AmNo0vU"'i87h7arm  }  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  569 
Trustees— Dr.  Wilson  H.  Pile,  William  C.  Bakes,  William  Mclntyre,  Albert  P. 
Brown,  Edward  C.  Jones,  Richard  V.  Mattison,  Robert  England,  Dr.  A.  W. 
Miller. 
Committee  on  Deceased  Members — Charles  Bullock,  Alfred  B.  Taylor,  Joseph  P. 
Remington. 
There  being  no  further  business,  on  motion,  adjourned. 
William  J.  Jenks,  Secretary. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Pursuant  to  notice,  the  first  pharmaceutical  meeting  of  the  session  was  held 
October  16,  1877,  and  organized  by  calling  Vice  President  Chas.  Bullock  to  the 
chair,  when  the  meeting  elected  T.  S.  Wiegand  Registrar. 
Prof.  Maisch  moved  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Mclntrye  for  his  long  and  very 
satisfactory  services  as  Registrar  5  the  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 
In  order  to  render  these  meetings  more  generally  useful  by  uniting  all  classes  of 
the  trade,  it  was  recommended  that  the  Registrar  should  notify  all  druggists  and 
apothecaries  in  the  city  of  the  time  and  p'ace  of  their  occurrence. 
The  reading  of  the  minutes  of  the  previous  meeting  (May  last)  was,  on  motion, 
dispensed  with. 
Prof.  Maisch  presented,  on  behalf  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  the  report  of  the 
regents  for  the  year  1876,  also,  from  Mr.  J.  J.  Brown,  of  Oakland,  Cal.,  a  graduate 
of  the  college,  a  pair  of  bulbs  of  the  Chlorogalum  pomeridianum,  Amolia,  the 
California  soap-root,  remarkable  for  the  large  percentage  of  saponin  which  it  is  said 
to  contain,  as  also  for  a  peculiar  mucilage;  these  two  constituents  caused  the  Indians 
and  early  Spanish  settlers  to  esteem  it  very  highly  as  a  detergent  ;  and  so  efficient 
and  harmless  it  is  that  it  is  still  preferred  for  washing  laces,  embroideries  and  such 
like  fabrics,  to  any  soap  attainable.  A  cold  infusion  of  the  bulb  may  be  used  in 
place  of  soap  as  a  dentifrice,  a  shampoo  liquid,  and  a  valuable  lotion  for  both  face 
and  hands.  But  little  use  has  been  made  of  it  in  medicine,  although  it  is  claimed  to 
have  some  virtue  when  employed  as  a  lotion  to  ulcers  and  in  skin  diseases  ;  the 
fibres  have  been  separate- d  from  the  bulbs,  by  the  Chinese,  washed,  dried  and  put  in 
the  market  for  making  hair  mattresses.  The  plant  grows  abundantly  upon  the  dry 
hillsides  of  the  Pacific  coast,  from  Oregon  to  Central  America,  and  perhaps  further 
south  ;  but  as  its  flowers  open  at  night  time  Mr.  Brown  has  not  been  able  to  obtain  them. 
Mr.  R.  V.  Mattison  presented  to  the  notice  of  the  meeeting  a  suppository  mould 
from  Messrs.  Benton,  Myers  &  Co.,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio ;  the  price  at  which  the 
moulds  are  sold  is  $8,  but  the  weight  of  the  suppositories,  made  with  them,  is  only 
about  twenty  grains  for  the  large,  and  twelve  for  the  small  size  ;  this  forms  an  objec- 
tion, as  the  Pharmacopoeia  directjgksuppositories  to  weigh  thirty  grains,  which  was 
regarded  by  several  members  more  than  necessary  and  desirable.  The  cold  process, 
forcing  the  mixed  material  into  the  moulds,  thus  saving  time  and  securing  uniform 
division,  was  regarded  by  some  as  preferable  to  mixing  while  heated.  Prof. 
Remington  recommended  Blackman's  mould  on  occount  of  the  economy  of  ice. 
