Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1911. 
Washington  Branch  A.  Ph.  A. 
295 
numbers  of  one-third  of  a  pint  of  milk  or  one  and  one-half  eggs. 
The  same  amount  of  energy  would  be  given  by  an  equal  weight  of 
starch  or  by  one  and  one-fifth  as  much  of  flour  or  other  cereals. 
The  writer  concludes  that  sanatogen  like  most  preparations  of  this 
class  while  a  food  is  a  ruinously  expensive  one. — /.  Am.  M.  Ass., 
1911,  V.  56,  p.  1345. 
Strophanthus. — J.  Haycock  outlines  an  assay  method  for 
strophanthus  seeds,  in  which  after  eliminating  the  oil  by  means 
of  ether,  he  extracts  the  seed  with  70  per  cent,  alcohol  and  treats 
the  resulting  extract  with  sulphuric  acid  by  means  of  heat  to  change 
the  strophanthin  into  strophanthidin.  The  strophanthidin  is  sub- 
sequently washed  out,  by  means  of  chloroform,  dried  at  a  tem- 
perature below  65°  C.  and  weighed.  The  resulting  yield  divided 
by  0.365  gives  the  amount  of  strophanthin  present. — Pharm.  J., 
Lond.,  191 1,  V.  86,  April  29,  pp.  553-554- 
Xerase. — Xerase  is  a  mixture  of  a  specially  prepared  dry  beer 
yeast  150  parts,  grape  sugar  (dextrose)  20  parts,  white  bole  125 
parts  and  a  mixture  of  nutritive  salts  3  parts.  Xerase  is  a  yellowish- 
gray,  powder,  having  a  weak  odor  of  yeast  and  a  salty  taste.  It 
is  only  slightly  soluble  in  water.  It  resists  ordinary  atmospheric 
conditions. — /.  Am.  M.  Ass.,  191 1,  v.  56,  p.  1460. 
THE  CITY  OF  WASHINGTON  BRANCH  OF  THE  AMERI- 
CAN PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION. 
The  stated  meeting  of  the  City  of  Washington  Branch  of  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association  for  April  was  devoted  to  a 
general  discussion  on  matters  of  interest  to  pharmacists. 
Dr.  Murray  Gait  Motter  discussed  the  use  and  advantage  of  a 
restricted  materia  medica  and  called  attention  to  the  efforts  that 
have  been  and  are  being  made  in  this  country  to  bring  about  reforms 
in  therapeutic  practices.  He  pointed  out  that  the  need  for  limiting 
instruction  in  materia  medica  subjects  to  a  restricted  list  of  sub- 
stances is  being  recognized  by  teachers  in  medical  schools  and  that 
the  general  trend  of  this  tendency  is  well  illustrated  by  the  resolution 
adopted  by  teachers  in  the  medical  schools  in  Philadelphia  at  an 
informal  conference  called  by  Prof.  Joseph  P.  Remington,  on  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1908. 
This  resolution,  in  part,  reads  as  follows : 
