86  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  {AVebu''iMarm' 
page  53)  and  "The  Useful  Species  of  Viburnum"  (see  page  53)  ;  the  papers  were 
referred  to  the  Publication  Committee. 
Mr.  E.  M.  Boring  exhibited  a  plant  used  by  an  empiric  in  the  cure  of  cancer  5  it 
was  recognized  by  Professor  Maisch  as  Ceanothus  Americanus,  Lin.,  and'is  called 
American  tea,  New  Jersey  tea,  or  red  root,  because  that  is  the  color  ot  the  root. 
It  was  made  use  of  largely  during  the  American  Revolution,  by  our  ancestors,  in 
place  of  the  true  tea.  Some  time  during  the  years  1863  or  1864.  some  enterprising 
individual,  who  had  become  familiar  with  the  manner  of  preparing  and  drying  tea 
in  China,  commenced  the  trade  of  packing  this  in  a  similar  manner,  at  the  same 
time  circulating  through  the  newspapers  that  the  tea  plant  grew  largely  in  certain 
sections  of  our  country  5  for  a  time  the  trader  prospered,  but,  as  it  was  not  tea,  it 
soon  fell  into  disuse. 
The  subject  of  the  impurities  in  chloral  hydrate  was  mentioned  at  the  last  meetings 
and  was  now  called  up,  and  discussed  by  Messrs.  Boring,  Maisch  and  others. 
Mr.  Boring  stated  that  he  had  mentioned  the  subject  at  the  last  meeting  in  order 
that  the  members  would  give  it  some  of  their  attention,  and  that  we  could  compare 
notes  at  this  one.  His  attention  was  directed  to  the  subject  by  a  paper  of  Professor 
Liebreich,  which  stated  that  only  such  chloral  should  be  used  as  was  in  crystals  and 
perfectly  dry.  He  stated  that  all  the  crystal  chloral  in  our  market  adhered  to  the 
side  of  the  bottle,  but  that  one  sample  gave  no  evidence  of  uncombined  chlorine,, 
while  in  another  the  evidence  was  decided  ;  both  samples  reddened  moistened  litmus, 
paper  suspended  in  the  bottles.  He  had  no  trouble  with  it  practically,  had  had  no 
complaints,  but  wanted  to  be  sure  that  he  was  dispensing  an  article  that  came  up  to- 
the  standard  of  the  authorities  on  the  subject.  If  they  give  a  false  standard,  from 
improper  motives,  they  should  be  exposed. 
Prof.  Maisch  remarked  that  of  late  years  he  had  not  had  much  practical  experi- 
ence with  chloral  ;  but  from  earlier  experiments  he  was  convinced  that  the  shape  of 
the  crystals  was  no  criterion  of  its  purity,  that  pure  chloral  hydrate  had  a  slight 
acid  reaction,  and  that  the  density  of  the  white  vapors  produced  with  a  glass  rod 
moistened  with  ammonia  was  largely  influenced  by  the  temperature.  The  practice 
of  giving  a  little  information  about  physical  properties  for  the  purpose  of  influencing 
trade  was  carried  on  in  Europe  as  well  as  here  5  he  did  not  believe  that  absolutely 
pure  chloral  hydrate  had  as  yet  been  put  into  the  market,  and  he  was  strengthened  in 
this  belief  by  the  transactions  of  the  Berlin  Apothecaries'  Society,  where  this  ques- 
tion was  incidentally  ventilated.  Of  late,  chloral  chloroform,  that  is,  chloroform 
made  by  the  decomposition  of  chloral,  had  been  bruited  in  Germany  as  the  only 
article  worthy  of  confidence  for  its  purity,  but  the  researches  that  have  been  insti- 
tuted by  Schacht  and  Bilz  upon  this  claimed  superiority  of  chloral  chloroform  had. 
shown  it  to  be  entirely  erroneous,  as  the  chloral  chloroform  when  treated  with, 
sulphuric  acid  became  discolored  very  speedily,  like  the  chloral  from  which  it  had 
been  prepared,  which  is  not  the  case  with  absolutely  pure  chloral,  or  with  the  chlo- 
roformum  purificatum  of  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
Dr.  A.  W.  Miller  exhibited  some  authentic  herbarium  specimens  of  plants  gath- 
ered by  Dr.  J.  F.  Rothrock,  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, during  an  extended  tour  through  the  Western  portion  of  our  country.  True 
