Am  Novr,'iP877rm'}  Pharmaceutical  Colleges  and  Associations.  571 
gentleman  prospecting  in  Nevada,  one  of  which  proved  to  consist  of  quartz,  alumi- 
nous earth  and  iron,  the  other  of  the  sulphates  of  iron  and  alumina,  entirely  soluble 
in  water,  and  most  likely  a  product  from  the  decomposition  and  oxidation  of  the 
first-mentioned  mineral.  The  finder,  judging  from  the  weight  of  the  material, 
thought  it  might  prove  to  be  a  source  of  supply  for  some  of  the  precious  metals, 
in  which  opinion  he  was  of  course  disappointed. 
There  being  no  further  business,  on  motion,  adjourned. 
T.  S.  Wiegand,  Registrar. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  COLLEGES  AND  ASSOCIATIONS. 
The  Colleges  of  Pharmacy,  so  far  as  they  have  been  heard  from,  have  all  large 
classes,  and  in  several,  if  not  in  all,  the  number  of  students  is  in  advance  of  former 
years.  In  the  Philadelphia  College  it  became  necessary  to  provide  additional 
accommodations,  by  putting  into  the  lecture  rooms  another  row  of  benches.  We 
also  learn  that  laboratory  instruction  is  sought  by  a  larger  number  than  heretofore, 
and  that  many  will  avail  themselves  of  the  practical  instruction  in  pharmaceutical 
manipulation,  as  organized  for  the  present  session  in  Philadelphia. 
Social  Meeting  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy. — The  second  series  of  these  meetings  was  inaugurated  October  4th, 
1877,  by  President  Mattison,  who,  in  an  address  of  welcome  to  the  forty  odd  mem- 
bers present,  explained  their  objects,  and  what  it  was  hoped  would  be  accomplished 
by  them. 
The  committee  appointed  to  furnish  matter  for  discussion  reported  through 
Messrs.  Kennedy  and  Trimble,  the  former  introducing  the  subject  of  aloes,  and 
giving  some  interesting  facts  in  connection  with  its  extraction  with  hot  and  cold 
water,  and  the  relative  efficacy  of  the  products.  The  latter  gentleman  read  a  paper 
on  Nitric  Acid  (see  page  537),  in  which  a  method  of  increasing  its  strength  for  use 
in  the  process  for  gun  cotton  was  described.  He  also  offered  for  the  inspection  of 
the  students  a  number  of  specimens. 
A  paper  read  by  the  president,  entitled  "What  to  Study  and  How  to  Study  it," 
was  listened  to  with  attention  by  the  meeting,  which,  on  motion,  then  adjourned  to 
meet  November  1st,  1877.  Wallace  Procter,  Secretary. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
The  excursions  to  and  from  Toronto,  on  the  occasion  of  the  last  meeting  of  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  have  been  so  pleasant  that  they  will  be  long 
remembered  by  those  who  participated  in  them.  The  routes  led  through  a  section 
of  the  continent  which,  in  point  of  natural  beauties  and  picturesque  scenes,  has  few 
rivals. 
