^"'ju'iy'^isHr™  }  J^harmaceutlcal  Colleges  and  Associations.  375 
St.  Louis  College  of  Pharmacy.— At  the  annual  meeting,  held  April 
25th,  tlie  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year:  President, 
F.  W.  Sennewald ;  Vice  President,  Chas.  Gietner ;  Recording  Secretary, 
E.  P.  Walsh;  Corresponding  Secretary,  W.  C.  Boehm ;  Treasurer,  Solo- 
mon Boehm ;  Board  of  Trustees— Clias.  Baug,  George  Noll,  H.  E.  Hoelke, 
W.  B.  Addington,  The  various  reports  were  read  and  approved.  The 
new  State  law  of  Missouri  relatiug  to  the  practice  of  pharmacy  was  taken 
up  and  discussed  in  all  its  bearings,  the  debate  being  quite  animated, 
showing  that  the  members  are  in  earnest  to  protect  the  interests  of  the 
profession  and  of  the  public. 
Alumni  Association  of  the  Massachusetts  College  of  Phar- 
macy.—  At  the  meeting  held  June  2d,  Prof.  Davenport  showed  and 
explained  the  use  of  a  densimeter^  for  obtaining  the  specific  gravity  of  any 
liquid  by  direct  weighing,  and  without  any  calculation. 
Mr.  Sheppard  stated  that  in  making  syruj:)  of  iodide  of  iro7i  the  quality 
of  the  iron  used  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  success  of  the  process.  He 
had  obtained  very  much  better  results  with  soft  than  with  hard  iron.  Mr. 
Lowd  and  other  members  preferred  the  iron  in  the  form  of  clean  turnings, 
made  for  the  purpose.  The  turnings  seemed  to  be  so  disintegrated  as  to  be 
more  readily  acted  upon  than  smooth  iron  wire. 
Remarks  were  made  by  various  members  showing  that  the  dark  pare- 
goric,  containing  extract  of  liquorice,  was  still  largely  called  for,  and  had 
to  be  kept. 
Mr.  Durkee  showed  some  medicinal  pencils^  and  explained  how  they 
were  made  and  the  trouble  he  had  had  in  demising  good  working  formulas. 
In  making  alum  pencils  the  alum  was  melted  in  its  water  of  crystalliza- 
tion, cooled  till  it  would  just  run  and  was  tough  and  stringy,  and  then 
poured  into  intra-uterine  suppository  moulds;  these  were  opened  while 
still  warm,  because  if  left  until  cold  it  was  impossible  to  remove  them.  The 
samples  shown  were  hard,  translucent,  and  did  not  readily  chip  or  break. 
Mr.  Sheppard  spoke  of  a  method  for  making  them  easily  from  the  crystals 
by  rubbing  them  upon  a  piece  of  sandpaper  laid  upon  a  flat  surface,  and 
the  President  recommended  for  that  puri30se  the  new  pencil  sharpeners, 
consisting  of  a  revolving  disk  covered  with  sandpaper,  against  which  the 
crystal  might  be  placed,  and  rapidly  rubbed  into  any  shape.  Mr.  Durkee, 
continuing  his  remarks,  spoke  of  other  pencils,  particularly  of  sulphate  of 
copper,  wliich  were  hard  to  make  and  hard  to  keep. 
Mr.  Chase  mentioned  an  expeditious  way  for  removing  old  labels  from 
prescription  or  other  bottles.  He  wetted  the  face  of  the  label  and  held  it 
an  instant  in  any  convenient  flame;  the  heated  water  penetrated  the  label 
and  allowed  it  to  be  removed  at  once. 
The  President  showed  some  very  large  crystals  of  sugar,  which  he  had 
removed  from  a  bottle  of  syrup  of  saflron  that  had  been  standing  undis- 
turbed for  a  long  time.  One  of  them  was  over  two  inches  in  length  and 
about  an  inch  in  diameter. 
I 
