268  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
PhiladelphiAj  April  17,  1888. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  and  Mr.  A.  Bobbins  was  asked  to  preside. 
The  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were  read  and  approved.  A  paper  upon  pho- 
toxylin  by  G.  M.  Beringer,  Ph.  G.,  was  read  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Publication.  Samples  of  the  nitrated  wood  pulp  were  exhibited  both  in  an 
amorphous  state  and  rolled  in  sheets  under  only  moderate  pressure.  The  pro- 
cess for  obtaining  wood  pulp  was  enquired  into ;  and  in  reply  it  was  stated  that 
In  some  cases,  billets  of  wood  were  placed  in  a  close  cylinder  and  super-heated 
steam  passed  over  them  till  the  wood  was  completely  disintegrated,  when  it  is 
then  treated  with  caustic  soda  solution.  Other  makers  make  the  wood  into  shreds 
like  wood  packing  and  some  into  shavings  ;  all  of  these  forms  after  the  treat- 
ment with  alkaline  solutions  are  thoroughly  washed  and  pressed  ;  this  yields 
the  wood  pulp  of  the  paper  maker. 
Professor  Remington  called  attention  to  a  long  iron  cylinder  which  was  on 
the  table  and  which  he  explained  as  one  of  the  containers  of  liquid  carbonic 
acid,  now  supplied  by  a  company  termed  the  American  Carbonate  Company, 
Their  process  is  to  prepare  the  gas  by  treating  only  pure  carbonate  of  lime 
washing  the  gas  and  compressing  it  into  a  liquid  condition  in  the  cylinders 
such  as  exhibited.  Its  uses  are  so  manifold  that  it  would  seem  to  be  a  most 
valuable  application  of  science  to  the  arts  in  many  directions,  as  for  preparing 
carbonic  acid  water,  for  bags  for  divers  to  raise  heavy  weights  in  water,  to 
float  sinking  vessels,  and  for  many  other  purposes.  As  mixtures  of  air  with 
twenty  per  cent,  of  carbonic  acid  will  not  support  combustion,  carbonic  acid 
is  quite  valuable  as  a  fire  extinguisher,  and  may  be  conducted  by  means  of 
pipes  with  outlets  in  various  parts  of  a  building.  Enquiry  was  made  as  to  the 
composition  of  the  solution  used  in  hand  grenades  and  it  was  said  they  were 
largely  carbonated  solutions  of  various  salts.  Ammonia  is  also  quite  efi'ectual 
in  extinguishing  fires  as  was  shown  in  the  case  of  a  fire  occurring  in  the  cellar  . 
of  a  drug  house  when  the  heat  burst  two  carboys  of  ammonia  water  which  ex- 
tinguished the  tire.  The  preservation  of  fresh  meats  has  also  been  effected 
by  means  of  carbonic  acid  gas  for  several  weeks  at  a  time.  The  many  uses  to 
which  the  gas  in  this  portable  shape  can  be  applied  render  it  probable  that 
quite  a  revolution  in  some  industries  may  take  place. 
The  question  of  the  strength  of  nitric  acid  needful  in  preparing  pyroxylin 
led  to  some  discussion  as  to  the  reason  that  the  manufacturing  chemists  did 
not  make  an  acid  of  43°  B.  for  the  trade.  Professor  Remington  stated  that  it 
was  for  prudential  reasons  entirely ;  that  it  was  unsafe  to  transport  an  acid 
over  38°  in  the  usual  package,  and  that  it  had  been  found  that  the  usual  ma- 
terials employed  for  packing  would  lead  to  comflagrations  if  brought  into  con- 
tact with  acid  stronger  than  38°. 
The  query  was  made  whether  methylic  alcohol  could  be  used  as  a  fuel  for 
lamps  without  suffering  from  the  very  unpleasant  odor  that  belongs  to  it  in 
its  usual  form ;  the  reply  was  that  it  had  been  found  unsuited. 
An  enquiry  was  made  whether  an  apothecary  was  liable  to  the  United  States 
Government  liquor  tax  if  he  sold  spirituous  liquors  on  physicians'  prescrip- 
