Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1897. 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
327 
A  display  of  chemicals  made  by  Mr.  Germain,  of  Fort  Smith,  attracted  much 
attention,  particularly  the  dry  chemicals.  The  prize  for  Pharmaceutical  display 
was  awarded  to  him. 
The  special  committee  appointed  to  convey  the  fraternal  greetings  of  this 
"body  to  the  Medical  Society  reported  they  had  been  received  in  a  very  cordial 
manner,  and  invited  to  address  that  body,  which  invitation  was  accepted,  and 
much  gratification  was  expressed  by  the  physicians  for  the  visit  and  the 
address. 
The  following  gentlemen  were  elected  officers  for  the  ensuing  year  : 
Mr.  J.  F.  Dowdy,  Little  Rock,  President. 
Dr.  H.  C.  Johnson,  Van  Buren,  First  Vice-President. 
Dr.  J.  W.  Morton,  Fort  Smith,  Second  Vice-President. 
Mr.  John  B.  Bond,  Jr.,  Little  Rock,  Secretary.  Re-elected. 
Mr.  J.  A.  Jungkind,  Little  Rock,  Treasurer.  Re-elected. 
Mr.  Dowdy,  being  elected  president,  made  a  vacancy  in  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, which  was  filled  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Shachleiter. 
After  some  discussion,  it  was  agreed  that  the  next  meeting  should  be  held  in 
Little  Rock  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  May,  1898. 
On  motion  of  Dr.  Bond,  it  was  ordered  that  the  president,  secretary  and 
treasurer  should  compose  the  Publication  Committee. 
No  further  business  appearing,  the  new  officers  were  severally  installed,  and 
the  meeting  adjourned. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  May  18,  1897. 
The  last  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  of  the  present  series  was  held  in  the  Museum 
of  the  College  at  3.30  p.m.  Mr.  F.  W.  K.  Stedem  presided.  The  reading  of 
the  minutes  of  the  previous  meeting  was  omitted. 
An  interesting  paper  on  "Verba  del  Polio,"  by  Prof.  Alfonso  Herrera,  of 
Mexico,  was  read  by  Prof.  Henry  Trimble  (see  page  290). 
The  usefulness  of  this  plant  as  a  remedy  in  medical  practice,  and  as  affirmed 
by  the  writer,  dates  back  to  the  time  of  the  Aztecs,  it  having  been  employed 
by  them  in  the  treatment  of  several  diseases.  But  when  their  power  was  over- 
come it  was  forgotten,  together  with  other  useful  products  of  their  country. 
Nearly  three  centuries  elapsed  before  it  again  attracted  the  attention  of  investi- 
gators, and  it  has  been  only  within  the  latter  half  of  this  century  that  any  con- 
siderable study  has  been  given  to  it.  It  is  valued  chiefly  as  a  hemostatic 
although,  as  stated  by  the  writer,  there  seems  to  be  some  difficulty  in  determin- 
ing to  what  constituent  this  property  is  due. 
"  On  the  Occurrence  of  Strontium  in  Plants  "  was  the  subject  of  a  somewhat 
timely  paper  presented  by  Prof.  Henry  Trimble  (see  page  296). 
The  author  had  discovered  strontium  in  a  number  of  samples  of  bark  from 
different  species  of  Castanopsis  growing  at  Singapore,  India,  while  a  sample  of 
American  Castanopsis  growing  in  California  gave  no  indication  of  the  presence 
of  this  metal.  Two  samples  of  oak  and  one  of  mangrove  from  India  also  con- 
tained strontium.  A  comparison  of  the  data  so  obtained  led  the  writer  to 
believe  that  the  presence  of  strontium  salts  in  the  samples  from  Singapore  was 
due  to  the  composition  of  the  soil  in  that  country. 
