242  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {AmMayrifo2armt 
April  15th.  Mr.  Joseph  W.  England,  Curator  of  the  Museum,  pre- 
sided. The  first  paper  read  was  "  Notes  on  Specific  Gravity,"  by 
Thomas  S.  Wiegand,  the  Librarian  of  the  College  (see  page  230). 
In  discussing  the  paper  Mr.  Gustavus  Pile  said  that  for  the  ordinary 
determination  of  specific  gravity  of  liquids,  the  use  of  the  hydrom- 
eter was  more  easily  understood  and  applied  than  a  balance,  and 
more  accurate  than  a  specific  gravity  bottle.  It  was  possible  with 
the  hydrometer  possessing  a  large  bulb  and  small  stem  to  have  the 
graduations  sufficiently  delicate  to  detect  a  variation  of  the  fifth  of 
a  grain.  One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  in  taking  specific 
gravity  is  that  occasioned  by  the  variation  in  temperature,  and  the 
speaker  favored  the  adoption  of  one  temperature  rather  than  having 
two  standard  temperatures,  viz.:  390  and  6o°.  He  said  that  in  the 
construction  of  hydrometers  everything  depended  upon  having  a 
correct  standard  of  comparison.  All  other  instruments  are  then 
made  from  this  and  the  rulings  made  from  tables  which  have  been 
previously  worked  out.  Mr.  Pile  further  said  that  the  displacement 
of  air  was  not  as  great  a  source  of  error  as  is  generally  supposed,, 
and  that  any  two  liquids  will  displace  nearly  the  same  amount  of 
air. 
The  next  paper  was  on  "  Chamois  Skins,"  by  Charles  C.  Drued- 
ing  (see  page  224).  The  paper  was  illustrated  with  a  large  number 
of  commercial  varieties  which  showed  the  steps  in  their  preparation 
for  the  market. 
The  discussion  on  the  definition  of  the  term  spoonful  and  its 
metric  equivalent  was  opened  by  M.  I.  Wilbert  (see  page  218).  Mr. 
England  said  that  apparently  no  one  had  so  exhaustively  gone  into 
this  subject  before  as  Mr.  Wilbert,  and  that  a  campaign  of  education 
seemed  necessary  to  overcome  the  prevailing  customs  and  notions  on 
these  subjects.  He  suggested  that  some  of  the  difficulties  might  be 
overcome  by  the  physician  writing  "a  teaspoon  even  full  "  or  a  "  tea- 
spoon heaping  full."  Mr.  C.  Carroll  Meyer  did  not  favor  this  sugges- 
tion, as  he  considered  that  it  would  add  to  the  length  of  the  directions 
on  the  label  and  that  this  was  considerable,  particularly  when  medi- 
cines were  dispensed  in  half-  or  one-ounce  bottles.  Mr.  George  M. 
Beringer  said  that  the  physician  calculates  the  doses  of  the  prescrip- 
tion in  one,  two  and  four  fluid  drachms,  and  that  while  we  cannot 
influence  the  size  of  spoons,  yet  we  can  make  suggestions  to  the 
nanufacturer  of  medicine  glasses.    He  further  said  that  he  had  in 
