AraMi?ch.fmrm-}  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  155 
(5)  all  the  organic  compounds  given  in  Beilstein  are  based  on  the 
standard  O  =  16;  (6)  all  the  actual  workers  in  making  atomic 
weight  determinations  prefer  oxygen  as  the  basis.  Professor  Smith 
referred  to  the  fact  that  other  elements  had  been  proposed  as  the 
standard  for  comparison,  viz.,  carbon,  silver  and  iodine,  but  stated 
that  oxygen  had  met  the  demands  for  comparison.  He  also  stated 
that  it  is  possible  that  if  carbon  were  taken  as  the  standard  that  it 
would  meet  the  various  objections  of  the  adherents  of  the  two 
other  standards.  In  conclusion,  Professor  Smith  said  that  one 
writer  claimed  that  if  we  accept  hydrogen  as  the  standard,  then  we 
must  put  ourselves  back  one  century  and  must  wait  fifty  years  to 
be  where  we  are  to-day. 
The  paper  was  discussed  by  Professors  Remington  and  Sadtler, 
Mr.  Shinn  and  Mr.  Wilbert.  The  latter  suggested  that  inasmuch 
as  all  the  continental  countries  had  adopted  the  standard  oxygen 
equals  16,  that  it  would  be  well  if  the  U.S.P.  could  do  likewise. 
The  next  paper  was  on  "Adulteration  of  Drugs  and  Foods," 
by  Dr.  Albert  Robin,  Delaware  State  Board  of  Health.  The 
paper  was  discussed  by  Messrs.  Boring,  Lowe,  Shinn,  Miller, 
Poley  and  others.  Dr.  Miller  alluded  to  the  fact  that  Americans  are 
not  the  only  people  who  are  gullible  in  the  respect  of  taking  patent 
medicines,  but  that  these  are  sold  extensively  in  all  the  principal 
cities  of  Europe  which  he  had  visited  recently.  Mr.  Poley  spoke  of 
the  inconsistency  of  people  taking  the  labels  on  patent  medicines, 
for  gospel,  when  they  would  not  accept  the  check  of  a  man  unless 
they  knew  something  of  his  character  or  standing. 
The  last  paper  was  by  Mr.  Wilbert  on  "  Dose  Measures  and 
Measured  Doses."  (See  page  120).  The  paper  was  discussed  by 
Messrs.  Lowe,  Boring,  Wiegand,  Shinn,  and  others. 
In  answer  to  Dr.  Lowe's  remarks  on  the  methods  of  engraving 
graduates,  Mr.  Wilbert  said:  It  must  be  remembered  that  medicine 
glasses  are  not  graduated  with  the  same  care.  As  indicated  in  the 
paper,  medicine-glasses  are,  as  a  rule,  graduated  correctly  at  but  one 
point,  and  the  intervening  graduations  are  filled  in  usually  accord- 
ing to  rule  of  thumb.  This  point  is  well  illustrated  by  tables 
2  and  3  of  the  paper.  Medicine-glasses  that  are  graduated  by 
means  of  a  block  pattern  occasionally  suffer  from  the  same 
cause ;  in  one  lot  that  Mr.  Wilbert  had  seen,  the  measure  was 
evidently  measured  at  the  teaspoonful  quantity,  and  the  block  sub- 
