144  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.  {A\arXi9ioarm' 
were  advocated  as  a  matter  of  course.  Still  another  method  was 
suggested  for  combating  the  disease,  namely,  vaccination,  and  sta- 
tistics were  cited  showing  that  where  vaccination  has  been  tried, 
as  among  the  British  soldiers  in  South  Africa,  Egypt,  and  India, 
the  number  of  cases  contracted  was  notably  less,  and  that  the 
mortality  among  the  patients  who  were  vaccinated  was  about  half 
as  great  as  among  those  not  vaccinated. 
Speaking  of  local  conditions,  Dr.  Abbott  said  that  before  the 
filtration  system  was  introduced  for  purifying  the  water  supply  of 
Philadelphia  the  annual  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever  averaged 
about  6000,  and  in  one  year  ran  up  to  about  9000.  With  the  in- 
troduction of  filtration  the  number  has  been  reduced  about  80 
per  cent.,  the  remaining  20  per  cent,  being  due  to  infection  from 
other  sources,  including  the  cases  of  summer  vacationists  who 
have  contracted  the  disease  elsewhere.  During  August,  September, 
and  October,  about  50  per  cent,  of  our  cases  are  traced  to  outside 
sources  of  infection. 
With  regard  to  the  determination  of  the  presence  of  typhoid 
organisms  in  water  supplies,  Dr.  Abbott  stated  that  the  time  required 
for  the  disease  to  manifest  itself  after  infection  is  about  three  weeks, 
and  that  as  the  germ  does  not  live  long  in  water  it  is  usually  not  pres- 
ent when  examinations  are  made,  and  that  it  is  much  better  to  judge  of 
the  situation  by  a  direct  examination  of  the  surroundings.  He 
said  with  reference  to  the  inferential  test  that  when  the  colon  organ- 
ism is  found  in  water  the  presence  of  the  typhoid  organism  is 
indicated,  that  too  much  reliance  could  not  be  placed  upon  it,  as  the 
colon  organism  is  found  in  the  intestinal  tract  of  all  domestic  animals, 
and  as  these  do  not  suffer  from  typhoid  fever  the  colon  organism 
is  likely  to  be  found  in  places  where  the  typhoid  germs  are  not 
present,  and  that  the  fact  of  the  presence  of  the  colon  organism  must 
be  considered  along  with  other  available  data.  F.  Y. 
The  Manufacture  and  Testing  of  Medicinal  Plasters  was 
the  subject  of  an  illustrated  address  given  on  Friday,  December  10, 
at  3.30  *p.m.,  by  F.  B.  Kilmer,  chemist  for  Messrs.  Johnson  & 
Johnson,  of  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  one  part  of  which  appears  in 
this  issue  (p.  112)  and  the  remainder  of  which  will  be  published  in 
a  later  number  of  this  Journal,  The  speaker  was  introduced  by 
Mr.  Warren  H.  Poley,  a  member  of  the  Lecture  Committee,  who 
recounted  some  of  his  earlier  experiences  in  the  handling  and  spread- 
