486  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.     {  sepi°mberhi"»7.'' 
of  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia.  He  mentioned  the 
ambiguity  of  the  term  "  volatile  oil,"  and  spoke  of  the  care  that  should  be 
used  in  deciding  on  the  particular  constituent  by  the  estimation  of  which  it  is 
sought  to  value  the  oil.  The  report  was  received  and  referred  to  the  Publica- 
tion Committee.  The  second  annual  report  of  the  Research  Committee  was 
then  presented  by  Chairman  Prescott.  It  considered  the  pharmaceutical  assay 
of  and  the  limitations  of  the  percentage  of  essential  constituents  of  volatile  oils 
at  large.  The  Chairman  also  reported  that  the  constitution  of  commercial  oil 
of  bay  was  under  investigation  by  a  member  of  the  committee.  The  following 
subjects  were  also  reported  by  him  as  under  investigation  :  Standards  for  Lin- 
seed and  White  and  Black  Mustard  Seed  ;  (he  reported  that  Professor  Lloyd 
had  accepted  this  subject  so  far  as  the  mustard  seed  were  concerned  ;)  stand- 
ardization of  Powdered  Acacia  and  Gamboge,  giving  Limitations  for  the  Amount 
of  Starch  Allowable  ;  Investigation  of  Syrups  Made  with  Cane  Sugar,  and  a 
report  on  the  desirability  of  using  glycerin  in  place  of  cane  sugar  in  syrups  J 
(the  chairman  of  the  committee  had  done  something  toward  working  this  sub- 
ject;) the  Chemistry  of  Cascara  Sagrada  ;  (Dr.  Dohme  is  investigating  this 
matter;)  Chemistry  of  Taraxacum;  (Professor  Sayre  has  this  subject;)  the 
Perhalides  of  Alkaloids  in  Relation  to  their  Volumetric  Estimation  ;  (the 
chairman  has  this;)  Toxic  Action  of  Phenol  on  Living  Plants;  (under  the 
supervision  of  Professor  Kremers;)  Comparative  Structure  of  Hyoscyamus, 
Belladonna  and  Stramonium  Leaves;  (assigned  to  J.  O.  Schlotterbeck  ;)  A 
Chemical  Bibliography  of  Morphine  from  1875  to  1896  ;  (compiled  by  H.  E. 
Brown.)  The  report  was  received  and  approved.  The  thanks  of  the  Section 
were  extended  the  committee.  The  Secretary  was  then  asked  to  cast  an  affirma- 
tive ballot  in  order  to  elect  Messrs.  Kremers  and  Dohme  members  of  the 
Special  Research  Committee  for  a  term  of  two  years  and  to  fill  the  vacancies 
of  Messrs.  Kremers  and  Coblentz,  whose  terms  had  expired.  Professor  Good 
moved  that  the  chairman  of  the  committee  be  empowered  to  fill  any  vacancy  in 
the  committee  until  the  next  meeting,  should  one  occur  in  the  intervals  of  the 
meetings.  The  following  two  papers  from  the  Special  Research  Committee 
were  then  read  in  abstract,  received  and  referred  to  the  Publication  Committee: 
ALKYL  BISMUTH  IODIDES. 
By  A.  B.  Prescott. 
The  paper  dealt  with  the  theories  of  the  structure  of  this  class  of  compounds 
and  with  work  upon  bismuth  iodides  of  nitrogen  bases,  both  of  fatty  alkyls  and 
those  of  pyridine  and  pyridine-derived  alkaloids.  The  interest  attached  to 
pharmacy  in  the  paper  laid  in  the  fact  that  the  alkaloidal  bismuth  iodides  were 
shown  not  to  be  quantitatively  uniform  enough  to  be  entirely  satisfactory  for 
alkaloidal  assay,  but  were  shown  to  be  more  stable  and  uniform  than  the  alka- 
loid mercuric  iodides  formed  by  Mayer's  reagent.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
are  more  bulky,  less  easy  to  gather  into  compact  mass,  and  less  manageable 
in  filtration.  On  the  whole,  the  author  believed  that  the  use  of  Dragen- 
dorff's  reagent  (potassium  bismuth  iodide)  for  alkaloidal  assay  affords  no 
general  advantages  over  that  of  Mayer,  which  is  well  known  to  be  unsatis- 
factory. 
Following  this  paper  came  one  on 
