'^'"noT''i882*™'}    Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  585 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHAEMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  October  17th,  1882. 
Id  the  absence  of  the  President  Mr.  Wm.  J.  Jenks  was  called  to  the 
chair.    The  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were  read  and  approved. 
Professor  Maisch  presented  the  third  volume  of  the  Index  Catalogue  of 
the  Library  of  the  Surgeon  General's  Office,  also  a  copy  of  the  Report  of 
the  Ohio  State  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
The  Registrar  also  presented  a  copy  of  the  Report  of  the  National  Board 
of  Health,  a  copy  of  the  reports  of  the  U.  S.  Naval  Observatory  on  the 
Total  Eclipses  of  July  29, 1878,  and  January  11, 1880,  and  Part  Second  of  the 
Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  This  is  also 
issued  from  the  office  of  the  Surgeon  General.  These  were  accepted  and 
the  thanks  of  the  College  returned. 
Professor  Maisch  alluded  to  a  paper  which  he  read  on  Chia  last  April. 
Since  that  time  he  had  grown  several  plants,  one  of  which  he  exhibited  ; 
he  had  devoted  some  time  in  examining  the  plant,  and  would  continue 
his  investigation.  For  the  present  he  would  state  that  while  it  was  doubt- 
less a  salvia  it  was  neither  S.  hispanica  nor  S.  Columbaria,  and  that  it  came 
nearer  to  S.  polystachya,  but  in  several  respects  differed  from  the  descrip- 
tions given  by  Kunth  and  De  Candolle.  A  dissected  flower  was  exhibited 
under  the  microscope,  and  Prof.  Maisch  explained  by  sketches  the  manner 
in  which  fertilization  by  insects  takes  jDlace  in  this  plant,  exhibiting  also 
the  handsome  plate  by  Prof.  Dodel-Port,  illustrating  the  same  process  in 
Salvia  officinalis.  Prof.  Maisch  also  stated  that  he  had  learned  that  flea 
seed,  the  seed  of  Plantago  Psyllium,  was  sold  as  Chia  seed  in  some  parts  of 
Texas. 
Dr.  A.  W.  Miller  had  been  interested  in  this  exposition  of  fertilization, 
and  referred  to  a  communication  made  some  time  ago  to  the  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences  by  Mr.  Meelian,  who,  after  vainly  trying  to  raise  from 
the  fruit  of  the  wild  carrot  plants  having  the  characters  of  the  cultivated 
carrot,  concluded  that  possibly  the  purple  central  flower  of  the  umbel 
might  yield  a  ditFerent  fruit;  since  this  flower  is  always  barren  in  this 
country,  he  had  applied  to  the  late  Mr.  Darwin  and  learned  from  him  that 
in  England  it  frequently  produced  fruit.  It  seemed  therefore  possible  that 
from  this  fruit  a  somewhat  different  plant  might  be  raised. 
Prof.  Maisch  stated  that  in  Germany  the  purple  central  flower  of  the 
carrot  umbel  was,  as  a  rule,  barren,  the  same  as  in  this  country.  The  vari- 
ations observable  in  2:>lants  under  cultivation  and  under  the  influence  of 
different  climates,  soils,  etc.,  were  alluded  to,  resulting  in  the  production  of 
varieties  having  constant  characters,  and  in  the  course  of  time  of  distinct 
species  ;  tlius  the  German  pellitory^  which  is  nowhere  found  wild,  is  now 
by  some  botanists  regarded  as  a  new  annual  form  produced  in  cultivation 
during  several  centuries  from  the  perennial  Anacyclus  Pyrethrum. 
