6o6  History  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meetings,  {^wm^vnt 
occasion,  for  they  have  proven  useful  to  the  present  time,  almost 
exactly  as  when  first  adopted. 
The  essays  then  presented  were  referred  to  a  committee  for  exami- 
nation, who  were  expected  to  report  at  the  following  meeting,  unless 
otherwise  ordered ;  the  strangers  who  were  introduced  were  entitled 
to  participate  in  the  scientific  discussions.  . 
At  a  meeting  of  the  College,  held  September  27,  1842,  an  amend- 
ment to  the  by-laws  directed  that  the  pharmaceutical  meetings 
should  be  limited  exclusively  to  scientific  subjects,  and  the  commit- 
tee, on  motion  of  Samuel  F.  Troth,  were  directed  to  notify  the 
members  of  the  College,  by  circular,  of  the  meetings,  and  invite 
their  attendance  and  co-operation. 
From  1844  to  1850  the  meetings  seem  to  have  been  held,  but  few 
notices  of  their  proceedings  have  been  found,  either  in  the  minute 
book  of  the  College  or  the  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
In  the  year  1856  the  members  were  notified  that  the  meetings 
were  held  on  the  first  Monday  of  every  month,  from  October  to 
May,  inclusive.  We  find  notices  that  the  Library  received  quite 
a  large  number  of  books,  and  that  valuable  additions  to  the  Cabinet 
had  also  been  received  :  four  papers  upon  chemical  subjects,  two 
upon  materia  medica  and  five  upon  pharmaceutical  matters — thus 
showing  that  matters  of  practical  and  every-day  interest  had  their 
full  share  of  attention.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  meetings  fell 
off  in  interest,  and  were  for  some  time  discontinued. 
In  1870  the  meetings  were  resumed,  after  an  interruption  of 
some  ten  years.  Dr.  Pile,  Israel  J.  Grahame  and  Prof.  Maisch  were 
requested  to  bring  forward  an  order  of  business  for  them,  which 
was  done,  and  a  standing  committee  of  three  were  appointed  to 
bring  forward  subjects  of  interest  to  the  attention  of  the  meetings. 
At  the  first  one,  Prof.  Maisch  called  attention  to  the  difference 
between  a  species  of  gum  known  as  gum  sennaar  and  that  derived 
from  the  Acacia  vera.  The  committee  reported  that  members  of 
the  College,  and  all  others  who  may  desire  to  participate  in  the 
proceedings,  be  earnestly  invited  to  attend  and  bring  forward  either 
written  or  oral  contributions  upon  subjects  germane  to  the  sciences 
we  are  interested  in ;  that  the  presiding  officer  of  the  meeting  call 
for  discussions  upon  the  subjects  under  consideration ;  that  a  stand- 
ing committee  bring  forward  such  subjects  as  may  be  of  interest,  in 
addition  to  what  may  be  brought  up  by  the  members. 
