520  Minutes  of  the.  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {*md™;$t™' 
Soap-Root.  —  A  large  commerce  is  carried  on  from  California  in  a  fibrous  sub- 
stance known  as  soap-root.  It  is  obtained  from  a  lily-like  plant,  a  species  of  Phalan- 
gium  [Chlorogalum  pomeridianum,  Kunth,)  which  is  met  with  about  the  mountains, 
and  attains  a  height  of  eight  feet.  The  heavy  bulb  is  covered  with  many  coatings, 
consisting  of  fibres,  which  are  used  for  cushions,  mattresses,  etc.  Large  contracts 
are  entered  into  for  the  supply  of  this  material  on  a  very  extensive  scale.  The 
inner  part  of  the  bulb  serves  as  a  substitute  for  soap,  and  it  might  be  tried  whether 
it  can  be  utilized  for  technological  purposes  like  the  root  of  saponaria. — Drug.  Cir. 
and  Chetn.  Gaz, 
A  Panic  among  Sponge  Divers. — Advices  from  Beyrout  state  that  the  last 
crop  of  Turkey  sponge  was  very  deficient,  and  prices  of  ordinary  and  common 
sponges  have  greatly  risen  in  consequence.  The  deficiency  is  attributed  to  a  panic 
among  the  divers,  caused  by  the  appearance  in  the  neighborhood  of  Batroun,  Mount 
Lebanon — the  chief  sponge  fishing  locality — of  a  sea  monster,  alleged  to  have  been 
equal  in  size  to  a  small  boat.  Its  actual  depredations  among  the  divers  appear  at 
the  present  time  to  have  been  limited  to  one  man,  whom  he  is  said  to  have  swal- 
lowed whole. — Drug.  Cir.  and  Chetn.  Ga%. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  first  meeting  of  the  session  was  held  October  17th,  1876,  Prof.  Remington 
in  the  chair.  An  election  for  Registrar  was  held,  resulting  in  the  re-election  of 
William  Mclntyre.  The  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were  read  and  approved.  The 
chairman  introduced  the  strangers  amd  students  present,  and  urged  all  to  continue 
their  attendance.  The  following  presentations  were  made  :  From  the  Chinese 
Commission  to  the  Centennial  Exposition,  the  Catalogue  of  the  Chinese  Imperial 
Maritime  Customs  Collection  at  the  United  States  International  Exhibition,  Phila- 
delphia, 1876.  From  Henry  S.  Wellcome,  a  handsome  framed  drawing  of  Eriodyc- 
tion  Californicum,  the  "  Yerba  santa  "  or  "mountain  balm"  of  California,  which 
is  recommended  as  an  efficient  remedy  for  lung  diseases. 
A.  P.  Brown  read  a  paper  describing  a  new  method  of  preparing  Syrup  of  Li- 
quorice Root  and  Brown  Mixture  (See  page  487.)  He  had  also  made  and  used  Am- 
moniacal  Glycyrrhizin  to  mask  the  bittter  taste  of  quinia;  two  drachms  of  the 
glycyrrhizin  are  dissolved  in  one  pint  of  sprup,  then  to  each  fluidrachm  is  added 
one  grain  of  quinia  sulphate.  In  making  ammoniacal  glycyrrhizin  care  must  be 
observed  to  use  chemically  pure  sulphuric  acid  in  the  precipitation,  and  in  the  pre- 
paration of  the  compound  mixture  of  liquorice,  by  the  process  suggested,  an  excess 
of  ammonia  must  be  avoided. 
In  answer  to  an  inquiry  as  to  what  is  sweet  syrup  of  quinia  as  used  in  Balti- 
more, the  chairman  suggested  that  it  might  be  a  mixture  of  syrup  and  tannate  of 
quinia,  the  objections  to  which  he  stated,  or  one  of  undissolved  sulphate  of  quinia 
in  very  thick  syrup. 
