580  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.        { ^^Nor'isS*™' 
for  pharmaceutical  use  ' '  at  the  end  of  four  months.  It  is  evident,  however, 
that  although  herbs  so  preserved  may  be  still  "  fit  for  pharmaceutical  "  use 
it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  they  will  exactly  represent  the  live 
plant,"  upon  the  relative  superiority  of  which  Dr.  Quinlan  enlarged,  since 
if  the  process  is  really  equivalent  to  ensilage  the  vegetable  substance  will 
undergo  a  certain  amount  of  fermentation,  probably  lactic,  which  might 
affect  the  active  principle,  whilst,  as  pertinently  remarked  by  Mr.  Stanford, 
the  product  would  no  more  represent  the  fresh  herb  than  sour  kraut  does 
the  fresh  cabbage.  However,  the  subject  is  of  considerable  interest,  and 
pharmacists  are  indebted  to  Dr  Quinlan  for  directing  attention  to  it  and  for 
his  i^romise  to  continue  his  experiments  under  varying  conditions  that 
were  suggested  in  the  course  of  the  discussion. 
The  next  paper  read  was  by  the  same  author  and  dealt  with  the  Medicinal 
Properties  of  the  Mullein  Plant,  w^hich  he  described  as  being  useful  in  the 
early  stages  of  pulmonary  consumption  in  a  manner  similar  to  cod  liver  oil 
or  Russian  koumiss.  The  particular  mullein  to  which  he  referred,  the 
Verbascum  Thapsus  of  botanists,  is  frequently  spoken  by  ancient  Irish 
medical  writers  and  has  long  been  used  in  Ireland  for  the  relief  of  phthis- 
ical patients.  The  preparation  specially  recommended  is  a  decoction  of 
the  fresh  leaves  in  milk,  either  in  its  natural  state  or  previously  peptonized. 
So  great  is  the  demand  for  this  plant  that  it  is  cultivated  in  several  parts  of 
Ireland,  and  it  would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  the  exact  effect  of  culti- 
vation upon  it.  The  sample  of  the  fresh  plant  shown  by  Dr.  Quinlan,  was 
said  to  be  the  kind  used,  although  a  "  poor  specimen  ;  "  but  it  differed  so 
much  in  the  color,  texture  and  shape  of  the  leaf  from  the  characters  usually 
observed  in  the  Verbascum  Thapsus  plant  as  met  with  wild  in  this  country 
that  it  might  have  been  taken  for  another  species.  It  may  be  useful  to 
point  out  that  the  resemblance  between  the  leaves  of  young  mullein  plants 
and  those  of  young  foxglove  plants  calls  for  the  exercise  of  discrimination. 
With  this  paper  the  business  proceedings  of  the  Conference,  on  Tuesday, 
terminated,  and  the  majority  of  the  members  went  to  witness  a  display  of 
swimming  in  the  Victoria  Baths,  which  by  the  courtesy  of  the  directors 
was  thrown  open  to  them. 
On  Wednesday  morning  the  proceedings  were  resumed  with  the  reading 
of  some  Additional  JSJotes  on  the  Bitter  principle  of  Hymenodictyon 
excelsum^'^  by  Mr.  W.  A.  H.  Nay  lor.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  a  paper 
read  a  short  time  since  at  an  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society,  the  author  gave  some  preliminary  information  respecting  a  bitter 
alkaloidal  substance  that  he  had  isolated  from  the  bark  of  this  Cinchon- 
aceous  plant,  and  which  he  then  thought  to  be  closely  allied  to,  if  not  iden- 
tical with  paricine.  (See  "Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1883,  p.  419.)  Further  inves- 
tigation has  proved  it  to  be  a  new  alkaloid  having  a  composition  correspond- 
ing to  the  empirical  formula  C24H40N3,  and  therefore  an  addition  to  the  small 
class  of  bases  devoid  of  oxygen.  Besides  "  hymenodictyonine,"  which  is 
the  nahie  given  to  the  new  alkaloid,  Mr.  Nay  lor  has  separated  a  bitter  neu- 
tral principle,  represented  by  the  formula  C22II43O10,  which  he  thinks  may 
possibly  be  a  decomposition  product  of  a  glucoside. 
The  next  paper  was  a  very  practical  one  by  Mr.  Willmott,  entitled 
