Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1902. 
Pharmaceutica I  Meeting . 
205 
The  discussion  on  "  Modern  Drug  Methods,"  which  had  been 
postponed  from  a  previous  meeting,  was  introduced  by  Dr.  Lowe, 
who  referred  to  a  method  of  recording  prescriptions  and  the 
advantages  of  a  Torsion  balance  for  prescription  work.  Mr.  Mcln- 
tyre  referred  to  the  differences  in  some  of  the  modern  stores  in  the 
different  large  cities  which  he  had  visited,  and  said  that  in  each  city, 
and,  indeed,  in  different  sections  in  the  same  city,  different  condi- 
tions prevailed,  and  these  had  to  be  dealt  with  accordingly.  The 
modern  drug  store,  as  the  one  of  former  days,  requires  the  constant 
supervision  of  the  owner,  and  the  pharmacist  must  be  ready  to 
supply  those  things  asked  for  by  the  physician  and  the  public.  Mr. 
Beringer  also  spoke  in  a  similar  strain,  and  said  that  in  each  locality 
different  methods  must  be  pursued  ;  and  that  the  business  methods 
must  be  shaped  according  to  the  locality,  irrespective  of  even  what 
we  may  have  as  our  ideal.  Of  course,  after  the  confidence  of  physi- 
cians and  the  public  is  secured,  then  individual  influences  may  be 
brought  to  bear.  Mr.  Beringer  alluded  to  a  method  of  keep  ng  a 
daily  record  of  prescriptions  which  he  had  adopted,  which  included 
originals,  renewals  and  the  price  of  each.  In  regard  to  the  subject 
of  weighing  medicines,  Mr.  Beringer  said  that  he  hoped  that  no 
pharmacist  placed  the  substance  on  the  scale-pan  direct,  and  that 
he  himself  used  different  kinds  of  paper  and  glass  crystals,  depend- 
ing on  the  nature  of  the  substance  to  be  weighed. 
Mr.  Wm.  Vought,  a  representative  of  the  Leitz  microscope  firm, 
called  attention  to  the  possibilities  of  the  pharmacist  doing  bacterio- 
logical, pathological  and  other  similar  lines  of  work.  He  enumer- 
ated a  number  of  instances  showing  that  properly  qualified  persons, 
particularly  in  the  West,  had  been  successful  in  this  direction,  not 
only  adding  to  their  financial  income,  but  also  to  their  professional 
standing.  He  stated  that  an  outlay  of  about  $100  was  sufficient  for 
equipping  a  laboratory  to  carry  on  most  of  this  work. 
At  the  next  meeting  there  will  be  adiscusssion  on  the  advisability 
of  promulgating  a  definition  for  the  term  spoonful,  and  also  on  the 
metric  equivalents  of  the  same.  The  following  circular  has  been 
gotten  out,  and  those  desiring  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  questions 
contained  therein  are  requested  to  send  the  same  to  either  Mr. 
M.  I.  Wilbert,  Apothecary  to  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia, 
or  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee  having  these  meetings  in 
charge. 
