92  Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations. 
The  British  Pharmaceutical  Society  held  a  pharmaceutical  meeting  Dec. 
ist,  the  President,  Mr.  T.  H.  Hills,  in  the  chair.  Mr.  Louis  Siebold  read  a  paper 
on  "  The  Preparation  of  Pure  Chemicals,"  in  which  the  autnor  treated  on  the  diffi- 
culty of  obtaining  absolutely  pure  chemicals,  such  as  might  be  supposed  were 
intended  by  the  "British  Pharmacopoeia"  by  the  tests  given  in  certain  cases.  In 
others,  the  "  Pharmacopoeia  "  allowed  some  impurities,  without  giving  their  quan- 
tity or  the  limits  of  the  reactions  indicating  the  impurities.  The  paper  treated  of 
oxalic  acid,  sodium  and  potassium  carbonates  and  nitrates,  potassium  permanganate, 
sodium  chloride  and  the  subnitrate,  subcarbonate  and  oxide  of  bismuth. 
In  the  discussion  following,  it  was  stated  that  the  "Pharmacopoeia"  rarely  con- 
templated the  absolute  purity  of  the  chemicals,  which  was  really  unnecessary;  that 
different  impurities  often  depended  upon  the  kinds  of  vessels  or  the  water  used  in 
manufacturing,  and  that  manufacturers  were  often  greatly  obliged  for  having  the 
nature  of  impurities  in  chemicals  pointed  out  to  them  5  the  fact  was  dwelt  upon 
that  the  quality  of  many  commercial  chemicals  was  now  much  better  than  for- 
merly. 
Mr.  Ince  read  a  paper  written  by  the  late  Daniel  Hanbury,  on  "The  Spices, 
Groceries  and  Wax  of  a  Mediaeval  Household,  A.  D.  1303-10."  The  paper 
relates  to  a  portion  of  the  accounts  of  the  executors  of  Bishops  Richard,  of  London 
(1303),  and  Thomas,  of  Exeter  (1310).  The  articles  enumerated  in  the  paper, 
together  with  their  price,  are:  Cere,  wax;  ammigdaU,  almonds;  ris,  rice;  zinsiber, 
ginger ;  sucare,  sugar ;  canele,  cinnamon  cassia ;  galonge,  galangal ;  nigrum  piper, 
black  pepper ;  granum  paradisi,  grains  of  paradise ;  crocus,  saffron,  or,  as  Mr.  E. 
M.Holmes  thought,  probably  safflower,  the  price  being  £5  9/.  yd.  for  38  J  lbs.; 
gariofoli,  cloves  ;  quibibus,  cubebs  ;  macis,  mace  ;  feniculum,  fennel ;  anisum,  anise  ; 
liquiricia,  liquorice  ;  cyminum,  cumin  ;  pyon,  the  kernels  of  Pinus  pinea ;  pyonad,  a 
confection  of  the  kernels  with  white  of  egg  and  sugar;  gyngebrad,  gingibretum  or 
zinzibratum,  preserved  or  candied  ginger ;  nux  muscata,  nutmegs ;  zedevand, 
zedoary  and  others. 
Mr.  Louis  Siebold  read  a  paper  on  "  Senna  Extracted  with  Alcohol,"  a  prepara- 
tion which  is  extensively  used  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  The  author  draws  from 
his  experiments  the  following  conclusions  : 
1.  Strong  spirit  does  not  remove  any  of  the  active  principle  (cathartic  acid)  from 
senna  leaves. 
2.  The  therapeutic  action  of  cathartic  acid  is  assisted  by  one  or  more  of  the  con- 
stituents yielded  by  senna  to  strong  spirit,  though  the  latter  produce  no  purgative 
effect  when  taken  alone. 
3.  Senna  exhausted  by  alcohol  is  a  reliable  and  pleasant  purgative,  but  somewhat 
weaker  in  its  action  than  the  unexhausted  leaves. 
Mr.  Groves  said  that  he  had  prepared  pure  cathartate  of  calcium,  and  found  it  to 
be  of  a  very  griping  character.  The  mixed  cathartates  may  be  obtained  by  digest- 
ing senna  leaves  in  diluted  alcohol,  and  precipitating  them  by  strong  alcohol.  Senna 
leaves  exhausted  by  alcohol  are  devoid  of  the  essential  oil,  and  have,  therefore,  less 
taste. 
Adjourned  to  February  2d. 
