518 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
year,  relative  to  the  preservation  of  narcotic  and  other  extracts. 
No  answers  were  received  to  the  following  questions : 
No.  19,  on  the  bark  of  Larix  americana,  referred  to  Dr.  H. 
T.  Cummings  of  Portland,  Me. 
No.  20,  the  History  and  Statistics  of  New  England  Carrageen 
Moss,  accepted  by  Augustus  P.  Melzar  of  Boston. 
No.  22,  on  the  influence  of  alkalies  on  the  alkaloids  of  Bella- 
donna and  Hyoscyamus,  accepted  by  R.  H.  Stabler  of  Alexan- 
dria. 
No.  23,  Statistics  and  manufacture  of  fine  chemicals  in  Eng- 
land for  the  American  market,  accepted  by  Henry  Haviland  of 
New  York. 
No.  24,  the  Drug  Trade  of  the  United  States — its  past,  present 
and  future,  accepted  by  C.  B.  Guthrie,  M.  D.,  of  New  York. 
Mr.  Garrigues  replied  to  No.  21,  relative  to  the  culture  of 
Crocus  sativus  in  the  United  States,  that  Frederick  L.  John,  to 
whom  it  was  referred,  had  made  the  inquiries  necessary  to  elicit 
the  information  required,  but  was  informed  by  the  parties  in 
Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania,  who  had  formerly  cultivated 
it,  that  it  did  not  pay  them  to  do  it  for  less  than  its  weight  in 
silver — one  dollar  per  ounce — and  that  they  had  ceased  to  cul- 
tivate it. 
No.  25,  in  reference  to  the  natural  condition  of  cantharidin, 
referred  to  John  M.  Maisch,  of  Philadelphia,  had  not  been  re- 
plied to,  but  Mr.  Garrigues,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Maisch,  read  a 
paper  in  answer  to  No.  28,  on  Cornus  Florida,  which  had  been 
referred  to  him  last  year. 
No.  27,  relative  to  the  purgative  power  of  the  marc  of  Castor 
Beans,  accepted  by  Dr.  Stabler  of  Alexandria,  was  not  replied 
to. 
Edward  Parrish,  in  reply  to  No.  29,  the  relative  therapeutic  value 
of  imported  and  indigenous  medicinal  plants,  accepted  by  Henry 
A.  Tilden  of  New  Lebanon,  N.  Y.,  read  a  paper,  on  behalf  of  Mr. 
Tilden,  on  the  result  of  a  partial  investigation  of  the  subject. 
Mr.  John  D.  Dix,  of  New  York,  from  the  committee  appointed 
for  that  purpose,  reported  the  draft  of  a  communication  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  asking  for  a 
revision  of  his  action  in  regard  to  the  publication  of  a  monthly 
list  of  imported  drugs.  It  is  believed  that  such  publications  can- 
