Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1904.  J 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
95 
PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  fourth  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meetings  of  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy,  of  the  present  series,  was  held  on  Tuesday 
afternoon,  January  19th,  at  3  o'clock.  Mr.  E.  M.  Boring,  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  presided. 
The  first  speaker  was  the  well-known  manufacturer  of  thermome- 
ters, Mr.  Gustavus  Pile,  of  this  city,  who  read  a  paper  on  the  subject 
of  "  Thermometers,"  which  was  illustrated  with  models  of  the  earliest 
forms  used,  as  well  as  those  of  more  recent  manufacture,  some  of 
which  he  presented  to  the  College.  In  addition  to  the  paper,  Mr.  Pile 
also  remarked  concerning  the  earlier  systems  of  weights  and  measures 
in  which  the  divisions  appeared  to  be  in  eighths  and  fourths  in 
contrast  to  the  decimal  system  later  adopted.  In  regard  to  the  boil- 
ing point  of  water  he  said  that  the  deviations  in  the  barometer  made 
a  difference  of  as  much  as  two  to  three  degrees.  Mr.  Pile  also 
spoke  of  the  difficulty  of  blowing  bulbs  of  the  correct  size,  particu- 
larly in  attempting  to  make  a  new  bulb  for  an  old  scale,  and  said 
that  a  glass-blower  might  work  several  days  before  he  made  a  bulb  of 
the  proper  size.  In  using  thermometers  it  is  important  to  heat 
the  whole  length  of  the  tube,  as  in  their  construction  they  are 
surrounded  by  steam.  He  pointed  out  that  the  value  of  mercury 
over  alcohol  in  the  construction  of  thermometers  was  (1)  that  it 
will  record  a  much  higher  temperature ;  (2)  that  it  possesses  a  uni- 
form rate  of  expansion  for  each  increment  of  heat ;  (3)  it  is  more 
easily  freed  from  air;  and  (4)  has  a  greater  conducting  power.  The 
alcohol  used  in  spirit  thermometers  is  95  per  cent.,  wood  alcohol 
answering  the  purpose  as  well  as  grain  alcohol. 
Mr.  Pile  referred  to  the  ignorance  of  many  people  with  regard  to 
the  use  of  thermometers,  and  related  an  incident  of  a  physician  in 
whose  hands  a  clinical  thermometer  always  registered  10 1°,  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  mercury  was  held  in  the  tube  and  the  physician 
was  not  sufficiently  informed  to  shake  it  down  before  using  the 
thermometer.  He  showed  an  order  which  he  had  received  which 
read  as  follows  :  "  Kindly  express  us  at  once  one  Foreign  height  ther- 
mometer for  factory  use." 
Mr.  Boring  said  that  the  presence  of  Mr.  Pile  took  him  back  to 
the  time  when  his  father,  Dr.  W.  H.  Pile,  came  to  these  meetings 
and  presented  papers  of  both  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  interest 
