128 



is accompanied by this designation the chemist can reject it on general principles if 

 found to be of unsatisfactory quality. Other specifications, such as pure, purissimum, 

 reagent, commercial, etc., also have vague meanings which are used by manufacturers, 

 dealers, and brokers, simply as a means for selling certain chemicals. The past year 

 has seen a marked improvement along these lines, due largely to the instrumentality 

 of the food and drugs act. The term "commercial" has been replaced largely by 

 the term "technical" for the reason that the former name was vague and was used 

 in connection with products which might be used for^ either food, drug, or technical 

 purposes; for example, "sodium phosphate, commercial," did not give any informa- 

 tion at all as to the quality of the product, and while the name would suggest that 

 it was not of high grade, yet it was not uncommon for highly arsenical sodium phos- 

 phate to find its way into the drug trade, rather than to the boiler compound manu- 

 factory, and thus do harm. The terms pure, purissimum, and reagent are also grad- 

 ually losing their standing, and the question arises, What form of nomenclature 

 should be employed in order to obtain chemicals of the desired quality? 



The chairman, therefore, recommends that the committee be instructed to inves- 

 tigate the question of nomenclature to be used in connection with chemical reagents 

 and report at the next meeting. 



The report was accepted and the recommendation made was ap- 

 proved by the association. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOOD STANDARDS. 



On behalf of the food standards committee of the association, the 

 chairman, Mr. Frear, submitted a detailed report of the work done 

 by the joint committee on food standards during the year. This 

 covers the adoption of tentative standards for manufactured meats, 

 malt liquors, and spirituous liquors. The report of the committee 

 was accepted by the association. 



The president announced the following committee on the stand- 

 ardization of alcohol tables: L. M. Tolman, M. E. Jaffa, A. B. Adams, 

 R. J. Davidson, H. E. Barnard. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS. 



Mr. Davidson, as chairman of the committee on nominations, then 

 presented the following report: For president, Mr. W. D. Bigelow: 

 for vice-president, Mr. W. A. Withers; for secretary, Mr. H. W. 

 Wiley; for additional members of the executive committee, Mr. E. F. 

 Ladd and Mr. E. B. Holland. 



The chairman of the committee was instructed to cast the unani- 

 mous vote of the association for the officers named. 



On motion by Mr. Davidson the question of the amount of wash 

 water to be employed in the treatment of the residue from the 

 ammonium citrate digestion in the determination of phosphoric acid 

 was referred to Committee A for recommendation. 



