Alm2y,iSSm  }        Educational  Work  of  A.M.  A.  19 
RHUBARB  AS  A  SOURCE  OF  COLOR  IN  PLACE  OF 
GOLDEN  SEAL. 
By  John  K.  Thumj  Ph.G.,  Pharmacist  at  the  German  Hospital, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Hydrastis  or  golden  seal  is  frequently  used  for  its  property  of 
imparting  a  golden-yellow  color  to  liquid  pharmaceutical  prepara- 
tions. 
At  the  hospital  with  which  I  am  connected,  we  have  been  using 
it  for  many  years  to  give  this  color  to  our  liquid  antiseptic  or 
"  Listerine." 
The  exorbitant  price  demanded  in  recent  years  for  this  drug, 
makes  its  use  altogether  prohibitory  for  this  purpose.  Naturally,  a 
substitute  to  take  its  place  is  desirable  and  one  was  sought  for  among 
vegetable  drugs. 
Rhubarb  was  the  drug  whose  possibilities  impressed  themselves 
on  the  writer's  mind  and  after  some  experimentation,  was  adopted 
for  this  purpose  as  desirable  in  every  way. 
Our.  method  of  obtaining  the  coloring  is  very  simple,  namely,  the 
maceration  for  twenty-four  hours  and  percolation  of  a  definite 
amount  of  crude  ground  drug  (3  per  cent.)  with  alcohol  to  a 
definite  volume. 
This  alcoholic  solution  can  be  used  in  varied  amounts  to  give 
golden-yellow  tints  to  any  liquid  preparation. 
THE   EDUCATIONAL   WORK   OF   THE   COUNCIL  ON 
PHARMACY  AND  CHEMISTRY  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
MEDICAL  ASSOCIATION.* 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Washington,  D.  C. 
The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  direct  the  attention  of  American 
Pharmacists  to  the  work  of  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chem- 
istry of  the  American  Medical  Association  and  to  call  attention 
more  particularly  to  the  educational  work  that  has  been  done  in 
the  past  and  the  possible  elaboration  of  this  same  line  of  work  in 
the  future. 
The  origin  and  object  of  the  Council  has  been  well  outlined 
by  Torald  Sollmann  in  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "  The  broader 
*  Presented  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
September,  1911. 
