582  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference,  | 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1883. 
has  been  repeatedly  referred  to  Garrod,  does  not  correctly  describe  what  ia 
said  by  that  author,  whose  words  are:  "the  proportion  of  iodine  is  not 
more  than  0*05  per  cent." 
The  time  having  nearly  arrived  for  the  adjournment  to  luncheon,  Mr. 
Holmes  briefly  communicated  some  information  respecting  the  trees  yield- 
ing benzoin,  and  exhibited  specimens  of  the  leaves  and  sections  of  the 
trunk  of  the  Siam  benzoin  tree,  and  leaves,  flowers  and  fruit  of  the 
Sumatra  benzoin  tree  which  have  recently  been  received  from  Mr.  Jamie^ 
of  Singapore. 
Upon  resuming,  the  next  two  papers  read  were  by  Mr.  Conroy  and  Mr, 
Maben  and  discussed  the  Suitability  of  Sesame  Oil  for  Pharmaceutical 
Purposes.  Mr.  Conroy  is  of  that  opinion  that  seasame  oil  cannot  replace 
olive  oil  for  the  chief  pharmaceutical  uses,  since  from  the  large  proportion 
of  olein  it  contains  plasters  made  with  it  do  not  "set,"  whilst  lime  lini- 
ment made  with  it  shows  a  tendency  to  separate.  But  in  preparations 
where  no  chemical  combination  takes  place,  and  where  only  a  bland  sweet 
oil  possessing  good  keeping  properties  is  required,  perhaps  no  better  could 
be  chosen,  and  he  thinks  it  might  serve  as  a  substitute  for  almond  oil  in 
the  preparation  of  ointments.  Mr.  Maben's  opinion  of  sesame  oil  is  some- 
what more  favorable,  since  he  thinks  that  it  might  not  only  take  the  place 
of  olive  or  almond  oil  in  the  preparation  of  ointments, — except  ung.  hydrarg. 
nit., — but  that  it  could  be  made  applicable  to  plasters  by  a  modification  of 
the  proportions  of  the  ingredients. 
In  a  note  on  "  The  State  of  Combination  in  which  Morphia  exists  in 
Opium,^^  Mr.  D.  B.  Dott  gave  his  reasons  for  believing  that  morphia  exists 
in  opium  both  as  sulphate  and  meconate.  Although  sulphuric  acid  is 
present  in  opium  in  sufficient  quantity  to  combine  with  the  whole  of  the 
morphia,  there  are  also  other  bases  present  with  which  it  will  unite  in  pre- 
ference, and  the  residue  of  the  acid  is  not  sufflcient  to  satisfy  the  whole  of 
the  alkaloid.  On  the  other  hand,  meconic  acid  is  not  present  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  take  up  all  the  alkaloid,  and  probably  forms  an  acid  salt  with 
the  portion  with  which  it  does  combine. 
The  apparently  interminable  subject  of  ^^Sweet  Spirit  of  Nitre''^  formed  the 
topic  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  A.  C.  Abraham.  This  gentleman  has  been  led^to 
the  conviction  that  the  generally  received  explanation  of  the  official  process 
for  spirit  of  nitrous  ether  is  erroneous  and  to  impute  the  moderate  action 
and  constant  temperature  peculiar  to  that  process  rather  to  the  action  of  the 
sulphuric  acid  upon  nitrate  of  copper,  or  to  the  increase  of  the  boiling  point  by 
the  admixture  of  sulphuric  acid,  than  to  the  formation  of  nitrous  acid.  After 
some  experiments  in  which  the  copper  was  first  converted  into  nitrate,  the 
author  eventually  abandoned  this  for  calcium  nitrate  and  he  gave  a  formula 
for  a  process  which  he  says  presents  the  advantages  over  the  official  one  of 
giving  a  greater  yield  at  a  smaller  cost,  with  a  less  prolonged,  more  regular 
distillation  and  a  smaller  quantity  to  be  distilled,  whilst  the  action  which 
takes  place  is  more  analogous  to  that  in  the  older  processes.  In  the  course 
of  the  discussion  Mr.  J.  Williams  made  some  suggestive  observations  as  to 
the  possible  composition  of  this  preparation.  He  said  that  he  had  prepared 
ten  per  cent,  solutions  of  pure  nitrous  ether  and  of  aldehyd,  but  that  neither 
