*mK™T:.vm?m'} Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  59: 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Phh.adki.phia,  October  21,  1890. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  and  on  motion  Mr.  William  B.  Webb  was 
invited  to  take  the  Chair.    The  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were  read  and 
approved. 
Prof.  Maisch  presented  the  third  part  of  the  Pharmacographia  Indica  from 
the  authors,  Messrs.  Dymock,  Warden  &  Hooper,  and  commented  upon  its 
great  value  for  information  regarding  the  medicinal  plants  of  India. 
Mr.  Joseph  W.  England  stated  that  he  was  convinced  from  observation  that 
nearly  all  errors  made  in  the  putting  up  of  prescriptions  were  the  result  of 
conversation  with  those  around,  or  some  mental  pre-occupation  ;  to  try  and 
stop  part  of  this  trouble  he  had  a  card  printed,  recommending  persons  while 
waiting  for  prescription  to  commence  an  unnecessary  conversation  with  the 
person  so  engaged  ;  the  absurdity  of  such  a  request  would  be  the  most  likely 
means  of  stopping  it. 
Written  communications  being  in  order,  Mr.  Joseph  W.  England  read  a 
paper  upon  antiseptic  materials,  see  page  553.  In  the  discussion  which  ensued 
after  the  reading  of  the  paper,  it  was  asked  why  the  use  of  alcohol  was  directed 
in  making  the  solutions.  To  this,  reply  was  made  that  the  cloth  was  so  much 
more  readily  dried  when  thus  treated  than  when  water  only  was  used. 
Dr.  C.  B.  Lowe  said  that  we  all  were  much  pleased  with  the  clear  distinction 
made  between  antisepsis  and  disinfection,  but  that  in  his  judgment  the  pre- 
paration of  ""antiseptic  materials  could  not  be  done  in  the  average  apothecary 
store,  that  the  dispensing-room  did  not  admit  of  it  and  that  few  apothecaries 
had  any  other  room  where  such  work  could  be  done.  In  this  connection  he 
advised  apothecaries  not  to  treat  wounds  or  recent  accidents,  but  refer  them  at 
once  to  a  physician,  and  cited  an  instance  where  help  was  extended  by  an 
apothecary  to  an  injnred  person  and  the  physician  who  subsequently  saw  the 
case  advised  the  patient  to  sue  for  a  couple  of  hundred  dollars  damages  for 
improper  treatment !  !  ! 
One  of  the  members  present  stated  that  the  teachings  of  the  best  surgeons 
now  was  that  absolute  cleanliness  was  the  greatest  point  in  antisepsis. 
Professor  Maisch  said  that  some  fifteen  or  more  years  ago  Professor  Dragen- 
dorff  had  a  very  large  number  of  investigations  made  under  his  supervision  on 
numerous  organic  and  inorganic  compounds  relative  to  their  antiseptic  and 
disinfectant  value  and  that  solutions  of  mercuric  chloride  and  iodide  were 
shown  to  be  the  most  powerful  agents  for  destroying  bacteria  and  for  prevent- 
ing their  development.  Since  then  a  great  number  of  experiments  made  by 
distinguished  operators  in  this  department  of  hygiene  amply  proved  the  cor- 
rectness of  his  statements  ;  and  solutions  of  these  salts  were  now  used  so 
dilute  as  scarcely  to  be  called  poisonous,  except  when  taken  in  large  quantities. 
Mr.  Beringer  asked  Mr.  England  whether  he  had  experimented  with  Lister's 
last  proposed  substance,  mercuric  cyanide,  and  with  what  results  ;  the  reply 
was  that  he  had  not,  but  he  learned  that  it  had  not  proven  as  satisfactory  as 
Mr.  Lister  had  expected. 
A  discussion  upon  the  difference  that  has  been  observed  in  the  action  of 
ether  for  antesthetic  purposes  of  the  different  manufacturers  led  to  the  state- 
