318  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,       { ^"^  jn^nea&^sf 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  May  I5th,  1888. 
The  eighth  and  last  of  the  present  series  of  Pharmaceutical  Meetings  was  held 
to-day — Mr.  Wallace  Procter  being  asked  to  preside. 
The  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were  read  and  approved. 
Specimens  of  Sulphur  from  the  Cove  Creek  sulphur-bed,  in  Beaver  county, 
Utah,  were  presented  to  the  Cabinet  of  the  College  by  Harry  C.  Myers,  of  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  who  stated  that  some  specimens  of  the  mineral  contained  as  much 
as  93  per  cent,  of  pure  sulphur.  The  sulphur  is  extracted  by  putting  the  ore  into 
cylinders  and  passing  steam  into  them,  the  slag  being  supported  on  a  grating, 
which  rests  upon  kettles  receiving  the  melted  sulphur,  and  from  thence  it  is 
drawn  off.  The  works  have  a  capacity  of  over  3,000  tons  per  annum  ;  so  far, 
however,  1200  tons  is  the  most  yet  attained  in  one  year. 
Mr.  England  called  attention  to  a  formula  for  a  tasteless  extract  of  cascara  sa- 
^m(ia,  made  by  exhausting  the  drug  and  treating  it  with  magnesium  carbonate. 
He  stated  that  he  had  made  experiments  in  the  same  direction,  modifying  the 
taste  by  means  of  alkalies,  and  found  it  made  a  very  much  handsomer  syrup, 
that  could  be  mixed  with  aqueous  menstrua  without  precipitation,  and  withal 
was  quite  a  beautiful  preparation.  But  the  fluid  extract  administered  in  foar 
times  the  usual  dose  of  a  fluid  extract  made  without  the  use  of  alkalies,  was 
found  to  be  inert.  For  this  reason  he  called  attention  to  the  formula,  to  guard 
others  from  its  employment.  He  said  he  thought  that  the  value  of  cascara 
sagrada  depended  upon  an  acid  principle,  that  promoted  the  peristaltic  move- 
ment of  the  bowels,  and  thus  was  eflicient  as  a  cathartic. 
Mr.  England  read  a  paper  upon  Tlieine  Hydrobromate  Elixir.  The  reading  of 
the  paper  elicited  considerable  discussion  about  the  salts  of  cafieine  and  theine. 
It  was  stated  that  several  prices  current  quoted  them  as  one  and  the  same  thing, 
and  that  orders  for  cafieine  and  caff'eine  citrate  were  supplied  indiscriminately 
from  the  same  stock.   The  paper  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  publication. 
Mr.  Procter  referred  to  the  Tincture  of  Strophanthus.  He  made  the  tincture  by 
treating  29  grams  of  the  seeds,  deprived  of  their  awns,  and  after  thoroughly 
bruising  them,  with  stronger  ether  (100  grams  being  used  ;  this  was  recovered 
by  careful  distillation) ;  the  seeds,  were  then  dried  and  percolated  with  alcohol, 
U.  S.  P.,  until  580  grams  were  obtained.  The  ether  extracted  8.7  grams  of  dark 
fixed  oil,  which  is  possessed  of  some  bitterness,  but  apparently  does  not  contain 
much  of  the  active  principle.  The  tincture  thus  made  cost  |1.35  per  pound,  the 
ether  not  being  charged,  as  it  is  almost  entirely  recovered  at  a  low  temperature, 
and  had  little  or  none  of  the  characteristics  of  the  strophanthus. 
Several  inquiries  were  made,  whether  petroleum  spirit  would  not  be  a  better 
material  to  remove  the  fixed  oil.  Mr.  Beringer's  experience  was  that  ether  was 
not  so  good  as  the  petroleum  spirit,  as  there  was  more  danger  of  removing  alka- 
loidal  matter  by  ether  than  by  petroleum,  as  the  fatty  matter  associated  with 
the  other  ingredients  in  the  plants  rendered  the  active  constituents  more  solu- 
ble than  they  would  be  if  not  so  associated. 
Mr.  Moerk  stated  that  Dragendorfi",  in  his  work  upon  plant  analysis,  laid  great 
stress  upon  the  use  of  petroleum  spirit  to  remove  fixed  oily  matters  in  operating 
upon  plants. 
The  tincture  of  strophanthus  is  used  for  a  heart  tonic,  being  regarded  as  supe- 
