648  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.      { Am  D7e°curi8Marm' 
for  close  guessing  at  results,  but  the  observations  are  fairly  consistent  among 
themselves,  and  therefore  place  the  agents  in  a  true  relation  to  each  other." 
This  would  seem  to  be  too  modest  a  statement  of  their  worth,  and  the 
profession  are  certainly  indebted  to  him  for  a  better  acquaintance  with  the 
composition  and  comparative  merits  of  some  much-used  drugs. — Dr.  F. 
Minot,  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal;  Louisv.  Med.  News. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  November  18,  1884. 
The  second  regular  pharmaceutical  meeting  was  held  this  day,  Professor 
Henry  Trimble  being  called  to  the  chair,  in  the  absence  of  the  president. 
The  minutes  of  the  last  pharmaceutical  meeting  were  read,  and  there 
being  no  corrections  needed,  they  were  approved. 
The  Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  for  the  year  1882  was  presented 
to  the  College,  as  well  as  the  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for 
1882  and  1883,  which  have  both  been  acknowledged  by  the  librarian. 
For  some  time  past  a  paragraph  has  been  printed  in  various  medical 
journals  recommending  carbonate  of  titanium  for  the  relief  of  dysmenor- 
rhea ;  Mr.  Bullock  stated  that  it  was  very  doubtful  if  such  a  compound 
could  exist,  and  that  it  could  not  be  obtained  for  commercial  uses  was  now 
well  ascertained  ;  calls  having  been  made  for  it,  samples  of  the  so-called 
carbonate  of  titanium  were  obtained  and  subjected  to  analysis,  which  proved 
it  to  be  simply  carbonate  and  oxide  of  iron  largely  mixed  with  silica;  this 
was  also  the  result  of  an  examination  conducted  by  Prof.  Trimble. 
Mr.  Bullock  also  called  attention,  to  a  specimen  of  native  platinum  ob- 
tained from  the  black  sand  from  the  rutile  in  southern  Oregon,  where  it 
exists  in  considerable  quantities  ;  these  sands  are  composed  largely  of  mag- 
netic oxide  of  iron,  titanium,  osmium  and  iridium ;  in  the  sample  which 
he  exhibited  about  four  ounces  of  the  platinum  mixed  with  the  native  alloy 
of  osmium  and  iridium  has  been  separated  simply  by  washing. 
Among  the  specimens  exhibited  was  one  of  native  green  oxide  of  nickel, 
also  from  Oregon ;  the  vein  from  which  it  was  taken  being  about  eighteen 
inches  wide  and  lying  between  walls  of  sulphate  of  baryta ;  the  value  of 
such  an  ore  can  be  best  estimated  from  the  fact  that  it  contains  about  fifteen 
per  cent,  of  nickel,  while  the  ordinary  ores  used  for  the  supply  of  commerce 
contains  but  about  half  of  one  per  cent. 
Attention  was  called  to  a  specimen  of  fluid  extract  of  belladonna  prepared 
from  recently  dried  root  of  very  fine  quality  ;  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the 
bottle  were  studded  with  numerous  crystals  ;  these  were  removed,  washed 
and  dissolved  in  water,  but  gave  no  reaction  with  Mayer's  test  for  alkaloids  ; 
when  treated  with  Fehling's  test  for  sugar,  gave  no  reaction ;  the  solution 
was  then  boiled  with  a  few  drops  of  nitric  acid  and  again  tested  by  Feh- 
ling's test,  and  gave  a  copious  precipitate  evidencing  the  presence  of  glucose. 
