310  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {Am  June,  i9ooarm" 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  last  of  the  series  of  pharmaceutical  meetings  for  1899-1900  was  held 
Tuesday,  May  15th,  with  Prof.  Samuel  P.  Sadtler  in  the  chair. 
Mr.  Robert  N.  Riddle,  of  Philadelphia,  gave  a  short  but  interesting  talk  on 
the  manufacture  of  some  of  the  more  important  fatty  acids,  sugar  of  milk, 
vanillin,  etc.  Mr.  Riddle  prefaced  his  remarks  by  saying  that  the  processes  for 
the  manufacture  of  all  the  finer  chemicals  are  kept  secret,  and  that  certain 
chemicals  like  vanillin  and  saccharine  are  covered  over  with  patents  simply  to 
conceal  the  process  of  manufacture.  He  said  that  very  little  of  the  information 
contained  in  text-books  on  the  manufacture  of  chemicals  is  reliable.  The 
authors  are  not  to  blame  for  this,  because  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  the  infor- 
mation. 
With  regard  to  the  manufacture  of  milk  sugar,  he  said  that  two  conditions 
are  essential  for  its  success,  and  these  are  a  large  supply  of  whey  and  means 
for  evaporation.  The  organic  compounds  in  milk  appear  to  be  difficult  to  pre- 
cipitate, and  it  is  only  by  prolonged  boiling  that  they  can  be  separated  and  a 
clear  solution  obtained. 
In  the  manufacture  of  lactic  acid,  he  said  that  the  raw  materials  which  con- 
tain least  oil  are  the  most  easily  fermented,  hence  rye  and  barley  are  to  be 
preferied  to  other  grains  in  this  respect.  After  giving  some  of  the  important 
details  in  its  manufacture,  the  speaker  stated  that  this  acid  is  not  manufactured 
in  this  country — that  it  is  all  imported. 
In  giving  the  process  for  the  manufacture  of  butyric  acid,  he  said  the 
statements  that  the  presence  of  some  putrefying  animal  substance  is  essential 
to  the  butyric  fermentation  are  very  erroneous.  Nature  has  provided  her  own 
ferments,  and  these  begin  their  work  even  while  the  grain  from  which  the  acid 
is  to  be  manufactured  is  being  boiled. 
A  paper  on  "  Seidlitz  Powders,"  by  Joseph  Huntington,  P.D.,  was  read  in 
abstract  by  Prof.  F.  X.  Moerk.    The  paper  will  be  published  in  a  later  issue  of 
this  JOJRNAL. 
Prof.  Jos.  P.  Remington  called  attention  to  some  jars  and  glass  tanks  which 
had  been  sent  to  the  College  for  exhibition,  at  his  request,  by  the  Appert  Glass 
Company,  of  New  York.  These  vessels  are  manufactured  in  all  sizes  up  to  a 
capacity  of  40  gallons,  and  in  speaking  of  this  feature  Professor  Remington 
said  that  the  use  of  large  glass  vessels  for  laboratory  work  had  long  been  a 
desideratum.  The  special  advantages  claimed  for  this  glassware  are  that  it  is 
non-porous  and  possessed  of  unusual  mechanical  strength.  The  jars  and  tanks 
may  be  graduated,  and,  being  transparent,  the  measure  of  the  contents  can  be 
told  at  once. 
Some  notes  on  "  Gold  and  Sodium  Chloride  "  were  presented  by  Ionian  F. 
Kebler,  which  will  be  published  in  a  later  issue  of  this  Journal. 
A  specimen  of  Southern  prickly  ash  bark  was  exhibited  by  Mr.  Kebler.  It 
was  a  beautiful  specimen,  and  pioduced  when  chewed  a  sensation  similar  to 
aconite. 
On  motion,  the  meeting  adjourned. 
Florence  Yaple, 
Secretary  pro  tern. 
