THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 



dress on his experiences as president of 

 the Association which is printed below 

 The officers elected are : 



President, Jeannot Hostmann ; first 

 vice-president, J. A. Stefifens ; second 

 vice-president, M. W. Weil; third vice- 

 president, P. Gaetano, honorary presi- 

 dent, T. F. Main; secretary, G. Hoh- 

 mann ; treasurer, F. A. Leslie ; registrar, 

 C. P. Wimmer. 



Members of the Executive Board— 

 J. H. Heeker, H. H. Schaefer, A. J 

 Bauer. 



The i^resident-elect, Mr. Hostman, was 

 born in Jersey City on December 27. 

 1876, and received his education in the 

 German-American School and in the high 

 school of that city. He entered the drug 

 store of F. A. Bpngartz as apprentice in 

 1890 and, enrolling as a student at the 

 College of Pharmacy, received his de- 

 gree of graduate in pharmacy at the 

 commencement held in the spring of 

 1896. 



The following eleven years he was 

 engaged in the retail dru^ business as 

 clerk and proprietor. Deciding to take 

 up a chemical career, he enrolled in the 

 Food and Drug Class of i907-'o8, re- 

 ceiving at the end of the course a certifi- 

 cate of proficiency. 



He was city chemist of Hoboken from 

 1908 to 1 910, when he became lecture as- 

 sistant to Professor Coblentz. He re- 

 mained in the position when Professoi 

 Arny came and is now instructor in phy- 

 sics, conducting the university physics 

 laboratory course and quizzes. 



The president-elect is a genial ener- 

 getic gentleman, and under his adminis- 

 tration the Alumni Association will live 

 up to its reputation for progress and 

 efficiency. 



THE USE OF METHYLENE BLUE 

 AS AN INDICATOR. 



By Frederic E. Niece, Phar.D. 



Some four years ago the writer was 

 engaged in the determination of the 

 phenol co-efficient of all the best known 

 American brands of coal tar disinfect- 

 ants. Considerable difficulty was expe- 

 rienced in getting an absolute phenolic 

 control. Controls were usually made up 

 fresh in small quantities and estimated 

 for their phenol content by using the 

 well known solution of Koppeschaar. 



In order to expedite this part of the 

 work, a strong phenol solution was kept 

 on hand, from which the weaker solu- 

 tions were made. Weaker solutions 

 made up from time to time for controls 

 all varied more or less, notwithstanding 

 the extreme care exercised in their 

 preparation. It was soon discovered that 

 two factors were responsible for these 

 obscure variations. One was the power 

 of the weaker solutions to change theii 

 control titre on standing, and the unre- 

 liability of the exact end reaction when 

 standardizing with the Koppeschaar so- 

 lution according to the method as given 

 in the U. S. P. VIII was the other and 

 all important one. In this work the 

 whole method depends upon an absolute 

 standard control, and to this end every 

 care must be exercised, since the least 

 difference in dilution and the faulty 

 technic in its phenol estimation enlarges 

 the discrepancy in which there is no alter- 

 native other than a re-examination which 

 is both tedious and time-consuming. The 

 principal trouble was found to be with 

 the iodine in the process of titration, 

 since it was observed that no two oper- 

 ators could agree upon the end point, or 

 at just what moment the iodine was ab- 



