604 
Ph  a  r  mace  n  tic  a  I  Mee  t  ing. 
\  A  in.  Jour.  Pharrj). 
1   December,  1899. 
arguments,  Mr.  Geo.  M.  Beringer  said  that  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy was  on  record  as  having  favored  the  first  and  second  of  the  propositions, 
that  in  the  Convention  of  1S90  the  delegates  had  recommended  the  introduc- 
tion of  minimum  and  maximum  doses  into  the  Pharmacopoeia.  With  regard 
to  the  third  recommendation,  he  said  that  he  recalled  a  hint  thrown  out  by  the 
late  Professor  Maisch  at  the  meeting  to  the  effect  that  some  spurious  alkaloid 
might  be  added  to  a  preparation  to  make  it  conform  to  a  certain  standard.  The 
speaker  endorsed  the  proposition  and  favored  the  adoption  of  both  quanti- 
tative tests  and  tests  of  identity  for  standardized  preparations. 
Professor  Remington  said  that  the  pharmacists  went  into  the  Conventions  of 
1880  and  1890  determined  to  urge  the  introduction  of  doses,  and  that  the  ques- 
tion was  argued  both  in  Committee  and  in  Convention,  but  that  we  were  beaten 
both  times.  The  physicians  objected  seriously  to  having  doses  in  an  official 
work,  as  this  would  interfere  with  their  giving  as  large  doses  as  they  might 
want  to,  and  that  as  a  result  they  might  be  liable  to  be  called  upon  to  answer 
charges  of  malpractice. 
The  speaker  said  that  onereason  why  druggists  favor  the  admission  of  doses 
is  because  it  would  enable  them  to  prescribe  over  the  counter  with  more  author- 
ity. While  admitting  that  we  have  numerous  convenient  dose  books,  he  said 
that  they  are  not  official,  and  that  this  is  the  point  which  has  an  important 
bearing  on  the  legal  aspects  of  the  question.  He  remarked  also  that  the  ques- 
tion had  come  up  in  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  and  that  some 
of  those  on  the  affirmative  side  argued  that  some  doctors  ought  to  get  into 
trouble  for  their  carelessness  in  prescribing.  Finally,  he  thought  that  physi- 
cians ought  to  exercise  more  care  in  marking  exceptional  doses. 
Dr.  Clement  B.  Lowe  favored  the  admission  of  doses,  and  said  that  they  had 
been  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  for  one  or  two  decades,  and  that  he  was  not 
aware  of  English  physicians  suffering  any  annoyance  on  this  account. 
The  recommendations  proposed  by  Dr.  Rice  were  then  voted  upon,  and 
unanimously  endorsed  by  the  meeting. 
A  very  interesting  paper  by  Dr.  G.  T.  Moore,  of  Dartmouth  College,  on 
"Algae  as  a  Cause  of  the  Contamination  of  Drinking  Water,"  was  presented 
in  the  absence  of  the  author  by  Dr.  Henry  Kraemer,  and  will  be  published  in 
full  in  the  January  issue  of  this  Journal. 
Before  presenting  the  paper  Dr.  Kraemer  said  that  Dr.  Moore  is  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  University,  and  that  he  has  been  associated  with  Dr.  Farlow  in  his 
work  on  cryptogamic  botany,  and  has  had  considerable  experience  in  studying 
the  plant  forms  in  the  waters  around  Boston  and  in  New  England,  and  hence 
was  qualified  to  speak  with  authority  on  the  subject  of  the  paper. 
The  paper  was  rendered  additionally  interesting  to  the  meeting  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  Dr.  Kraemer  exhibited  some  growing  specimens  of  algae  and 
made  blackboard  drawings  of  the  principal  forms  described. 
The  principal  groups  considered  by  Dr.  Moore  were  the  "blue-green  algae," 
now  classed  with  the  bacteria  in  the  Schizophyta,  the  diatoms  and  the  class 
of  Syngeneticeae,  which  until  recently  was  considered  to  belong  to  the  animal 
kingdom.  The  only  genera  among  the  unicellular  group  which  are  likely  to 
cause  trouble  are  Ccelosphaerium  and  Clathrocystis,  whereas  among  the 
Hormogoneae  a  number  of  genera — particularly  members  of  the  nostoc  tribe 
— cause  various  tastes  and  odors  in  drinking  water.    Among  the  diatoms  only 
