Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
January,  1902.  J 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting, 
51 
Mr.  Boring  said  that  while  many  of  the  sugar-coated  pills  were 
beautiful  in  appearance  that  they  were  often  composed  of  inferior 
materials  and  stated  that  he  had,  for  instance,  cut  open  pills  of 
proto-iodide  of  mercury  and  found  them  to  contain  the  bin-iodide. 
William  G.  Toplis  gave  an  interesting  paper  with  demonstration 
on  "  A  Method  of  Filling  Capsules  with  Essential  Oils  "  (see  page 
36).  The  paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  Haussmann,  Lowe,  Boring 
and  the  chairman.  Mr.  Toplis  said,  in  answer  to  various  questions, 
that  he  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  method  would  work  equally  well 
with  any  of  the  volatile  oils  as  eucalyptus,  sandal-wood,  etc. ;  that 
he  had  not  worked  with  creasote  and  other  substances  that  were 
mentioned.  Dr.  Mattison  alluded  to  the  peculiar  phenomena  of  the 
swelling  of  the  starch  containing  the  oil  on  the  addition  of  cold 
water,  and  suggested  that  some  one  investigate  this  subject. 
The  next  paper  was  on  "  Ground  Flaxseed  Adulterated  with 
Mineral  Oil,"  by  Lyman  F.  Kebler  (see  page  39).  The  paper  was 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  interesting  specimens.  Mr.  Beringer 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  had  examined  some  flaxseed  some 
years  ago  (see  this  Journal,  1889,  page  167),  in  which  the  oil  had 
been  partially  extracted  and  to  which  corn  meal  had  been  added. 
Mr.  Cliffe  stated  that  grinders  of  flaxseed  found  it  necessary  to 
remove  a  part  of  the  oil  to  facilitate  grinding.  Dr.  Mattison 
remarked  that  the  adulteration  of  flaxseed  was  largely  due  to  the 
high  price  consequent  on  the  failure  of  the  crop  and  that  instead  of 
exporting  flaxseed  we  are  now  importing  as  many  as  1,700,000 
bushels. 
A  paper  on  "The  Pharmacologic  Assay  of  Drugs,"  by  Professor 
Arthur  R.  Cushny,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  was  read,  in  the 
absence  of  the  author,  by  Professor  Kraemer  (see  page  1).  The 
paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  Wilbert,  England  and  the  chairman. 
There  were  quite  a  number  of  attractive  and  interesting  exhibits. 
A  mill  manufactured  by  the  Abbe  Manufacturing  Company  was 
described  by  Professor  Remington.  The  grinding  is  accomplished 
by  means  of  pebbles  made  of  flint  obtained  from  Greenland  they 
are  enclosed  in  a  cylinder,  which  is  slowly  rotated.  It  appears  to  be 
useful  in  grinding  such  substances  as  opium,  extract  of  colocynth, 
cantharides,  arsenic  and  other  substances,  the  grinding  of  which 
usually  affects  the  operator  on  account  of  the  poisonous  or  irritating 
properties  of  the  dust  formed.    Mr.  Wilbert  stated  that  he  had 
