Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1904. 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
251 
maceutical  Meetings :  Henry  Kraemer,  Joseph  P.  Remington,  C.  B. 
Lowe,  M.D.,  William  L.  Cliffe  and  William  Mclntyre. 
C.  A.  Weidemann,  M.D.,  Secretary. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  seventh  of  the  series  of  pharmaceutical  meetings  of  the  Phil- 
adelphia College  of  Pharmacy  for  1903-04,  was  held  Tuesday  after- 
noon, April  19th,  with  Dr.  C.  A.  Weidemann  in  the  chair. 
William  A.  Selser,  a  well-known  apiarist,  of  Jenkintown,  Pa.,  was 
the  first  speaker  on  the  programme,  and  read  a  paper  on  "  The 
Origin  and  Formation  of  Honey  and  its  Relation  to  the  Polaris- 
cope,"  which  will  be  published  in  the  June  issue  of  this  Journal. 
Mr.  Selser  made  the  statement  that  while  there  are  a  number  of 
methods  for  the  detection  of  adulteration  in  honey,  yet  the  results 
obtained  by  means  of  the  polariscope  are  the  only  ones  that  can  be 
relied  upon  with  certainty. 
Mr.  E.  M.  Boring  referred  to  a  paper  which  appeared  in  this 
Journal  some  years  ago,  and  in  which  the  claim  was  made  that 
honey  kept  in  the  light  will  crystallize,  whereas  if  kept  in  the  dark 
it  will  remain  fluid.  Apropos  of  this  statement,  Mr.  Selser  said  that 
all  pure  honey  will  crystallize  or  "  candy  "  in  time.  He  said  that  in 
order  to  preserve  it  in  a  fluid  condition  it  should  be  kept  thoroughly 
quiet  and  at  an  even  temperature.  He  further  stated  that  honey  as 
capped  in  the  cells  of  the  hive  is  practically  free  from  air  and  will 
not  crystallize,  unless  the  hives  be  moved,  so  as  to  cause  injury  to 
the  caps  ;  and  also  that  in  the  bottling  of  honey  it  is  necessary  to 
use  a  wax  which  is  air-tight.  In  reply  to  a  question  by  Mr.  W.  A. 
Rumsey  in  regard  to  the  use  of  water  for  liquefying  crystallized 
honey,  Mr.  Selser  said  that  its  use  was  unnecessary,  and  that  if  the 
honey  were  carefully  heated  it  would  liquefy. 
Dr.  Lowe  brought  up  the  question  of  poisoning  by  honey,  and  in 
the  discussion  of  this  subject  Mr.  Selser  stated  that  in  the  cases  on 
record  of  which  he  was  aware,  it  appeared  that  it  was  the  comb 
which  contained  the  poison  rather  than  the  honey  itself. 
A.  Augusto,  an  Italian  pharmacist  of  Philadelphia,  read  an  inter- 
esting paper  on  "The  Italian  Olive  Oil  on  the  American  Market." 
(See  page  219.)  An  instructive  feature  of  the  discussion  on  this 
paper  was  the  denial  by  Mr.  Augusto  of  the  statement  current  for 
