536  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.     {'^°'  oct"!'i^""" 
Messrs.  Groves,  Ransom,  Plowman  and  Greenish  took  part,  at  the  conclusion 
of  which  a  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  was  accorded  to  Mr.  Holmes. 
Morphine  Derivatives. — After  an  interval  of  luncheon,  which  was  served  in  the 
Guildhall,  a  report  was  presented  by  Messrs.  Dott  and  Stockman  on  the  Chem- 
istry and  Pharmacology  of  some  Morphine  Derivatives,  which  was  a  continua- 
tion of  one  presented  to  the  Conference  last  year.  The  first  paragraph  dis- 
cussed ihe  composition  of  the  compound  that  was  obtained  in  the  artificial  pro- 
duction of  codeine  from  morphine,  and  was  first  described  as  dimethylmor- 
phine,  the  correctness  of  which  name  is  disputed.  Apart  from  chemical  con- 
siderations the  authors  consider  that  its  physiological  action  is  so  difierent  from 
that  of  methylmorphine  or  codeine,  as  to  render  the  constitution  repre- 
sented by  that  name  improbable,  and  the  authors  appear  to  look  upon  it 
as  methocodeine  They  also  refer  to  certain  acetyl  and  benzoyl  derivatiyes, 
methyl-sulphuric-acid-ether  and  chlorocodide.  The  topics  of  the  report  were 
necessarily  somewhat  recondite,  but  testimony  to  the  value  of  the  research  as 
helping  to  place  medicine  on  a  scientific  basis  was  borne  by  Dr.  Thresh  and 
Mr,  Plowman.  Incidentally  Dr.  Dott  remarked  that  the  opium  alkaloids 
do  not  difi"er  from  one  another  in  their  physiological  action  so  much  as  is  gen- 
erally supposed,  but  might  be  said  to  form  groups  differing  rather  in  the  inten- 
sity than  in  the  quality  of  their  action. 
Extraction  by  Pressure — the  paper  next  read — was  a  plea  by  Dr.  Symes  for  de- 
pending rather  upon  the  operation  of  pressing  than  on  that  of  percolation  in 
the  extraction  of  certain  drugs.  Restoration  of  moisture  to  the  dry  drug,  and 
subsequent  expression,  Dr.  Symes  considers  to  be  the  treatment  specially 
adapted  to  leaves — of  which  senna  is  a  type — where  there  is  a  bulky  material 
and  a  danger  of  injuring  the  active  principle  if  percolation  and  evaporation  be 
adopted.  The  plan  recommended  for  senna  is  to  digest  the  leaves  for  from 
four  to  six  hours  in  a  covered  vessel  with  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  rectified 
spirit  and  water,  in  the  proportion  of  a  pound  of  leaves  to  sixteen  fluidounces 
of  menstruum  ;  afterwards  to  put  the  mixture  into  bags  and  subject  it  to  pres- 
sure of  fifty  tons  or  more  until  it  ceases  to  yield  liquid.  The  marc  is  then 
broken  up,  water  added,  and  pressure  again  applied,  until  the  product  amounts 
to  sixteen  fluidounces  for  each  pound  of  leaves  used.  In  this  way,  according  to 
Dr.  Symes,  a  very  active  preparation  can  be  obtained,  and  Convallaria  Majalis, 
Damrana  and  Hamamelis  are  instanced  as  suited  for  treatment  upon  the  same 
principle.  Dr.  Symes's  experience  in  the  treatment  of  senna  by  pressure  rather 
than  by  percolation  was  practically  confirmed  by  Mr.  T.  B.  Groves  and  Mr. 
Conroy,  but  on  the  other  hand  other  speakers  had  more  faithin  percolation  and 
evaporation  at  a  low  temperature. 
Oil  of  Cajeput. — In  the  next  paper  read,  Mr.  West,  lecturer  on  Botany  and 
Materia  Medica  at  the  Bradford  Technical  College,  reported  the  results  ob- 
tained in  the  examination  of  fourteen  samples  of  commercial  oil  of  cajeput. 
The  color  of  these  samples  ranged  from  ''pale  bluish  green,"  which  is  the  char- 
acter given  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  to  "full  bluish  green;"  the  specific 
gravity  at  15-5°  C.  from  0-9226  to  0  9240;  and  the  boiling  point  fi'om  174°  to 
174'5°  C.  No  diff'erence  in  odor  could  be  detected  between  the  samples,  even 
on  boiling.  It  would  therefore  appear  that  the  aiticle  at  present  supplied 
as  cajeput  oil  is  fairly  uniform  in  character.  Copper  was  found  in  every 
sample,  which  agrees  with  Mr.  Histed's  experience  in  1872  {Pharm.  Jour.  [3], 
