232 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharru. 
May,  1903. 
The  book  is  a  convenient  and  handy  book  for  a  trained  pharma- 
cist or  pharmaceutical  chemist,  but  is  too  condensed  to  be  of  much 
help  to  a  beginner.  It  will  not  obviate  the  necessity  of  thorough 
laboratory  drill  and  education,  but  would  be  undoubtedly  of  value 
to  the  educated  pharmacist.  We  do  not  recall  any  book  in  the 
English  language  that  covers  quite  so  broad  a  field  in  so  small  com. 
pass  with  equal  satisfaction.  S.  P.  S. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  regular  monthly  pharmaceutical  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy  was  held  Tuesday,  April  2 1st,  Mr.  Thomas  S. 
Wiegand,  Librarian  of  the  College,  acting  as  chairman. 
The  first  paper  on  the  programme  was  on  "  The  Pharmacy  of 
Liquid  Petrolatum,"  by  E.  Fullerton  Cook,  P.D.,  Assistant  Director 
of  the  Pharmaceutical  Laboratory,  and  will  be  printed  in  a  later 
issue  of  this  Journal.  The  paper  was  accompanied  by  a  large 
number  of  specimens. 
In  discussing  the  paper,  Mr.  Wiegand  agreed  with  the  author  that 
chloroform  used  as  a  solvent  for  alkaloids  intended  for  use  in  nasal 
sprays  would  be  extremely  irritating.  He  asked  the  author  if 
he  had  tried  making  the  emulsion  of  petrolatum,  by  shaking  finely 
powdered  acacia  with  the  liquid  petrolatum,  as  is  done  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  turpentine  emulsion,  and  said  that  he  supposed  it  might  be 
made  satisfactorily.  Mr.  Boring  also  commented  upon  this  method 
of  making  emulsions  and  said  that  it  originated  with  J.  Winchell 
Forbes,  of  California  (see  this  Journal,  1872,  p.  61). 
In  reference  to  the  formula  for  cold  cream  proposed  by  Dr.  Alpers 
(see  this  Journal,  1901,  p.  117),  in  which  liquid  petrolatum  was 
used  instead  of  almond  oil,  Mr.  Wilbert  said  that  in  his  experi- 
ence, the  preparation  was  both  stable  and  efficient,  and  that  he 
knew  a  number  of  pharmacists  who  had  followed  the  formula  with 
satisfaction.  Mr.  Cook  said  that  he  had  not  found  it  as  efficient  for 
sunburn  due  to  exposure  at  the  seashore.  In  regard  to  the  thera- 
peutics of  petrolatum,  Dr.  Lowe  read  a  short  quotation  from  Dr. 
Hare's  work  on  therapeutics.  Others  taking  part  in  the  discussion 
were  Messrs.  Weidemann  and  Kraemer. 
The  next  paper  was  on  "  Some  Further  Notes  on  Essential  Oils," 
by  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Ph.M.  (see  page  218).  In  discussing  this  paper 
Mr.  Wiegand  said  that  a  priori  owe.  would  consider  that  the  expressed 
