46 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     January.  1905. 
illustrating  the  development  of  the  art  and  science  of  healing 
throughout  the  ages,  and  that  he  would  have  the  articles  insured 
while  in  his  possession  and  en  route,  if  desired,  and  also  pay  for 
their  transportation  both  ways. 
Dr.  Lowe  spoke  of  Mr.  Wellcome's  interest  in  scientific  matters 
and  referred  to  his  explorations  in  South  America  to  determine 
whether  the  Indians  or  the  Spanish  were  the  first  to  use  Cinchona 
as  a  medicine. 
George  M.  Beringer,  A.M.,  presented  a  paper  entitled,  "  A  Record 
of  Several  Toxicological  Investigations,  "  and  exhibited  in  connec- 
tion therewith  the  specimens  that  had  been  prepared  for  the  trials 
referred  to  in  his  paper.  The  paper  will  be  published  in  a  later 
issue  of  this  Journal. 
In  prefacing  his  remarks,  Mr.  Beringer  said,  it  must  not  be  sup- 
posed that  in  toxicological  examinations  of  the  kind  recorded  the 
work  can  be  entirely  carried  out  according  to  the  books,  but  that 
each  case  is  a  law  unto  itself. 
In  commenting  upon  the  fact  that  no  inflammation  of  the  walls 
of  the  stomach  was  noted  in  the  arsenic  poisoning  case  referred  to 
by  Mr.  Beringer,  Dr.  John  Marshall  said  that  when  arsenic  is  ad- 
ministered in  the  form  of  arsenite  no  inflammation  o  the  membrane 
o  the  stomach  takes  place,  as  the  poison  is  so  quickly  absorbed; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  case  on  record  of  administration 
of  the  oxide  in  which  inflammation  does  not  take  place. 
Dr.  S.  Solis  Cohen,  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine  in  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  gave  an  address  on  "  The  Proper  Scope  of  Scientific 
(so-called  Expert)  Testimony  in  Trials  involving  Pharmacological 
Questions,"  an  abstract  of  which  follows  (see  also  page  i): 
Physicians  and  pharmacists  called  upon  to  testity  in  court  should 
not  permit  themselves  to  be  placed,  even  apparently,  in  the  position 
of  partisans.  They  should  by  trie  directness,  simplicity,  complete- 
ness and  frankness  of  their  answers  to  both  sides,  show  their  sin- 
cerity and  truthfulness.  The  scientific  or  expert  advocate  has  a 
legitimate  place  in  court,  but  it  is  by  the  side  of  counsel,  not  in  the 
witness  box.    The  two  functions  should  not  be  united. 
The  function  of  a  scientific  witness  is  to  enlighten  the  judge  and 
jury  as  to  the  significance  of  certain  facts  and  relations  beyond  the 
ordinary  knowledge,  but  of  which  he  has  made  a  special  study.  His 
testimony  must  be  based  in  part  upon  fns  reading,  in  part  upon  his 
