\ 
314  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  { 
Am.  Jour.  Pharrru 
June,  1886. 
From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Fahlberg's  saccharin  may  become, 
in  certain  cases,  a  useful  substitute  for  sugar.  In  diabetes,  Dresch- 
feld3  has  determined  no  alteration  either  in  the  quantity  of  urine  or 
in  the  amount  of  sugar  passed.  According  to  Levinstein,4  diabetic 
patients  in  Berlin  have  been  treated  with  it  for  several  months,  with- 
out experiencing  any  ill  effects.  Its  use  is  further  indicated  in  obesity. 
Saccharin  has  scarcely  any  retarding  effect  on  the  digestion  of  either 
proteids  or  hydrocarbons,  and  in  two  cases  of  acid  dyspepsia  Dresch- 
felcl  found  that  it  relieved  some  of  the  troublesome  symptoms.  Stut- 
zer  has  noticed  that  when  added  in  small  quantities  it  increases  the 
diastatic  action  of  malt  in  presence  of  sugar. 
As  an  indication  of  other  possible  uses  it  may  be  remarked  that 
Levinstein,4  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  in 
Manchester,  exhibited  a  specimen  of  quinine,  in  which  the  bitter  taste 
had  been  masked  by  the  addition  of  a  small  quantity  of  saccharin. 
J.  G.  Adami. 
— Med.  Chronicle,  April,  1886. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHAEM A CEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  May  18, 1886. 
The  last  of  the  present  series  of  Pharmaceutical  meetings  was  held  this  after- 
noon ;  Mr.  Wm.  B.  Webb  in  the  chair. 
Mr.  Bowen,  of  Melbourne,  President  of  the  Australasian  Pharmaceutical 
Association,  being  present,  was  introduced  to  the  meeting  and  expressed 
his  pleasure  at  seeing  the  facilities  which  the  college  had  provided  for  the 
education  of  students  of  pharmacy,  and  thought  the  influence  of  the  phar- 
maceutical meetings  must  be  productive  of  good  to  the  members  of  the  pro- 
fession. 
Donations  to  the  library  were  made  as  follows :  Jahresbericht  fiir  Agricultur- 
Chemie  ;  Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  for  1885,  and 
Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
The  prescription,  which  was  submitted  at  the  last  meeting,  was  the  first  sub- 
ject for  discussion,  and,  as  agreed  upon,  Mr.  Procter  instituted  experiments  upon 
the  subject  just  after  the  last  meeting,  using  the  proportion  of  5  grains  of  potas- 
sium carbonate  to  §ss  of  fluid  extract  of  buchu,  made  strictly  according  to  the 
formula  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia.  This  preparation  showed  no  signs 
of  decomposition  or  of  any  of  the  gummy  or  soapy  deposit  which  took  place  in 
that  which  had  been  exhibited  at  the  last  meeting.    The  sample  was  kept  in 
3  Dreschfeld,  British  Medical  Journal,  1886,  p.  409. 
4  Levinstein,  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  Feb.  27th  1876,  p.  75. 
