634  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.    {Am  ^im^ 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING'. 
Philadelphia,  November  19th,  1889. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  and  Mr.  W.  B.  Webb  asked  to  preside.  On 
motion  the  reading  of  the  minutes  was  dispensed  with. 
The  registrar  exhibited  a  pipette  designed  so  as  to  prevent  the  mixing  of 
liquids  which  were  to  be  brought  together  in  testing;  the  line  of  union  of  the 
two  liquids  could  then  be  distinctly  seen  by  the  color  occurring  at  the  point  of 
contact.  The  end  of  the  pipette  was  curved  to  a  horizontal  line  so  the  flow 
would  take  place  over  and  not  through  the  lower  liquid. 
A  paper  upon  tar  by  Mr.  R.  G.  Dunwody,  of  the  present  class,  was  read  by 
him  and  referred.  During  the  discussion  the  difference  noticed  between  the 
tar  obtained  direct  from  North  Carolina  and  that  refined  here  for  the  use  of 
the  drug  trade  was  attempted  to  be  accounted  for;  that  tar  has  a  peculiar  gran- 
ular character  has  long  been  known  and  it  is  nowhere  better  shown  than  in 
tar  ointment;  Mr.  J.  W.  England  said,  as  made  by  the  officinal  process  of  equal 
parts  of  tar  and  suet  it  inevitably  passed  into  that  condition.  He  found  an 
excellent  preventive  of  that  change  in  the  addition  of  12  5  per  cent,  of  yellow 
wax,  reducing  the  suet  to  375  per  cent  In  detail  the  pharmacopoeia  process 
was  followed.  Mr.  Webb  corroborated  this  statement  and  said  he  used  wax 
in  the  proportion  of  8*5  per  cent,  with  satisfaction.  Mr.  Mclntyre  asked  why 
the  commercial  tar  should  be  refined,  that  as  formerly  supplied  it  was  satisfac- 
tory ;  it  was  stated  that  Mr.  Good  thought  it  necessary  because  sticks,  chips,  sand 
and  clay  were  often  found  in  it.  The  result  seems  to  be  that  refined  tar  is  not 
as  desirable  as  the  old-fashioned  article  was.  This,  Professor  Trimble  thought, 
was  owing  to  the  process  destroying  the  pyrocatechin  and  abietinic  acid  which 
are  components  of  true  tar.  Gas  or  coal  tar  if  added  to  tar  would,  it  was  thought,, 
destroy  both  these  compounds.  It  was  asked  if  pyroligneous  acid  would  not 
also  destroy  these  principles.  Professor  Trimble  thought  it  would.  Dr.  Lowe 
said  that  Mr.  Good's  statement  that  coal  tar  was  not  added  to  that  he  refined 
was  sufficient,  and  further  he  thought  coal  tar  more  valuable  than  wood  tar, 
therefore  it  would  not  be  used  as  an  adulterant. 
Mr.  G.  M.  Beringer  read  a  paper  upon  the  oleates,  tracing  their  medical  history 
and  giving  formulas  for  the  preparation  of  oleates  of  zinc,  lead,  copper,  mer- 
cury and  bismuth.  The  chairman  expressed  his  gratification  with  the  paper, 
it  was  characterized  by  so  much  painstaking  work.  Mr,  Boring  moved  a 
vote  of  thanks  to  the  author,  and  said  that  he  regarded  the  paper  as  valuable 
to  all  who  wished  to  work  in  the  same  line.  The  chairman  inquired  if  the  use 
of  oleates  was  as  large  as  formerly.  Several  stated  they  had  seen  great  advan- 
tage from  their  employment.  Mr.  Brown  said  they  used  a  good  deal  in  Cooper 
Hospital,  Camden,  N.  J. 
Professor  Maisch  asked  what  was  the  source  of  the  oleic  acid  used  in  these 
experiments,  and  referring  to  the  instability  of  oleates  of  mercury  as  ordi- 
narily prepared,  suggested  that  this  might  possibly  be  due  to  the  oleic  acid 
used  being  of  vegetable  origin,  which,  according  to  recent  investigations,  would 
always  contain  some  linoleic  acid,  a  compound  very  prone  to  oxidize.  Mr. 
Beringer  said  that  the  red  oil  of  the  candle-makers,  purified,  had  been  used; 
that  the  iodine  number  of  linoleic  acid  was  very  high,  and  that  from  this  test 
