Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1897. 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
223 
Replying  to  an  inquiry  in  reference  to  the  production  of  the  esters  of  essen- 
tial oils,  Professor  Sadtler  referred  to  a  recent  report  of  Schimmel  and  Co.  on 
this  subject,  and  mentioned  some  of  the 
sold  in  concentrated  form  by  that  firm. 
CASEOUS  FORMALDEHYDE 
EMERGES  HERE 
LIGHT  THE  WICK 
IN  HERE 
compound  ethers  which  are  being 
"Some  Observations  on  Acacia 
of  Commerce  "  was  the  subject  of  a 
contribution  by  J.  Henry  Schroe- 
der  (see  p.  195).  The  chairman  re- 
marked upon  the  great  change  in 
the  character  of  acacia,  and  said 
that  it  did  not  possess  the  ad- 
hesiveness that  it  formerly  had. 
Professor  Ryan  said  that  twenty 
years  ago  no  gum  but  that  of  Acacia 
Senegal  was  sold,  while  the  pres- 
ent supply  is  obtained  from  a  va- 
riety of  sources,  and  as  a  result 
much  of  it  is  of  inferior  quality. 
He  advised  care  in  buying  the 
powdered  or  granulated  gum,  and 
said  that  he  had  examined  a  sam- 
ple of  powder  which  contained  40 
per  cent,  of  starch. 
Messrs.  Boring  and  Procter  also 
remarked  on  the  unsatisfactory 
quality  of  the  drug. 
The  last  paper  on  the  pro- 
gramme was  read  by  Harry  Matu- 
sow,  the  subject  being  <(Marru- 
biin  and  its  Chlorine  Derivative  ' ' 
(see  p.  201).  This  paper  gave  evi- 
dence of  much  careful  work  on  the 
part  of  its  author,  and  the  import- 
ance of  the  study  and  classification 
of  the  active  constituents  of  vari- 
ous plants  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated. 
At  the  close  of  the  consideration 
of  the  papers,  a  lamp,  which  was 
presented  by  Messrs.  Eli  Lilly  & 
Co.,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  and 
which  is  known  as  the  Moffatt 
Formaldehyde  Generator,  was  ex- 
hibited. Professor  Trimble  de- 
scribed the  method  of  using  it,  and 
its  general  construction  is  illustrated  by  the  accompanying  drawing.  The 
device  is  recommended  for  disinfecting  purposes,  its  usefulness  in  this  respect 
being  due  to  the  conversion  of  methyl  alcohol  into  formaldehyde  gas.  The 
amount  of  gas  generated  from  one  pint  of  alcohol  is  said  to  effectually  disin- 
