526 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1882. 
percolation.,  which,  owing  to  its  extreme  length,  was  referred  for  publica- 
tion. The  author  reviewed  the  theory  of  percolation,  discussed  the  various 
methods  proposed  for  percolating  under  pressure  and  pointed  out  what  he 
considers  the  advantages  of  the  apparatus  constructed  by  him,  in  which 
the  vegetable  powder  is  confined  in  a  limited  space  so  as  to  permit  of  no 
expansion  (see  "  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1881,  p.  569). 
A  paj^er  on  gentiopicrin  by  Prof.  E.  L.  Patch  was  read,  detailing  his 
experiments  for  obtaining  this  principle  in  the  crystalline  state  from  the 
dry  root,  in  which  he  was  unsuccessful,  thus  corroborating  Kromayer's 
observations. 
Prof.  Bedford  read  a  paper  on  commercial  creasote  and  the  different  reac- 
tions of  phenol  and  wood  creasote.  In  the  discussion  attention  was  directed 
to  the  fact  that  creasote  is  a  mixture  of  different  compounds  and  that  its 
<;omposition  and  behavior  must  necessarily  vary  to  some  extent  if  obtained 
from  different  kinds  of  wood. 
Professor  Bedford  also  read  a  paper  on  commercial  bismuth  and  bismuth 
salts.  The  subnitrate  and  subcarbonate  of  bismuth  obtained  from  six 
manufacturers  merely  contained  traces  of  alkaline  earths,  two  samples  also 
traces  of  ammonia,  while  all  contained  arsenic,  the  amount  varying  from 
*04  to  "3  per  cent.  A  specimen  of  Australian  bismuth  contained  traces  of 
copper  and  arsenic. 
An  interesting  paper  giving  the  results  of  numerous  exiDeriments  on  the 
germination  of  seeds  of  medicinal  plants  was  read  by  Mr.  Wm.  Saunders. 
The  many  failures  with  seeds  which  did  not  germinate  were  attributed  to 
the  fact  of  the  seeds  being  old  and  dry. 
Fluid  extract  of  Hydrastis  canadensis  was  the  title  of  a  paper  by  Mr. 
Chas.  Spenzer  of  Cleveland,  O.,  which  gave  the  methods  employed  for 
assaying  nine  samples  of  the  commercial  fluid  extract.  The  results  are 
tabulated  thus: 
Specific 
Fluid 
Extract 
1-056 
•9715 
1-1645 
•9725 
1-047 
•9545 
-996 
1-0485 
•973 
gravity  of  I 
Diluted  i 
distillate 
•940  ' 
•935 
1-010 
•960 
•940 
•935 
•945 
•940 
•930 
Physical  appearance 
of  fluid  extr;ict. 
Clear  dark  brown. 
Clear  red -brown. 
Clear  brown-yellow. 
C 1  ear  b ro w n-y  e  1 1  o w . 
Dark  brown  ;  fine  sediment. 
Dark  brown;  granular  sediment. 
Clear  dark-brown, 
Cleiir  red-brown. 
Red-brown;  granular  sediment. 
Solid 
Extract 
231  gr. 
1251^  " 
1853^  " 
100  " 
21134  " 
1543^  " 
2101^  " 
215  " 
218  " 
Alcohol 
per  ct. 
39 
42 
none. 
29 
39 
42 
37 
39 
44 
Glucose  and 
Caire  sugar, 
none, 
small  amount, 
large  amount, 
none, 
small  amount, 
large  amount. 
none. 
none. 
An  adjournment  was  had  until  Friday  morning. 
Fourth  Session— Friday  Morning,  September  15th. 
The  minutes  of  the  previous  session  and  of  the  Council  having  been  read 
and  approved,  a  motion  that  the  Entertainment  Committee  be  requested 
hereafter  to  provide  no  banquet,  was  carried,  but  reconsidered  at  the  request 
of  the  chairman  of  that  committee,  and  after  some  allusion  to  the  uncivil 
treatment  at  the  Cataract  House  withdrawn. 
A  paper  by  Prof.  VV.  T.  Wenzell  of  San  Francisco  on  phosphoric  acid 
was  read,  in  which  the  author  advocates  the  revival  of  the  old  process  of 
the  slow  oxidation  of  the  phosphorus  by  moist  air.  An  ordinary  infusion  jar 
was  found  convenient  for  this  purpose,  the  stick  phosphorus  being  placed 
