Alo«o°ber^min*}     Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  489 
percolation.  This  process  was  then  in  its  infancy  in  this  country,  and 
I  doubt  if  any  of  those  who  heard  him  have  ever  entirely  forgotten 
the  directions  given.  And  while  pages  have  been  written  since 
upon  the  subject,  there  has  not  been  much  added  to  what  Professor 
Procter  gave  in  his  lecture. 
"  His  lecture  upon  the  pharmacy  of  the  cinchonas  was  both  inter- 
esting and  instructive ;  the  same  may  be  said  regarding  his  lecture 
upon  the  pharmacy  of  opium,  for  be  it  remembered  that  at  that 
time  really  good  drugs  were  very  difficult  to  obtain  even  in  a  crude 
form.  And  as  to  powders,  the  bulk  of  them  were  simply  horrid. 
It  was  this  fact  that  led  Procter,  Ellis,  Parrish  and  others  in  Phila- 
delphia to  associate  themselves  with  some  kindred  spirits  in  New 
York,  Boston  and  Baltimore,  to  hold  a  meeting  and  organize  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  which  has  grown  into  a  power 
of  strength  in  the  world  of  pharmacy. 
"From  what  I  knew  of  Professor  Procter  I  can  readily  see  him, 
the  leading  spirit  in  the  first  meeting  of  this  body.  I  have  often 
thought  what  would  the  dear  old  man  think  or  say  could  he  step 
into  a  modern  drug  store  and  see  the  array  of  ready-made  prepara- 
tions, and  peruse  a  modern  prescription  file,  and  see  90  per  cent,  of 
the  prescriptions  calling  for  some  specialty,  in  whole  or  in  part.  He 
would  feel  sad,  to  say  the  least. 
"  He  was  a  grand  man  and  there  is  no  one  to  divide  the  honor; 
he  was  the  '  Father  of  American  Pharmacy '  indeed. 
"Geo.  W.  Sloan." 
RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  PHARMACY. 
THE  ASH  OF  CINNAMON  BARK. 
Finding  that  much  of  the  cinnamon  of  German  commerce 
(especially  that  in  broken  pieces)  failed  to  meet  the  pharmacopceial 
requirements  as  to  ash  (not  more  than  5  per  cent,  of  ash  with  1  per 
cent,  of  sand),  G.  Rupp  (Siiddtsch.  Ap.  Zt.t  1899,  267)  reports  the 
examination  of  two  packages  imported  to  order. 
A  package  from  China  was  a  ball  weighing  12  kilos,  containing 
thick  fragments  of  the  bark  of  older  branches,  the  more  brittle 
parts  of  young  shoots  and  considerable  pebbles,  sand  and  dirt. 
The  second  package,  closely  resembling  the  other,  came  from 
Ceylon. 
