192  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {AmAprii"'i8>7h8arm' 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  March  19th,  1878. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Dillwyn  Parrish,  President  5  the  minutes  of 
the  last  meeting  having  been  read,  they  were  approved. 
Prof.  Maisch,  on  behalf  of  Dr.  F.  V.  Greene,  U.  S.  N.,  presented  a  specimen  of 
the  fruit  of  the  Jurubeba,  Solanum  paniculatum,  preserved  in  alcohol,  which  resem-  . 
bles  the  fruit  of  the  potato,  and  an  examination  of  which  was  published  in  "Amer. 
Jour.  Pilar.,"  1877,  page  506  ;  also  a  section  of  the  wood  of  a  species  of  Bauhinia, 
from  Brazil,  peculiarly  variegated  with  dark  veins,  susceptible  of  high  polish  and 
evidently  well  adapted  for  cabinet  makers'  use. 
Mr.  Debrunner,  of  Pittsburg,  sent  specimens  of  cast  steel  containing  99  per 
cent,  of  pure  iron  5  also  drillings  and  filings,  obtained  without  the  use  of  oil,  from  the 
same  metal,  and  a  sample  of  Saxony  manganese  containing  93  per  cent,  of  manganic 
dioxide. 
A  specimen  bottle  of  a  kind  intended  to  be  employed  for  poisonous  liquids  was 
exhibited  ;  the  bottle  was  shaped  like  an  ordinary  Seltzer  bottle,  but  upon  one  side 
was  cast  a  death's  head  and  cross-bones,  with  the  word  poison — a  most  hideous 
looking  affair — the  objection  to  these  bottles,  which  have  raised  figures  on  them,  is 
the  great  liability  to  breakage  ;  the  prominences  being  very  apt  to  be  broken 
through.  The  whole  subject  of  employing  particular  styles  of  bottles  for  poisons  was 
debated  for  a  short  time,  Prof.  Maisch  referring  to  the  danger  arising  from  the  fact 
that  those  who  had  become  used  to  having  all  poisonous  substances  dispensed  in  a 
peculiar  style  of  bottle,  would  conclude  that  those  articles  in  other  kinds  of  bottles 
were  innocuous. 
A  sample  of  the  fruit  of  the  Japan  persimmon,  a  species  of  Diospyros,  was  pre- 
sented 5  a  member  stated  that  the  tree  had  been  acclimated  in  this  country. 
Prof.  Remington  read  a  paper  upon  an  apparatus  for  "  porousing"  plasters,  as  it  is 
termed  (see  page  171)  ;  such  an  apparatus  he  thought  desirable,  as  the  plasters  of 
this  kind,  put  upon  the  market  by  some  wholesale  manufacturers,  were  not  reliable, 
some  of  the  makers  admitting  that  they  made  two  articles  of  the  same  name,  one 
which  did  not  contain  a  trace  of  the  drug  after  which  it  was  called  ;  the  apparatus 
was  exhibited  and  explained,  and  the  paper  referred  to  the  publication  committee. 
One  of  the  members  present  asked  what  was  meant  by  un<vitrified  salts;  he 
believed  it  was  used  for  battery  purposes  5  the  expression  would  properly  mean  salts 
which  had  not  undergone  igneous  fusion  ;  no  one  present  was  acquainted  with  the 
term  as  applied  to  any  special  article. 
Prof.  Maisch  exhibited  samples  of  coniferin  and  artificial  ^vanillin ,•  the  former  a 
product  from  the  juices  of  the  cone-bearing  trees,  the  latter  a  derivative  of  it,  has  a 
very  decided  odor  of  Mexican  vanilla,  free  from  that  admixture  of  tonka  odor  which 
was  noticed  in  the  vanillin  exhibited^at  the  Centennial  Exposition  5  it  is  made  in 
Germany  by  a  patented  process,  and,  although  quite  expensive,  so  great  is  its  strength 
that  it  is  claimed  to  be  much  cheaper  as  a  flavoring  agent  than  vanilla  itself. 
Mr.  Boring  inquired  whether  there  was  a  formula  for  tincture  of  protochloride  of 
