AnM^?ch,f903.^In,}  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  149 
PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  regular  monthly  pharmaceutical  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy  was  held  Tuesday,  February  17th,  Mr.  E.  M. 
Boring,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  acting  as  chairman. 
Considering  the  practical  value  of  the  papers  presented,  the  meeting 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  present  series. 
The  first  paper  on  the  program  was  on  "  Inferior  Drugs  and  Artful 
Methods  of  Deception,"  by  Lyman  F.  Kebler,  chief  of  the  new 
drug  laboratory  of  the  Department  of  Chemistry  of  the  U.  S.  De- 
partment of  Agriculture.  The  speaker  first  alluded  to  the  varia- 
tion in  quality  of  drugs,  collected  at  different  seasons  of  the  yean 
and  of  these  he  mentioned  podophyllum, and  sanguinaria.  He  then 
considered  a  number  of  specific  instances  of  inferiority.  Mr.  Kebler 
said  that  large  quantities  of  the  siftings  of  a  number  of  drugs  as 
cinchona,  senna  and  cinnamon  are  available,  and  these  are  utilized 
chiefly  in  the  manufacture  of  powdered  drugs.  A  number  of  drugs 
lose  their  active  principles  on  keeping.  He  found,  for  instance,  that 
pilocarpus,  which  assayed  0-2 1  per  cent,  of  alkaloids  in  May,  1901* 
was  nearly  devoid  of  any  alkaloids  a  year  and  a  half  later.  Sandal- 
wood chips  appear  to  be  another  drug  in  which  the  time-element 
is  of  importance.  The  old  chips  he  found  in  one  instance  to  yield 
but  1-2  per  cent,  of  volatile  oil,  whereas  a  sample  of  fresh  material 
yielded  5-5  to  6-0  per  cent,  of  oil. 
Mr.  Kebler  said  that  he  recently  had  met  with  a  sample  of  bees- 
wax which  closely  resembled  the  genuine  article,  but  which  proba- 
bly contained  no  beeswax  at  all.  It  had  specific  gravity  0963, 
melting-point  640  C,  acid  number  6*1,  ether  number  134.  He 
said  that  much  of  the  beeswax  on  the  market  was  composed  of  cere- 
sin  or  paraffin,  and  that  recently  a  flavoring  liquid  had  been  intro- 
duced to  give  these  an  odor  of  beeswax.  In  conclusion  the  speaker 
alluded  to  a  reprehensible  practice  among  some  dealers  in  that  they 
deliver  goods  which  are  either  entirely  different  or  much  inferior 
in  quality  compared  to  the  original  samples  submitted.  Another 
unfortunate  condition  is,  that  the  public  have  been  educated  to 
expect  articles  to  have  a  certain  appearance,  as  coated  ginger,  silvered 
cochineal,  limed  nutmegs,  etc.,  and  that  they  will  not  accept  or 
are  prejudiced  against  the  genuine  article. 
In  discussing  the  adulteration  of  beeswax  Mr.  H.  J.  Watson  said 
that  about  95  per  cent,  of  the  apiarists  use  artificial  foundations, 
