AmMa"ri8Aarm"}  Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations.  143 
from  the  whole  stock  of  the  plant,  which  yielded  also  an  exceellent  flax-like  fibre, 
that  had  been  woven  into  fabrics  and  made  into  twine  and  cordage.  The  Professor 
presented  to  the  cabinet  a  beautiful  specimen  of  "  chimaphilin,"  and  three  specimens 
of  true  balsam  of  copaiva. 
On  motion,  thanks  were  returned  for  the  donations  and  remarks.  Adjourned,  to 
meet  March  8th,  1876,  at  3  o'clock  P.  M.  Louis  Schwab,  Cor.  Sec. 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain. — President  T.  H.  Hills  occu- 
pied the  chair  at  the  pharmaceutical  meeting  held  February  2d.  Mr.  James  Deane 
read  a  paper  entitled  "  The  best  form  of  blistering  liquid  "  The  Liquor  epispas- 
iicusy  Br.P.,  is  made  by  incorporating  4  fluidounces  of  acetic  acid  with  8  oz.  of  pow- 
dered cantharides,  and  percolate  the  mixture,  after  24  hours,  with  ether,  until  20 
fluidounces  are  obtained;  from  2  fluidounces  of  this  preparation  o*8  grains  of  can- 
tharidin  were  obtained.  Exhausting  the  cantharides  with  sufficient  acetic  ether  to 
obtain  20  fluidounces  of  percolate,  2*2  grains  of  slightly  impure  cantharidin  were 
obtained  from  2  fluidounces.  The  same  amount  of  another  preparation,  made  by 
moistening  the  cantharides  with  a  solution  of  glacial  acetic  acid  in  ether,  and  per- 
colating with  ether,  yielded  i*8  grains  of  cantharidin  5  350  grains  of  cantharides, 
representing  2  fluidounces  of  the  above  liquids,  yielded  2  grs.  of  pure  cantharidin. 
The  author  is  therefore  in  favor  of  one  of  the  last  two  menstrua,  the  question  as  to 
which  is  the  better  being  medical  rather  than  pharmaceutical.  The  officinal  prepa- 
ration being  stronger  than  necessary,  a  reduction  of  the  powdered  cantharides  to  4 
or  5  ounces  is  advocated. 
Mr.  Harold  Senier  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Composition  of  Pilula  Hydrargyri, 
Br.P."  A  number  of  samples  were  analyzed,  with  the  view  of  determining  the 
amount  of  metallic  mercury  and  of  mercurous  frhd  mercuric  oxides.  The  results 
showed  that  the  latter  gradually  increased  in  quantity  with  the  age  of  the  blue 
mass,  which,  18  hours  after  preparation,  was  found  to  contain  but  a  trace  of  mercu- 
rous oxide  5  after  three  months,  '24  per  cent,  mercuric  and  '62  per  cent,  mercurous 
oxides  were  obtained,  and  in  another  sample,  -44  and  i'6o  per  cent,  respectively. 
After  two  years,  i*8o  mercuric  and  4*22  mercurous  oxides  were  present.  The 
amount  of  mercury  in  the  nine  samples  examined  corresponded  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  "  Pharmacopoeia." 
In  the  discussion  following,  Professor  Redwood  called  attention  to  his  researches, 
made  14  or  15  years  ago,  upon  Hydrargyrum  cum  creta,  which  was  found  to  be 
more  rapidly  oxidized  than  blue  mass,  particularly  if  made  by  machinery  instead  of 
in  the  mortar.  Mr.  Greenish  referred  to  the  paper  of  Dr.  Squibb  ("Amer.  Jour. 
Phar.,"  1857,  P-  388),  in  which  the  proneness  to  the  oxidation  of  mercury  in  Hy- 
drarg.  c.  cret.  is  attributed  to  its  often  being  too  finely  divided. 
Mr.  John  Moss  read  a  paper  on  Vaseline,  showing  that  this  term  must  be  regarded 
as  a  distinctive  name  for  a  mixture  of  paraffins  obtained  by  a  known  process,  and 
recommended  as  a  substitute  for  lard  and  other  similar  substances  for  pharmaceu- 
tical purposes. 
Mr.  A.  W.  Gerrard  followed  with  a  paper  in  which  he  favored  the  preparation  of 
suppositories,  using  four  parts  of  vaselin  and  one  of  paraffin  as  a  base.  The  advan- 
tages over  cacao  butter  are  that  the  former  melts  slowly  into  an  unctuous  mass, 
which  is  cleanly  and  causes  no  inconvenience  to  the  patient ;  that  it  does  not  become 
