492 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
to  you  that  death  has  removed  from  us  since  our  last  meeting 
one  of  our  most  Valued  members.  Benjamin  Canavan,  of  New 
York,  died  in  October  last  from  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs. 
Although  attending  to  his  duties  until  the  day  preceding  his 
death,  he  had  been  infirm  for  many  months  previous,  which  pre- 
vented his  active  co-operation  with  us.  He  was  a  model  pharma- 
ceutist, and  one  of  the  noblest  works  of  God,  an  honest  man. 
As  a  tribute  of  respect  to  his  worth,  permit  me  to  offer  the 
following : 
Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Association  have  heard 
with  regret  that  death  has  deprived  them  of  their  fellow  member 
Benjamin  Canavan,  of  New  York.  In  his  death  our  science  has 
lost  an  ornament,  and  our  Society  a  useful  and  respected  associate. 
An  invitation  was  received  by  the  Local  Committee,  inviting 
the  members  to  an  excursion  to  Laurel  Hill,  Fairmount,  and 
other  places,  which  was  considered,  and  on  motion  it  was  resolved 
to  accept  it,  and  that  it  take  place  to-morrow  afternoon. 
The  consideration  of  scientific  subjects  being  now  introduced, 
the  reports' of  special  investigations  referred  last  year  were  called 
up  seriatim,  beginning  with  the  following ; 
1.  What  are  the  actual  sources  of  the  light  Cod-liver  Oil  of  American 
commerce,  both  as  relates  to  the  species  of  fish  that  yield  it,  and  the 
places  where  it  is  extracted  ?  Is  it  adulterated  with  sperm  or  fish  oil  ? 
and  if  so,  is  it  done  by  the  producers  or  collectors,  or  after  it  enters  com- 
merce ? 
Robert  R.  Kent  of  Boston  not  being  present,  Charles  T.  Car- 
ney of  Boston  made  the  following  verbal  statement : 
In  relation  to  Mr.  Kent's  paper  on  cod-liver  oil,  I  would  say 
that  he  entered  upon  the  investigations  of  this  subject  very  soon 
after  our  last  meeting  in  Baltimore,  and  during  several  months 
of  the  last  Fall  and  Winter  he  personally  visited  the  fishing 
ground,  and  prepared  from  cod-livers  of  his  own  obtaining  some 
very  fine  light  oil,  the  most  beautiful  I  ever  saw.  Mr.  Kent 
made  some  quite  singular  discoveries  in  relation  to  the  yield  of 
this  article  from  the  livers  ;  thus  at  one  time  the  yield  would  be 
exceedingly  large ;  and  in  a  month,  the  same  amount  by  weight 
of  the  livers  apparently  equally  promising  would  yield  scarcely 
any. 
After  collecting  much  information  on  this  subject  and  many 
