^DeZis^"11  }  Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations.  607 
A  statement  of  the  process  and  the  requirements  for  the  manufacture  of  quinia 
•was  given,  to  show  that  our  inability  to  cope  with  Europe  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
our  navigation  laws,  by  discriminating  duties,  made  the  European  market  the  best 
resort  for  the  crude  article.  Besides,  it  was  evident  that  other  nations  were  in 
advance  in  the  science  of  the  cinchonas — quinology.  The  ruling  quotations  for 
quinia  in  Europe  appeared  to  prove  that  this  knowledge  is  farthest  in  advance  in 
Germany,  next  in  France  and  in  England. 
The  lecturer,  believed  that  the  determination  of  the  value  of  the  bark,  which  was 
a  very  difficult  matter,  was  as  well  understood  in  the  United  States  as  in  any  country, 
and  that  there  was  little  doubt  that  our  machinery  and  devices  to  save  labor  and 
expense  were  in  advance  of  other  nations.  A  wise  conservative  tariff  policy  was 
advised,  and  that  all  duties  upon  these  very  important  medicaments  be  reduced  to 
10  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
The  discussion  upon  Quinia  in  Pharmacy  was  a  very  important  one,  and  par- 
ticipated in  by  Mr.  Charles  Rice  and  others.  Tables  were  exhibited  to  show  the 
solubility  in  ether  of  all  the  quinias  of  commerce,  fifteen  in  number,  as  also  of  the 
extent  to  which  many  varieties  of  quinia  could  be  combined  with  cinchonidia  and 
make  a  clear  solution,  U.  S.  P. 
A  table  of  densities  of  the  various  quinias  was  also  exhibited,  by  which  it 
appeared  that  an  organic  change  took  place  in  the  crystallization  of  the  salt,  as  the 
bulk  of  some  varieties,  when  finely  powdered,  was  double  that  of  others,  and  this 
last  fact,  which  had  never  been  noticed  in  our  journals,  had  a  very  important  bear- 
ing upon  excipients  and  pill  masses. 
Alumni  Association  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. — The  Second 
Social  Meeting  of  this  season  was  held  at  the  College,  November  7th,  with  an  atten- 
dance of  fifty-five.  In  the  absence  of  the  president,  vice  president  Procter  took  the 
chair.  After  the  reading  of  the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting,  Mr.  Cook  read  an 
elaborate  essay  on  the  nat.  order  Composite.  Mr.  Sayre  exhibited  a  few  leaves  of 
a  California  plant  commonly  called  there  wild  peach,  a  popular  remedy  in  that  State 
for  rheumatism.  A  student  stated  that  it  grew  in  Texas,  and  promised  to  procure 
a  specimen  of  both  the  fruit  and  leaf  for  a  future  meeting. 
Mr.  Mattison  recognized  it  as  what  is  sold  here  as  yerba  santa.  A  very  interest- 
ing paper  was  then  read  by  Mr.  Mattison  on  Chinese  pharmacy  in  the  United 
States. 
Dr.  Murray  read  a  paper  entitled  "  How  to  take  notes,"  which  contained  some 
useful  hints  to  students. 
Mr.  Kennedy  spoke  of  the  practice  in  some  stores  of  adulterating  cold  cream, 
and  mentioned  one  case  that  came  to  his  knowledge  where  the  druggist  was  in  the 
habit  of  dispensing  simple  cerate,  scented  with  oil  of  bergamot,  as  cold  cream.  He 
then  read  an  essay  on  Ung.  Aquae  Rosas.  He  spoke  also  of  the  substitution  of 
water  for  alcohol  in  tinct.  ferri  chlor.  being  practised  in  some  country  drug  stores, 
and  strongly  condemned  the  custom. 
Dr  Murray  spoke  in  the  same  strain,  and  predicted  that  so  soon  as  pharmacists 
should  adopt  this  plan  tincture  of  iron  would  share  the  fate  of  dialyzed  iron,  as  the 
