t 
A^oVJembe?,hia9ro4m-}  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  54S 
as  those  on  the  epicarp  of  the  raspberry.  They  are  crooked,  blunt- 
pointed,  thin-walled,  and  vary  in  length  up  to  0-6  millimeter. 
Microscopic  Examination  of  Black  Currant  Preserves. — Black  cur- 
rant preserves,  jams,  etc.,  have  a  red-black  color,  and  the  character- 
istic spicy  flavor  of  the  fresh  fruit.  They  are  further  distinguished 
from  similar  products  made  from  red  currants  by  the  glands  on  the 
epidermis,  the  longer  floral  parts,  the  hairs  on  the  outer  surface  of 
the  calyx  and  the  smaller  seeds. 
The  mesocarp,  endocarp  and  seed  tissues  of  the  red  and  black 
currant  are  the  same  in  structure. 
[  To  be  continued.  ] 
PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  opening  meeting  of  the  series  of  pharmaceutical  meetings 
of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  for  1904-05  was  held 
Tuesday  afternoon,  October  18th,  with  Prof.  Joseph  P.  Remington, 
Dean  of  the  Faculty,  in  the  chair.  The  attendance  and  general 
interest  manifested  in  this  first  meeting,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the 
subjects  considered,  gave  promise  that  the  present  series  of  meetings 
will  be  as  interesting  as  any  held  heretofore. 
M.  I.  Wilbert  was  the  first  speaker  introduced,  and  exhibited  a 
series  of  some  fifty-odd  lantern  slides,  illustrative  of  the  early  his. 
tory  of  medicine  and  pharmacy  in  this  country,  the  two  callings  being 
at  first  identified  as  one. 
Not  the  least  interesting  of  Mr.  Wilbert's  remarks  were  those 
relating  to  the  part  which  Benjamin  Franklin  took  in  the  develop- 
ment of  pharmacy  as  a  separate  branch  of  medicine.  And  it  is 
especially  noteworthy  that  the  great  philosopher  was  the  first  to 
make  record  of  the  history  of  pharmacy  in  this  country.  In  his 
pamphlet,  an  "  Account  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,"  he  gave  the 
first  authentic  record  of  the  appointment  of  a  pharmacist  to  dis- 
pense prescriptions.  To  Dr.  John  Morgan  belongs  the  credit  of 
having  been  the  first  physician  in  this  country  to  write  prescriptions  > 
and  of  the  physicians  in  the  eighteenth  century  there  were  only  two 
others  who  followed  his  example,  namely,  Drs.  Abraham  Chovet  and 
John  Jones.  Reference  was  made  to  Dr.  Thomas  Mitchill,  who  was 
chairman  of  the  first  Pharmacopceial  Revision  Convention,  this 
being  held  in  Washington  City  in  1820,  and  who  also  called  the 
next  meeting,  which  was  held  in  New  York  in  1830.     Among  the 
