^m'^im:Tva'}  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  61 1 
The  above  results  are  all  that  may  be  desired,  and  I  have  now  to 
show  how  the  process  may  be  still  further  shortened  without  any 
sacrifice  of  accuracy.  This  can  be  done  by  leaving  out  the  washing 
and  dissolving  in  alcohol  direct.  A  few  drops  of  methyl  orange  are 
then  added  and  alkali  till  neutral  to  this  indicator ;  phenolphthalein 
is  then  added,  and  the  titration  completed  as  before.  The  alkali 
required  in  the  first  case  is  for  the  neutralization  of  the  free  hydro- 
chloric acid,  and  is  of  course  neglected.  That  required  to  neutralize 
to  phenolphthalein  is,  of  course,  due  to  the  resin,  and  is  calculated 
as  such. —  Chemical  News,  Oct.  23,  p.  204. 
TOTTINGTON  MlLLS,  Oct.  6,  1 88 1. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  November  17,  1891. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order,  and  Dr.  C.  B.  Lowe  was  elected  Chairman. 
The  minutes  of  last  meeting  were  read  and  approved. 
Mr.  Beringer  presented  a  specimen  of  the  flower  of  the  vanilla  plant  for 
the  museum. 
The  registrar  presented  a  number  of  works  from  Prof.  Maisch,  and  the 
report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  four  volumes t 
from  Prof.  Sadtler. 
G.  M  .  Beringer,  Ph.G.,  read  a  paper  upon  Synthetical  Carbolic  Acid,  by  Dr. 
H.  W.  Jayne,  who  was  unable  to  be  present. 
Mr.  Witzel,  of  Tacony,  exhibited  a  tablet  machine  and  demonstrated  its 
working  facilities  before  the  meeting. 
Joseph  W.  England,  Ph.  G.,  read  a  paper  on  Fluid  Extract  of  Triticum 
repens,  or  couch  grass.  It  was  remarked  that  couch  grass  had  been  greatly 
lauded  in  medical  journals  some  eight  or  ten  years  ago,  and  then  lost  sight  of, 
and  was  now  being  revived  ;  there  is  still  a  large  demand  for  it  as  one  person 
has  an  order  for  three  tons  of  it.  Prof.  Remington  said  that  the  specific  gravity 
was  not  a  very  good  test  of  commercial  fluid  extracts,  as  each  manufacturer 
was  a  law  to  himself  as  far  as  the  menstruum  was  concerned,  and  that  there  is 
a  large  consumption  of  the  drug. 
Mr.  Thompson  said  agricultural  journals  stated  that  sheep  seek  it  out  in 
pastures,  and  that  they  are  relieved  in  passing  biliary  calculi.  Prof.  Maisch 
stated  that  in  Europe  there  are  two  preparations  in  use,  a  soft  extract  and  a 
liquid  extract  made  by  dissolving  the  former  in  a  little  water  or  weak  spirituous 
liquid ;  the  drug  had  been  popularly  employed  for  many  centuries  and  was 
generally  given  in  decoction. 
J.  W.  England,  Ph.G.,  spoke  of  Fhrlich's  Test  for  Typhoid  Fever  Urine.  It 
consists  of  two  solutions  :  Solution  A  is  made  by  dissolving  one  part  of  nitrite 
of  sodium  in  one  hundred  of  distilled  water;  Solution  B,  by  mixing  10  cc.  of 
chemically  pure  hydrochloric  acid  with  190  cc.  of  distilled  water,  and  adding 
sufficient  sulphanilinic  acid  to  saturate,  about  two  and  a  half  grammes  will  be 
requisite.    It  is  used  by  adding  a  small  quantity  of  Solution  A  to  the  suspected 
