404 
Pharmaceutical  A ssociations. 
Am,  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1896. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 
PENNSYLVANIA  PHARMACEUTICAL,  ASSOCIATION. 
The  nineteenth  annual  meeting  of  this  Association  took  place  at  Mt.  Holly 
Springs,  Pa.,  June  16th  to  19th,  inclusive.  The  early  sessions  were  occupied  in 
the  transaction  of  routine  business,  such  as  President's  address,  reports  of  dele- 
gates and  committees.  An  important  departure  from  the  customary  sequence 
of  business  was  made  in  the  case  of  the  President's  address,  which  was  post- 
poned to  the  evening  session,  when  it  was  delivered  as  a  preliminary  to  the 
entertainment  given  at  that  time.  By  this  means  a  much  larger  audience  was 
obtained  than  usually  attends  the  first  session,  and  the  confusion  incidental  to 
new  arrivals  was  avoided. 
The  reports  of  delegates  were  of  unusual  interest,  especially  that  of  those 
who  attended  the  State  Medical  Association,  this  body  having  extended  an 
invitation  to  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association  to  exhibit  a  com- 
plete set  of  the  National  Formulary  preparations  at  their  meeting,  to  be  held 
in  Pittsburg,  in  May,  1897,  which  invitation  was  accepted,  and  a  committee 
appointed  to  undertake  the  work. 
The  Committee  on  Papers  and  Queries  presented  an  unusual  number  of  inter- 
esting papers,  of  which  the  following  is  a  brief  summary: 
Synthetic  oils  was  the  subject  of  a  communication  by  Joseph  Cave,  who 
limited  his  paper  to  a  consideration  of  those  synthetic  compounds  which  are 
used  in  perfumery.  He  considered  that  ionone,  or  the  perfume  of  violet,  heads 
the  list  in  importance,  and  exhibited  a  specimen  of  a  10  per  cent,  solution  of  it, 
also  one  of  "  violet  bouquet,"  made  with  it,  in  which  one  part  of  the  10  per  cent, 
solution  was  mixed  with  200  parts  of  pomade  washings  of  violet,  tuberose  and 
jasmin. 
Neroli  is  another  synthetic  product  which  the  writer  considered  finer  than 
the  natural  oil.  Jasmin  oil,  cassia  oil  and  lilac  oil  were  also  considered  in  the 
paper  and  samples  of  them  exhibited. 
S.  H.  Hill  answered  a  number  of  queries  offered  by  the  committee.  In  rela- 
tion to  pharmacists  prescribing ;  he  thought  it  the  duty  of  the  latter  to  prescribe 
some  remedy  for  the  immediate  relief  of  pain,  but  that  it  is  not  their  place  to 
give  any  remedy  to  be  taken  in  continued  doses. 
In  answer  to  the  query  concerning  the  value  of  the  drummer  to  the  phar- 
macist, Mr.  Hill  reached  the  conclusion  that  pharmacy  had  suffered  financially 
at  the  hands  of  the  "drummer''  because  he  had  encouraged  business,  that 
formerly  was  exclusively  the  pharmacist's,  in  other  stores  and  barber  shops. 
In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  this  paper,  it  was  evident  that 
the  pharmacists  present  did  not  agree  with  Mr.  Hill. 
The  query  concerning  the  increase  or  decrease  of  patent  medicines  was 
answered  by  the  same  author,  with  the  statement  that  the  general  public  is  yet 
brave  enough  to  risk  its  physical  salvation  on  any  cure-all  that  is  judiciously 
advertised.  He,  therefore,  did  not  believe  the  nostrum  traffic  to  be  on  the 
decrease. 
Mr.  Hill  also  answered  the  query  on  the  comparative  desirability  to  the 
pharmacist  of  the  old-fashioned  generator  and  the  present  cylinder  of  com- 
pressed carbonic  acid  gas  with  a  strong  recommendation  of  the  latter.  He 
also  believed  in  rock  candy  syrup,  softened  rubber  by  allowing  it  to  soak  in 
