37^  Professor  Horatio  C.  Wood.  { AmAugusi. S.rm# 
belladonna  root  must  contain  0  5  grammes  of  mydriatic  alkaloids 
from  belladonna  root,  and  fluid  extract  of  guarana  must  contain  in 
100  c.c.  3-5  grammes  of  the  alkaloids  from  guarana. 
Finally,  the  retention  of  H=i  standard  of  atomic  weights  should 
here  be  noted,  since  it  is  liable  to  be  of  some  annoyance  in  alka- 
loidal  estimations.  Thus,  while  with  this  standard  the  molecular 
weight  of  aconitine,  C34H47OnN,  is  640-55,  it  is  645-42  when  the  now 
generally  adopted  standard,  O  =  16,  is  used  to  calculate  the  molecu- 
lar weight,  and  an  inadvertent  substitution  of  one  for  the  other  may 
introduce  an  error  of  nearly  1  per  cent,  in  a  volumetric  estimation 
of  aconitine. 
Scientific  Department, 
The  Searee  &  Hereth  Company. 
PROFESSOR  HORATIO  C.  WOOD. 
By  Henry  Beates,  Jr. 
Prof.  Horatio  C.  Wood,  the  President  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopceial 
Convention,  is  a  physician  of  distinguished  and  scientific  merit,  as 
well  as  a  naturalist  of  world-wide  fame.  He  was  born  in  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  January  13,  1841.  He  is  a  descendant  of  Richard  Wood, 
who  emigrated  from  Bristol,  England,  in  1682,  and  settled  first  in 
Philadelphia,  and  later  in  New  Jersey.  His  genealogy  on  his  father's 
side  in  America,  arranged  in  generations,  is  Richard  Wood,  James 
Wood  and  Jane  Wood,  Richard  Wood  and  Priscilla  Bacon  Wood, 
Richard  Wood  and  Hannah  Davis  Wood,  Richard  Wood  and 
Elizabeth  Bacon  Wood,  Horatio  Curtis  Wood  and  Elizabeth  Bacon 
Wood. 
On  the  mother's  side  he  is  believed  to  be  descended  from  Samuel 
Bacon,  who,  in  1685,  purchased  lands  on  the  Cohansey  River,  Cum- 
berland County,  N.  J.,  from  the  Indian  sachems.  Samuel  Bacon  is 
the  reputed  son  of  Nathaniel  Bacon,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  and  banished  under  Charles  II.  This  Nathaniel 
Bacon  was  the  son  of  Sir  Nathaniel  Bacon,  a  brother  of  Sir  Thomas 
Bacon  and  grandson  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  Lord  Keeper  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Through  Hannah  Davis  the  strain  of  blood  is  traceable 
to  a  brother  of  Robert  Bruce,  of  Scotland. 
Professor  Wood  was  educated  at  Westtown  Boarding  School, 
and  the  Friends'  Select  School  of  Philadelphia,  both  sectarian  insti- 
