520  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {^Jp^mberjSS1* 
The  highest  of  these  fractions  separated  scale  paraffin  on  standing.  A  residuum 
was  left  after  the  distillation,  which  was  similar  to  that  obtained  in  petroleum 
distillation. 
Prof.  Lloyd  referred  to  some  legal  proceeding  against  parties  in  Ohio  for 
alleged  adulteration  of  linseed  oil  with  paraffin  oils.  He  said  he  hoped  this 
matter  would  be  brought  to  their  notice.  Messrs.  Fennel,  Remington,  Caspari 
and  Payne  also  spoke  of  the  significance  of  this  valuable  contribution  to  the 
knowledge  of  fixed  oils.    The  next  paper  was  entitled 
MIXTURES  OF  SOLIDS  FOR  INTERNAL  USE. 
B^  C.  S  Hallberg. 
He  reviewed  the  various  forms  into  which  solids  have  been  put  for  internal 
administration,  such  as  powders,  pills,  uncoated  and  coated,  finally  coming  to 
compressed  goods,  such  as  tablets  and  tablet  triturates.  He  objected  to  these  on 
the  ground  of  insolubility  in  many  cases,  and  for  the  reason  that  the  skill  of 
the  pharmacist  had  not  been  applied  in  preparing  them.  He  was  in  favor  of 
powders  compounded  on  physicians'  prescriptions,  and  stated  that  he  believed 
the  business  of  the  retail  pharmacist  would  be  improved  thereby.  He  con- 
cluded with  a  list  of  the  kinds  of  medicinal  agents  that  he  believed  should  be 
administered  in  no  other  form  than  that  of  powder  if  given  in  the  solid  condi- 
tion. A  paper  previously  referred  to  in  this  report  as  having  a  bearing  on  indi- 
cators was  next  presented  on 
ALCOHOL  AS  A  SOURCE  OF  ERROR  IN  THE  TITRATION  OF  ALKA- 
LOIDS AND  ALKALOIDAL  RESIDUES. 
By  Charles  Caspari,  Jr. 
The  paper  arose  through  some  discrepancies  which  were  noticed  in  the  work 
of  the  author  as  one  of  the  members  of  the  Committee  on  Indicators.  To  test 
his  belief  that  the  trouble  came  through  the  use  of  alcohol,  the  author  made  a 
series  of  experiments  in  which  he  used  water,  alcohol  and  diluted  alcohols  of 
various  strengths,  both  separately  and  in  combination  with  alkaloidal  materials. 
The  author  stated  that  alcohol  appeared  to  play  the  part  of  an  acid  toward  all 
of  the  indicators  examined  by  the  committee  except  tropseolin  00  ;  in  the  use 
of  this  it  seemed  to  act  as  an  alkali.  The  author  stated  the  conclusions  forced 
upon  him  as  a  result  of  the  observations  above  enumerated  are,  that  far  more 
accurate  volumetric  determinations  of  alkaloids  and  alkaloidal  residues  can  be 
made  in  water  alone  than  in  mixtures  of  the  same  with  alcohol,  and  that  the 
error  caused  by  the  latter  is  augmented  as  the  proportion  of  alcohol  is 
increased. 
Professor  Bartley  inquired  of  the  author  whether  the  alcohol  had  been  purified, 
as  it  might  have  been  acid  through  oxidation.  Professor  Caspari  replied  that  it 
had  not,  but  that  the  two  brands  used  were  both  free  from  acid,  in  fact,  were 
neutral  to  litmus.  Mr.  Kebler  said  litmus  was  not  sufficiently  delicate  for  de- 
termining the  presence  of  alkali  or  acid  in  such  cases. 
Professor  Prescott  suggested  that  the  formation  of  ethyl  salts  might  have 
something  to  do  with  the  difficulty.  Professor  Caspari  replied  that  he  did  not 
believe  the  conditions  favorable  to  the  formation  of  such  substances,  and  that 
the  only  explanation  that  can  be  offered  for  this  peculiar  behavior  of  alcohol  is 
on  the  basis  of  Arrhenius'  theory  of  electrolytic  dissociation,  as  detailed  in  the 
