584 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharru. 
\   December,  1903. 
to  present  a  crayon  portrait.  Professor  Remington  said  that  Mr.  J. 
M.  Baer  had  acted  as  treasurer  of  the  committee  and  that  to  him 
the  many  friends  of  Mr.  Stem  had  sent  their  contributions.  The 
portrait  was  made  by  Mr.  Phillippi,  from  a  group  photograph  of  the 
members  of  the  Faculty,  by  Gilbert  and  Bacon,  Mr.  Stem  having 
been  invited  to  sit  with  them. 
Prof.  Clement  B.  Lowe  received  the  portrait  for  the  college  and 
spoke  of  his  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Stem  and  of  his  regard  and 
esteem  for  him.  Mr.  French  said  also  that  it  gave  him  much  satis- 
faction to. have  this  portrait  presented. 
M.  I.  Wilbert,  Ph.M.,  read  a  paper  on  "  The  Centenary  of  the 
Society  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris"  (see  page  570);  and  also  gave  a 
resume  of  "  The  Later  Developments  in  the  Study  of  Radio-Active 
Matter"  (see  page  575),  which  was  illustrated  by  means  of  lantern 
slides,  among  these  being  a  section  photograph  of. the  instrument 
devised  by  Madame  Curie  for  measuring  the  intensity  of  the  rays 
emitted  by  radio-active  substances.  Formerly  photographic  plates 
were  used  for  this  work,  but  this  method  was  unsatisfactory  on 
account  of  the  amount  oi  time  required,  and  was  only  approximate 
at  best,  besides  being  attended  by  a  certain  amount  of  expense. 
In  reply  to  a  query  by  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Lewton,  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Commercial  Museums,  Mr.  Wilbert  stated  that  the  mineral 
uraninite  from  Colorado  had  been  sent  to  M.  and  Mdme.  Curie  for 
examination  and  that  it  had  been  found  to  be  richer  in  radio-active 
substance  than  pitchblende. 
Dr.  Rodney  H.  True,  Physiologist  in  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Indus- 
try, U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  gave  an  address  on  the  "  Cul- 
tivation of  Medicinal  Plants,"  illustrating  the  same  with  drug 
specimens  obtained  from  plants  grown  by  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. Dr.  True  said  that  the  Bureau  had  selected  for  the  present 
three  localities  in  which  to  carry  on  experiments  in  medicinal  plant 
cultivation,  these  being  in  the  Potomac  flats  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
at  Burlington,  Vt,  and  in  Texas  ;  it  being  thought  that  these  three 
plots  would  furnish  a  variety  of  climatic  and  soil  conditions.  He 
said  that  a  strong  motive  for  taking  up  this  work  arose  from  the 
fact  that  there  is  a  shortage  in  the  supply  of  a  number  of  our  native 
drugs  due  to  the  rapid  collection  of  them.  Some  of  the  plants 
which  were  formerly  very  abundant  are  now  very  scarce.  He  said 
that  Hydrastis  Canadensis  was  formerly  abundant  in  the  Ohio  valley 
