60  Pharmacy  in  Southern  Illinois,  {k%Se™\V\m"' 
apparatus.  It  is  not  stated,  however,  what  proportion  is  to  be  dis- 
tilled off,  at  what  temperature  the  distillation  is  to  be  interrupted,  or 
what  is  to  be  the  gravity  of  the  distillate.  On  the  contrary,  the  spe- 
cification directs  the  application  of  sufficient  heat  to  the  residuum 
"  to  vaporize  all  the  oil  down  to  the  residuum,''  the  same  term  being 
employed  to  express  two  different  substances. 
The  second  step  of  the  process  is  the  filtration  of  the  residue  left 
in  the  still  through  prepared  bone-black,  for  the  purpose  of  decoloriz- 
ing the  product.  This  object  seems  to  be  but  imperfectly  accom- 
plished, notwithstanding  the  patent  steam  filter  and  the  patented 
method  of  preparing  bone-black,  as  the  color  is  stated  to  vary  from 
a  pure  white  to  a  deep  claret. 
The  patentee  lays  great  stress  on  the  vacuum  process,  and  he  is  no 
doubt  correct  in  so  doing.  When  making  use  of  this,  I  would  sug- 
gest that  the  most  favorable  point  for  interrupting  the  distillation 
will  be  just  as  soon  as  the  distillate  is  free  from  odor,  and  nearly  so 
from  taste. 
The  consistency  of  vaseline  is  evidently  of  very  little  moment, 
as,  by  the  patentee's  own  admission,  it  may  vary  from  20°  to  34° 
Beaume ;  the  melting  point  is  given  as  ranging  from  85°  to  110° 
Fahrenheit.  These  variations  being  quite  considerable,  it  would 
seem  that  the  word  vaseline  is  intended  by  the  patentee  as  a  generic 
term  for  all  heavy  petroleum  products  purified  in  the  above  manner, 
rather  than  as  a  specific  designation  for  a  body  of  definite  composi- 
tion. 
Vaseline  is  claimed  not  to  contain  paraffin.  This  appears  to  be  so 
self-evident  a  prevarication  that  it  would  scarcely  merit  a  refutation. 
No  one  disputes  the  presence  of  paraffin  in  the  coal  oil  residuum ; 
there  is  no  provision  in  the  patentee's  specification  for  its  removal  or 
decomposition  ;  hence,  what  becomes  of  it  ? 
PHARMACY  IN  SOUTHERN  ILLINOIS. 
By  A.  G.  F.  Streit,  Ph.  D. 
Abstract  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  St.  Olair  Pharma- 
ceutical Association  of  Southern  Illinois. 
I.  Foundation  of  the  Association. — We  all  know  well  enough  that 
the  science  and  art  of  pharmacy,  from  its  earliest  establishment  on 
this  continent  up  to  the  present  time,  is  not  and  has  never  been  what 
it  should  be  and  what  it  is  considered  to  be  in  the  older  European 
