Am-£™T^*rm-} Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  607 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Phii.adei.phia,  November  21,  1893. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  and  Jos.  W.  England  was  asked  to  preside. 
The  reading  of  the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  was,  on  motion,  dispensed 
with,  as  there  was  a  great  deal  to  hear  and  act  on. 
A  copy  of  the  last  edition  of  the  German  Pharmacopoeia  was  presented  to 
the  library  by  Geo.  M.  Beringer,  Ph.G.,  and  a  copy  of  Nicholas  Le  Febures* 
complete  body  of  chemistry  was  presented  by  our  fellow-member,  F.  H.  Rosen- 
garten,  who  received  it  from  the  late  E.  C.  Knight,  of  this  city,  who  placed 
much  value  on  it,  as  it  dated  as  far  back  as  1670,  and  abounds  in  many  original 
statements. 
A  paper  upon  the  effects  of  noxious  gases  upon  the  animal  economy,  by  Mr. 
J.  R.  Wilson,  was  read  by  Dr.  C.  B.  Lowe,  Mr.  Wilson  being  too  unwell  from  a 
severe  cold  to  read  it  himself.  The  paper  was  listened  to  with  great  attention^ 
and  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Publication,  and  a  vote  of  thanks  was 
tendered  to  Mr.  Wilson. 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Hires  read  a  paper  upon  Vanilla,  its  sources,  cultivation^ 
methods  of  preparing  for  the  market,  commercial  statistics  relative  to  it,  the 
whole  being  the  result  of  a  visit  made  to  the  country  from  which  the  largest 
part  of  the  Vanilla  supply  of  commerce  is  derived.  The  trip  may  be  called  an 
adventure,  as  the  country  is  inhabited  by  as  lawless  a  race  as  can  be  found 
anywhere  ;  to  this  must  be  added  the  danger  of  contracting  that  terrible 
scourge  of  the  tropics — yellow  fever.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Beringer,  a  vote  of 
thanks  was  passed  to  Mr.  Hires  for  his  interesting  paper. 
The  third  paper,  upon  the  examination  of  various  commercial  samples  of 
wax,  was  read  by  Lyman  F.  Kebler,  Ph.C,  B.S.  It  was  listened  to  very 
attentively,  and  was  one  of  the  best  and  most  thorough  examinations  that  has 
been  given  to  the  subject.  It  was  also  referred,  after  which  the  meeting 
passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  author.  Mr.  Beringer  exhibited  a  sample 
of  Carnauba  wax,  a  drug  of  Brazilian  origin,  which  melts  at  quite  a  high 
temperature. 
Mr.  Allen  Shryock  read  a  paper  upon  the  weights  of  the  Pharmacopoeia, 
of  1890,  and  urged  the  use  of  the  decimal  weights  and  not  any  equivalents 
obtained  by  calculating  how  many  troy  or  avoirdupois  grains  would  give  an 
equal  quantity.    This  paper  was  also  referred  to  the  Publication  Committee. 
Mr.  Ellis  inquired  if  the  artificial  product  Vanillin  has  affected  the  sale  of 
Vanilla,  to  which  answer  was  made  it  had  not ;  that  it  did  not  represent 
Vanilla  bean  flavor  as  it  should  ;  it  bears  about  the  same  relation  to  Vanilla 
bean  in  flavor  as  the  ethereal  fruit  essences  do  to  the  real  fruit  juices. 
G.  M.  Beringer  called  the  attention  of  the  meeting  to  one  of  the  newer 
remedies,  Ethylene  Bromide,  C2H4Br2.  Viewed  as  an  addition  product  of 
Ethylene  C2H4,  this  would  be  the  correct  name,  and  was  the  one  generall)' 
used  in  prescribing  ;  but  viewed  as  a  substitution  product  of  ethane  C2H6,  it 
was  Di-Brom-Ethane.  This  is  now  being  recommended  as  an  anti-epileptic,  in 
doses  of  o^i-o^  gm.,  2  or  3  times  a  day,  and  may  be  administered  in  capsules 
or  emulsion.  As  supplied  by  the  German  manufacturers,  it  is  a  slightly  brown- 
ish colored  liquid,  due  to  traces  of  bromine,  sp.  gr.  2*163  at  210  C,  crystallizing 
at  io°  C.    He  exhibited  a  sample  which  had  been  redistilled  by  Mr.  Chas. 
