478 
Editorial. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       Sept.,  1888. 
The  Ohio  Pharmacevtical  Association  met  at  its  tenth  annual  meeting  at 
Columbus,  June  12  to  14,  and  was  welcomed  by  Mayor  Bruck.  The  address 
by  President  S.  E.  Allen,  and  the  reports  of  oflBcers  and  committees  were 
presented  and  disposed  of.  A  number  of  papers  were  read  and  discussed, 
and  several  questions  of  trade  interest  received  attention.  Dr.  A.  B.  Lyons 
who  was  present  as  a  representative  of  the  Michigan  State  Association,  spoke 
warmly  in  favor  of  a  joint  meeting  of  the  two  associations,  for  which  pur- 
pose Put-in-Bay  would  be  admirably  adapted.  M.  D.  Fulton,  of  Bucyrus, 
was  elected  president  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  L.  C.  Hopp  and  Charles 
Huston  were  re-elected  secretary  and  treasurer  respectivel5^  The  next 
meeting  will  take  place  at  Mansfield,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  June,  1889. 
The  West  Virginia  Pharmaceutical  Association  met  at  Clarksburg,  June  20th, 
President  McWhorter  in  the  chair.  An  address  of  welcome  by  Mayor  Lee, 
the  president's  annual  address,  the  reports  of  officers  and  of  committees,  and 
the  reading  of  several  papers  occupied  the  attention  of  the  meeting.  The 
president,  secretary  and  treasurer  were  re-elected  officers  for  the  ensuing 
year. 
The  following  printed  Proceedings  have  been  received  : 
Kansas— Tp.  129.    See  July  number,  p.  376. 
Louisiana. — Pp.  113.    See  July  number,  p.  376. 
Nebraska. — Pp.  124.    See  July  number,  p.  377. 
New  York. — Pp.  232.    See  August  number,  p.  426. 
Pennsylvania. — Pp.  170.    See  July  number,  p.  378. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
The  Origin  of  Petroleum. — In  the  interesting  address  by  Mr.  A.  H. 
Samuel,  published  in  our  April  number  (pp.  187-197),  there  will  be  found 
a  concise  review  of  the  various  theories  which  have  been  advanced  in  expla- 
nation of  the  origin  of  petroleum.  Against  the  formation  of  this  natural 
product  from  organic  material  a  weighty  objection  had  been  advanced 
pointing  to  the  fact  that,  if  petroleum  really  were  a  destillation-product  of 
organic  matter,  the  residues  which  should  have  remained  of  such  matter 
had  never  been  found.  The  weight  of  this  argument  has  been  considerably 
reduced  by  the  results  of  experiments  made  by  C.  Engler  in  the  laboratory 
at  Karlsruhe,  and  reported  in  Berichte  der  Beutschen  Chemischen  Gesellschaft , 
1888,  pp.  1816-1827.  We  cannot  follow  the  arguments  of  this  interesting 
essay,  and  must  content  ourselves  with  a  few  brief  references. 
Referring  to  the  views  of  various  scientists  who,  for  either  chemical  rea- 
sons, or  for  geological  considerations,  insist  upon  the  formation  of  petroleum 
at  a  comparatively  low  temperature,  but  under  a  high  pressure,  the  author 
had  occasion  to  distil  under  such  conditions  a  large  quantity  (492  kilos)  of 
American  fish  oil,  the  pressure  being  gradually  reduced  from  10  to  4  atmo- 
spheres, while  the  temperature  was  increased  from  320°  to  a  little  over  400°  C, 
The  products  consisted  of  inflammable  gases,  of  a  watery  liquid,  and  of  an 
