^pSaberfim™'}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  481 
of  residue  remaining  is  different  for  the  different  coal  tar  products  and  charac- 
teristic for  each  synthetic  product. 
INCREASE  OF  DENSITY  IN  DISTILLATES  OF  WINES  AND 
OTHER  SPIRITUOUS  LIQUORS. 
By  A.  B.  I/stons. 
The  condensation  which  takes  place  when  alcohol  and  water  are  mixed  does 
not  seem  to  be  completed  immediately.  This  gradual  progressive  condensation 
of  mixtures  of  alcohol  and  water  seems  to  have  been  known  or  suspected  by 
Townes  when  he  constructed  his  alcohol  table,  for  he  allowed  his  mixtures  of 
alcohol  and  water  to  stand  two  days  before  taking  their  specific  gravity,  but 
nothing  is  said  about  it  in  the  instructions  given  for  determining  alcohol  in 
liquors  by  distillation.  The  author  finds  this  same  slow  condensation  to  go  on 
in  mixtures  of  commercial  alcohol  with  recently  boiled  distilled  water. 
PRECIPITATED  CALCIUM  PHOSPHATE. 
By  Joseph  Feil. 
The  medicated  waters  of  1890  are  poorer  than  those  of  1880  Pharmacopoeia, 
on  account  of  the  solubility  of  calcium  phosphate  in  water,  tending  to  promote 
the  growth  Confervoideae.  In  the  case  of  Tr.  Opii,  this  is  much  more  serious. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  laudanum  in  drug  stores  is  deficient  in  strength. 
Many  causes  have  been  assigned  for  this.  Professor  Good  thought  that  this  was 
due  to  the  formation  of  morphine  phosphate  in  the  course  of  preparation. 
Experiments  show  this  to  be  true  to  an  unappreciable  extent,  about  t£q  of  the 
amount  of  morphine  in  the  opium  remains  in  the  magma  in  the  percolator. 
The  real  cause  is  a  physical  one.  Calcium  phosphate'  instead  of  aiding  the 
exhaustion,  prevents  the  thorough  percolation  of  the  opium.  The  old  process 
of  maceration  is  recommended  in  preference  to  the  percolation  method. 
THE  FOOD  VALUE  OF  LIQUID  FOODS. 
By  E.  H.  Bartley. 
This  paper  describes  the  methods  of  determining  the  value  of  foods  and  takes 
up  the  prepared  foods,  prepared  from  meats,  showing  that  such  preparations 
have  either  a  stimulant  action,  depending  upon  the  presence  of  the  extractive 
matters,  or  a  true  food  value  depending  upon  the  contents  of  albumin  or 
other  proteid.  The  food  value  of  gelatin,  carbohydrates,  alcohol,  etc.,  and  the 
cost  of  such  foods,  to  the  public,  necessary  to  furnish  a  definite  unit  of  heat 
value. 
BEZOARS  AND  BEZOARDICS. 
.  By  K.  H.  Gane. 
This  paper  is  historical,  and  reviews  the  origin  and  use  of  the  bezoars,  orien- 
tal and  occidental,  as  well  as  the  official,  in  the  old  London  and  Edinburgh 
Pharmacopoeias.  The  high  price  and  scarcity  of  the  genuine  bezoars  led  to 
the  preparation  of  a  series  of  remedies  in  imitation  of,  or  supposed  to  resemble 
in  properties,  the  official  article.  There  were  the  mineral ,  animal  and  various 
other  bezoardics.  These  were  all  prepared  by  a  similar  process,  by  heating 
butter  of  antimony  and  nitric  acid,  with  oxides  of  the  various  metals.  A  large 
number  of  quotations  from  old  dispensatories,  etc.,  are  given,  showing  the 
preparation  and  uses  of  these  specifics. 
