434 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharrn. 
1  September,  1906. 
ence  for  the  third  time,  and  the  meeting  itself  is  reported  '  to  have 
been  an  eminently  successful  one. 
The  proceedings  were  inaugurated  on  the  evening  of  Monday, 
July  23d,  by  a  reception,  in  the  City  Municipal  Buildings,  where  the 
visiting  members  were  received  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Lady 
Mayoress  of  Birmingham  assisted  by  members  of  the  City  Council. 
The  scientific  business  of  the  Conference  was  formally  opened  on 
Tuesday  morning  by  the  usual  addresses  of  welcome,  which  in  turn 
were  followed  by  the  annual  address  of  the  President,  Mr.  W.  A.  H. 
Naylor.  This  address  was  largely  devoted  to  a  review  of  some  of 
the  problems  connected  with  common  or  well-known  drugs  that  re- 
quire further  elucidation  and  study.  The  review  includes  such  well- 
known  and  widely  used  drugs  as  aloes,  balsam  of  tolu,  cantharides, 
gelsemium,  ginger,  guaiac  resin,  hops,  male  fern,  myrrh,  senega  and 
veratrin,  and  is  certainly  deserving  of  the  attention  of  all  who  are  in 
any  way  interested  in  research  work.  The  communications  read 
before  the  Conference,  while  not  epoch-making,  included  many  that 
were  of  more  than  usual  interest,  and  all  of  the  papers  contained 
material  that  will  be  found  to  be  of  practical  value  to  the 
pharmacist. 
Messrs.  Farr  and  Wright  discussed  the  '«  Nitric  Acid  Process  for 
the  Determination  of  Strychnine,"  as  adopted  in  the  U.S.P.,  and  also 
made  some  further  communication  on  their  work  in  connection  with 
"  Standardized  Powdered  Extract  of  Nux  Vomica." 
Mr.  H.  G.  Smith  read  a  paper  on  "  Some  Recent  Chemical  Dis- 
coveries in  the  Eucalyptus,"  in  which  he  calls  attention  to  the 
numerous  definite  constituents  that  are  obtainable  from  the  several 
species  of  Eucalyptus. 
The  Activity  of  Pepsin  after  brief  contact  with  certain  inorganic 
compounds.  The  author  of  this  paper,  Mr.  J.  F.  Tocher,  concludes 
that  solutions  of  alkaline  carbonates  and  hydrates  destroy  the 
activity  of,  and  should  not  be  prescribed  with,  pepsin ;  bismuth  car- 
bonate precipitates  pepsin  from  aqueous  solutions ;  morphine  retards 
the  action  of  pepsin. 
Strophanthus  and  Strophanthin. — Under  this  title  E.  W.  Mann 
records  some  interesting  experiments  in  estimating  the  amount  as 
well  as  the  nature  of  the  active  principle  of  strophanthus.  He  con- 
cludes that  in  view  of  the  very  marked  difference  in  the  activity  of 
the  glucoside,  obtained  from  the  several  varieties  of  strophanthus^ 
