AmM?y^f78arm'}  Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations,  265 
St.  Louis  College  of  Pharmacy. — The  Twelfth  Annual  Commencement  of  the 
St.  Louis  College  of  Pharmacy,  and  the  Third  Annual  Reception  of  the  Alumni 
Association,  took  place  on  Monday  evening,  March  18,  at  Germania  Club  Hall. 
The  President,  Charles  Bang,  conferred  the  degree  of  Graduate  in  Pharmacy  on  the 
following  gentlemen  :  John  F.  Barker,  California  ;  Chas.  £.  Smith,  Indiana  ,•  David 
J.  Holfbauer,  Missouri ;  A.  G.  Behrens,  G.  E.  Bcehlan,  Chas.  T.  Gasewisch,  David 
S.  Green,  Wm.  P.  Gulick,  Peter  Hoffmann,  G.  Kern,  G.  R.  Mullhal,  J.  I.  Mur- 
ray, A.  R.  Mynders  and  Wm.  S.  Ondyn,  all  of  St.  Louis. 
The  Valedictory  Address  on  the  part  of  the  Faculty  was  delivered  by  Professor 
Otto  A.  Wall  and  on  the  part  of  the  class  by  Chas.  E.  Smith.  At  the  Alumni 
Reception,  President  Francis  Hemm  delivered  the  address  of  welcome  and  awarded 
the  Certificates  of  Membership.  The  Alumni  Prize,  a  silver  medal,  was  awarded 
to  Mr.  D.  F.  Gasewisch,  the  most  proficient  in  all  the  branches  taught.  An 
address  by  Wm.  C.  Balm  closed  this  part  of  the  exercises  and  was  followed  by  a 
grand  hop,  which  concluded  the  entertainment. 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain. — At  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  of 
March  6,  Mr.  Harold  Senier  read  a  paper  on  croton  oil.  Referring  to  the  observa- 
tions of  Pereira,  Redwood  and  Warington  (see  "Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1850,  p.  218, 
and  1865,  p.  191),  the  author  confirms  the  statement  that  croton  oil  becomes  more 
soluble  in  alcohol  by  age  j  absolute  alcohol  and  spirit  of  sp.  gr.  '838  dissolved  20 
per  cent,  of  freshly-expressed  oil,  40  per  cent,  when  three  months  old,  55  per  cent, 
when  three  years,  and  60  per  cent,  when  over  three  years  old.  The  portion  insolu- 
ble in  alcohol,  when  applied  to  the  skin,  produced  no  effect  whatever,  but  the  solu- 
ble portion,  after  the  evaporation  of  the  alcohol,  was  exceedingly  active.  The 
iatter,  at  32°F.,  has  the  consistence  of  butter,  at  500  is  too  viscid  to  flow,  at  6o° 
has  the  sp.  gr.  '987,  is  reddish-brown  with  a  slight  fluorescence,  the  characteristic 
odor  and  of  turbid  appearance  from  suspended  acicular  crystals,  which  are  soluble 
on  slightly  warming  the  oil.  Heated  to  46o°F.  by  itself,  and  to  36o°F.  with  hydro- 
chloric acid,  or  strong  potassa  solution,  the  oil  does  not  appear  to  lose  any  of  its 
activity. 
Prof.  Redwood  referred  to  his  experiments,  made  about  30  years  ago,  when  he 
found  all  English-pressed  croton  oils  to  be  perfectly  soluble  in  an  equal  bulk  of 
absolute  alcohol,  the  solution  separating,  however,  when  cooled  to  between  300  and 
4o°F.  At  that  time  Dr.  Paul,  while  engaged  in  the  process  of  grinding  the  seeds, 
suddenly  became  insensible,  the  effects  upon  ,him  being  narcotic  in  character,  and 
not  accompanied  by  purging  and  irritation. 
Prof.  Bentley  alluded  to  the  possibility  that  both  a  vesicating  and  a  purgative  prin- 
ciple would  be  found  in  croton  oil  ;  the  former  was  called  crotonol  by  Schlippe,  but 
has  not  been  obtained  by  any  other  chemist  5  the  latter  has  never  been  isolated,  and 
is  in  some  degree  connected  with  the  purgative  principle  of  castor  oil,  which  is  said 
to  be  an  acrid  resinous  substance,  but  has  likewise  not  been  isolated. 
Mr.  Umney  stated  that  at  present  all  the  croton  oil  of  Great  Britain  was  pressed 
by  one  firm  only. 
