204  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {Amj^;^TW- 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  March  22d,  1889. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order,  and,  on  motion,  Mr.  Mclntyre  was  called 
to  the  chair. 
The  Secretary  called  attention  to  a  specimen  of  carbonate  of  ammonia  of 
American  manufacture ;  it  is  made  at  Detroit,  and  is  now  largely  displacing 
the  English  made  article ;  it  is  packed  in  strong  barrels  and  keeps  well ;  it 
ordinarily  sells  at  a  slightly  lower  price,  but  has  a  peculiar  slight  odor,  re- 
calling that  of  stale  urine. 
The  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.  presented  to  the  library  a  handsome  special  index 
copy  of  the  sixteenth  edition  of  the  United  States  Dispensatory  bound  in 
sheep,  and  the  Committee  of  Revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  a  copy  of  Part 
I  of  the  Digest  of  the  Criticisms  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  of  1880. 
The  thanks  of  the  College  were  ordered  to  be  returned  for  the  works  pre- 
sented. The  last  volume  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  was  also  laid  before 
the  meeting.  It  is  stated  by  the  publishers  that  a  supplementary  volume 
will  be  issued  in  a  year  or  two. 
Albert  P.  Brown,  Ph.  G.,  read  a  paper  upon  Oleate  of  Mercury,  and  stated 
that  the  result  of  the  process  detailed  was  preferable  to  that  of  the  officinal 
process ;  several  samples  of  the  oleate  made  by  processes  of  double  decompo- 
sition were  exhibited.  Mr.  Beringer  thought  that  Mr.  Brown's  process  was  a 
step  in  the  right  direction,  and  the  nearer  we  came  to  definite  chemical 
compounds  the  better.  He  thought  that  a  better  process  was  to  make  a 
true  sodium  oleate  from  soda  and  oleic  acid,  and  then  decompose  it  with 
mercuric  chloride.  Using  zinc  sulphate  an  excellent  oleate  of  zinc  could  be 
obtained  by  the  same  process. 
Professor  Maisch  exhibited  a  specimen  of  a  drug  sent  to  him  by  Mr.  Wm. 
B.  Addington,  Ph.  G.,  of  St.  Louis;  it  is  known  in  Mexico  asjamaica.  Exami- 
nation shows  it  to  consist  of  the  calyses  of  Hibiscus  Sabdariffa.  It  is  a  refrig- 
gerant  and  contains,  according  to  Dymock's  Drugs  of  India,  beside  watery 
extractive,  cellulose,  and  ash,  tartaric  acid  9'9  and  free  malic  acid  15*54  per 
cent. ;  these  figures  seem  to  be  too  high,  as  its  taste  would  be  much  more 
acid  if  it  contained  such  a  large  proportion  of  free  acids. 
Mr.  Beringer  showed  a  specimen  of  a  yellow  bark  imported  into  New 
York  from  South  America,  but  no  further  history  of  it  could  be  obtained  as 
the  consignee  has  died  ;  it  has  an  extremely  bitter  taste. 
A  paper  on  Adulterated  Flaxseed  Meal  was  read  by  Mr.  Beringer. 
There  was  some  discussion  about  the  advisability  of  adding  to  the  defini- 
tion of  the  Pharmacopoeia  a  test  for  the  absence  of  starch,  and  of  increas- 
ing the  minimum  percentage  of  oil  from  25  to  30,  which  would  prevent  the 
addition  to  flaxseed  meal  of  a  limited  amount  of  cake  meal,  considered 
necessary  by  some  for  the  longer  preservation  of  the  oil. 
Mr.  Meyer  referred  to  the  cleansing  of  mortars  used  for  acrid  substances 
such  as  piperine,  etc. ;  he  thought  it  was  a  matter  of  sufficient  importance 
to  claim  close  attention;  powders  mixed  in  a  mortar  that  had  been  prev- 
