Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
November,  1896.  / 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
633 
On  Trimetaphosphimic  Acid  and  Its  Decomposition  Products.  By  H. 
N.  Stokes.  Reprinted  from  American  Chemical  Journal,  October,  1896.  This 
paper  describes  the  third  member  of  the  metaphosphimic  acid  series,  and 
details  its  decomposition  products.  It  is  shortly  to  be  followed  by  an  account 
of  tetrametaphosphimic  acid. 
Report  oe  the  Work  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations  of 
the  University  of  California  for  1894-95. 
This  report  is  a  valuable  one,  and  a  number  of  illustrations  add  to  its  inter- 
est. Some  of  the  subjects  may  be  noted.  Under  the  head  of  "  Starch  in  Buck- 
eye Fruit  (^Esculus  Californica)  "  are  given  results  of  an  analysis  which  show 
that  the  buckeye  fruit  contains  a  much  lower  percentage  of  starch  than  either 
corn  or  potatoes,  and  is,  therefore,  not  as  rich  a  material  for  the  manufacture 
of  this  substance  as  has  been  supposed.  The  portion  entitled  ' '  Examination 
of  Licorice  Roots"  we  give  in  full  on  page  636,  of  this  number  of  the  Journal. 
Considerable  space  is  devoted  to  "The  Canaigre  or  Tanners'  Dock." 
Proceedings  of  the  Thirteenth  Annual  Convention  of  the  Na- 
tional Confectioners'  Association  of  the  United  States,  held  at 
Cleveland,  July  9  and  10,  1896. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  October  20,  1896. 
The  first  of  the  series  of  Pharmaceutical  Meetings  of  the  Philadelphia  Col- 
lege of  Pharmacy  for  1896-97  was  held  in  the  College  Museum,  with  Prof. 
Samuel  P.  Sadtler  in  the  chair. 
The  reading  of  the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  having  been  dispensed  with, 
the  next  in  order  was  the  reading  of  original  communications.  The  programme 
embraced  an  interesting  variety  of  subjects,  the  first  of  which  was  "  A  History 
of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meetings  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,"  by 
Thomas  S.  Wiegand  (see  p.  605).  The  original  plan  of  conducting  these 
meetings  has  undergone  but  little  change  since  their  inauguration.  It  was 
early  determined  not  to  introduce  matters  of  a  business  character  ;  and  at  a 
meeting  of  the  College,  September  27,  1842,  an  amendment  to  the  by-laws,  pro- 
viding that  the  pharmaceutic?  1  meetings  should  be  limited  exclusively  to 
scientific  subjects,  was  adopted.  Perhaps,  in  no  better  way  can  the  benefits 
which  have  accrued  to  American  pharmacy  from  these  meetings  be  judged 
than  by  the  fact  that  over  500  papers  have  been  reported  through  their  instru- 
mentality. 
The  discussion  which  followed  the  paper  was  mainly  reminiscent. 
"  Antimonii  Oxidum  and  Pulvis  Antimonialis,"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  by 
Charles  H.  LaWall  (see  page  597). 
The  author  gave  the  official  history  of  these  drugs  and  described  the  various 
processes  which  have  been  used  for  their  manufacture.  The  higher  oxides  of 
antimony  were  also  considered,  together  with  test  methods  for  distinguishing 
them.   Six  samples  of  the  oxide  in  question  were  analyzed,  and  three  methods 
