Am.  Jour.  Pharni.  1 
June,  1881.  j 
Acaroid  Resin. 
283: 
ACAROID  RESIN. 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  May  IStli,  1881. 
Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  : 
Dear  Sir — Your  article  piiblislied  in  tlie  Journal  for  this  month 
on  ^^The  Xanthorrhcea  Resins"  brings  to  my  memory  the  fact  that  I 
have  a  small  package  of  gum  acroicles — so  spelled — which  I  ])urchased 
at  the  North  End  in  Boston,  Mass.,  in  1845,  the  occasion  being  the 
selling  out  and  giving  up  of  the  apothecary  business  by  Hon.  J.  War- 
ren Merrill,  now  of  Cambridgeport,  Mass.,  with  whom  I  was  a  clerk 
at  the  time.  Previous  to  this,  I  was  an  apprentice  with  Mr.  Joseph 
M.  Smith,  one  of  Boston's  old  and  trusted  apothecaries,  who  at  that 
time  was  in  business  on  Washington  street,  directly  opposite  the  foot 
of  School  street;  the  number  of  his  shop  was  138,  but  since  the  exten- 
sion of  Washington  street,  the  number  has  been  raised.  At  this  place- 
also  there  was  a  package  or  two  of  gum  acroides.  I  am  under  the 
impression  that  it  was  never  sold  for  medicinal  purposes,  but  so  far  as 
I  remember  was  sold  with  other  resins — say  with  benzoin,  mastich^ 
sandarach  and  shellac — for  varnishes  and  so-called  French  polishes.. 
This,  you  see,  was  some  thirty-six  or  forty  years  ago.  The  appearance 
of  the  packages — they  were  in  stout  brown  paper,  and  I  can  see  them 
very  plainly — was  such  as  to  lead  one  to  suppose  they  had  been  in  use 
for  many  years. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  gum  acroides  had  then  been  sold  in  the  Boston 
market  for  many  years.  The  sale  in  Boston,  from  1840  to  1845,  was 
quite  small ;  I  don^t  suppose  we  sold  a  pound  a  year.  I  also  remem- 
ber to  have  seen  it  in  some  other  drug  stores,  most  likely  in  some 
wholesale  houses.  I  remember,  especially,  having  seen  it  spelled  aca- 
roides,  and  I  also  rember  very  well  thinking  they  did  not  know  how 
to  spell  at  thai  shop.  I  am  very  confident  that  in  the  old  books  of 
that  time,  to  which  I  had  access,  I  never  saw^  it  spelled  in  any  other 
way  than  acroides.  The  weight  of  evidence,  as  presented  in  your 
paper,  seems  to  prove  that  acaroides  is  the  proper  way  in  which  to  spell 
this  old-new  resin.       Very  truly  yours,       Joseph  H.  Thacher. 
COLOR  REACTIONS  OF  ALKALOIDS,  etc. 
In  a  thesis  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,, 
Benj.  B.  Hamlin,  Jr.,  Ph.G.,  describes  a  series  of  experiments  made 
with  a  number  of  proximate  principles  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
