^p/emberasw.1* }    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  481 
izing  of  drugs,  the  analysis  of  foods,  medicines,  secretions,  etc.,  and  who  have 
perfected  themselves  by  higher  education  in  the  use  of  the  microscope  as  a 
means  of  diagnosis,  and  also  in  bacteriology,  which  is  being  more  used  every 
day  by  physicians  in  order  to  study  diseases.  He  said  it  is  impossible  for  the 
physician  to  charge  himself  with  this  work  on  account  of  his  inability  to  give 
it  the  constant  attention  it  often  needs,  and  that  it  will  find  its  way  to  those 
prepared  to  do  it.  He  thought  it  a  field  of  desirable  activity,  and  stated  that  it 
was  still  largely  unclaimed,  and  that  the  pharmacist  should  enter  it.  Then 
the  analyst  pharmacist  would  be  a  connecting  link  between  the  laity  and  the 
medical  profession,  indispensable  to  both,  a  constant  searcher  for  truth,  a  once 
more  truly  professional  man,  far  from  priding  himself  on  successful  competition 
with  the  "general  store  "  in  the  favor  of  the  sidewalk  public.  To  regulate  and 
enforce  the  proposed  measures,  the  Chairman  recommended  that  a  Department 
of  Health  be  created.  He  proposed  that  it  be  made  national  in  function  if  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  would  permit ;  otherwise  that  funds  be 
appropriated  by  the  Government  for  its  support.  He  referred  to  the  fact  that 
the  medical  press  had  recently  suggested  such  a  measure,  and  that  Senator 
Mallory,  of  Florida,  had  already  introduced  a  bill  in  the  Senate  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  such  a  department.  The  speaker  believed  an  institution  of  the 
foregoing  character  would  afford  relief  from  the  many  disadvantages  and  draw- 
backs caused  in  medicine  and  pharmacy  by  the  confusing  multitude  of  State 
laws.  He  believed  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  should  assume 
leadership  in  such  a  new  departure,  and  he  recommended  that  a  committee  be 
appointed  either  by  the  Scientific  Section  or  by  the  Association,  to  whom  this 
matter  should  then  first  be  referred,  to  examine  the  bill  introduced  by  Senator 
Mallory,  and  to  confer  with  its  author  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  for  pharmacy 
and  its  subsidiary  sciences  proper  recognition  and  representation  in  the  pro- 
posed National  Department  of  Public  Health  ;  or,  if  this  bill  should  fail,  to 
take  steps  on  the  introduction  of  a  new  bill.  The  address  was  received  with 
the  thanks  of  the  Association,  and  was  referred  to  the  Section  on  Pharma- 
ceutical Education  and  Legislation  for  discussion.  The  following  paper,  from 
the  Special  Research  Committee,  was  then  presented: 
J  THE  CAFFEIN  COMPOUND  IN  KOLA.  PART  II.  KOLATANNIN. 
By  A.  B.  Prescott  and  J.  W.  T.  Knox. 
Continuing  the  work  reported  on  at  the  meeting  a  year  ago,  the  authors  find 
all  the  tannin  of  the  kola  nut,  that  combined  with  caffein  and  that  uncombined, 
to  be  a  single  chemical  individual,  distinct  from  any  tannin  previously  reported 
as  found  in  the  beverage  plants  or  elsewhere.  The  "free"  kolatanniu  was 
prepared  as  follows  :  Fresh  kola  nuts  were  sliced  into  boiling  alcohol  (to  pre- 
vent the  formation  of  the  colored  body  which  would  otherwise  appear),  removed 
after  a  few  minutes'  boiling,  and  dried  in  a  current  of  warm  air,  then  ground 
to  a  No.  20  powder  and  packed  in  a  percolator.  The  alcohol  so  used  in 
sterilizing  the  drug  was  diluted  to  about  50  per  cent,  strength,  and  employed 
as  a  menstruum,  with  addition  of  sufficient  dilute  alcohol  to  complete  the 
extraction.  The  highly  colored  extract  of  kola  thus  obtained  was  concentrated 
by  distillation  in  vacuo,  until  the  alcohol  was  all  removed.  The  contents  of 
the  flask  were  then  filtered,  the  insoluble  portion  being  chiefly  caffein  kolaiau- 
uate, while  the  solution  contained  caffein,  kolatannin,  caffein  kclatanrate,  glu- 
