle  than  African  or  common  Jamaica.  The 
volatile  oil  of  fine  Jamacia  ginger  has,  however,  the  finest  bouquet. 
The  first  paper  read  after  the  presentation  of  these  reports  was  on  the  "  Soluble 
Essence  of  Ginger,"  and  it  described  a  modification  of  the  method  originally  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Thresh  for  its  preparation.  The  rationale  of  this  process  was  to  be 
gathered  from  a  consideration  of  the  constituents  of  ginger  root ;  in  carrying  it  out, 
the  alcoholic  tincture  which  contains,  together  with  the  extractive  soluble  in  water, 
neutral  and  other  resins,  gingerol,  small  quantities  of  the  red  fat,  wax,  etc.,  is 
mixed  with  slaked  lime,  by  which  the  greater  part  of  the  resin  is  precipitaf ed.  On 
1 "  Pharm.  Journ."  [3],  vol.  viii.,  p.  172,  and  "  Year-Book  "  (1877),  p.  469.  1 
