'■'fcsjfc    }  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  37 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  third  regular  meeting  of  the  session  was  held  December  21st,  1875,  Dr.  W 
H.  Pile  in  the  chair.  Number  in  attendance,  sixty.  The  minutes  of  the  previous 
meeting  were  read  and  approved. 
Prof.  Maisch  presented  to  the  library,  on  behalf  of  J.  C.  Rumph,  a  catalogue 
and  price  list  of  Materia  Medica,  "  Catalogus  et  Valor  Materiae  Medicae,  seu 
medicamentorum  simpiicium  et  compositorum  in  officinis  Molhusinis  prostantium," 
printed  in  1715.  Besides  much  curious  information,  it  contains  the  oaths,  as 
administered  to  apothecaries  and  physicians  in  the  beginning  of  last  century. 
Charles  Bullock  thought  the  disposition  to  present  such  works  ought  to  be 
encouraged ;  they  would  be  valuable  for  our  library,  as  giving  the  antiquities 
of  our  business.  Prof.  Remington  called  attention  to  the  suggestion  that  had 
been  made  by  W.  C.  Bakes,  of  making  a  collection  of  pharmaceutical  books 
and  apparatus  possessing  historical  interest.  Wm.  Mclntyre  presented  a  copy 
of  "  The  Popular  Health  Almanac,"  and  a  press  for  sealing  wafer  capsules. 
Prof.  Remington  read  a  paper  on  aloin,  by  Charles  L.  Mitchell,  (see  page  24). 
Prof.  Maisch  asked  for  further  information,  concerning  the  extract  described  as 
being  made  from  the  mother  liquid  after  the  separation  of  the  crystals  of  aloin. 
Prof.  Remington  said  it  had  the  appearance  of  a  good  extract.  Some  members, 
however,  thought  that  it  should  not  be  used  for  the  extract  of  aloes,  as  officinal  in 
some  European  pharmacopoecias.  I.  J.  Grahame  believed  the  results  claimed  for 
the  administration  of  aloin,  as  a  substitute  for  aloes,  had  not  been  realized.  The 
thereapeutic  effect  of  the  various  aloins  is  different ;  it  is  sold  at  a  high  price,  and 
requires  to  be  given  in  comparatively  large  doses.  On  the  other  hand,  aloes  is  used 
more  frequently  as  a  laxative  than  as  a  cathartic,  and  with  a  good  article,  the  dose 
is  not  large. 
Wm.  Mclntyre  read  a  paper  on  wafer  capsules,  as  a  means  of  administration  of 
medicines  (see  page  25).  Prof.  Maisch  said  wafers  in  sheets,  had  long  been  in 
use  in  Europe  for  this  purpose.  The  introduction  of  the  wafer  capsules,  by 
Limousin,  had  at  first  materially  increased  this  mode  of  medication  ;  but  it  appeared 
that  their  use  there  was  already  on  the  decline,  and  he  believed  their  apparent 
advantages  would  not  supplant  the  American  methods  now  in  use.  R.  V.  Mattison 
had  become  familiar  with  them  two  years  ago,  while  in  the  West,  where  their  use 
had  greatly  diminished  j  he  regarded  them  as  an  elegant  novelty.  James  Kemble 
related  an  incident,  showing  that  sheet  wafers  had  been  used  in  Pennsylvania  years 
ago,  for  the  administration  of  powders,  the  wafer  being  rendered  pliable  by  dipping 
it  into  water.  Prof.  Remington  had  used  the  capsules  to  a  great  extent,  found  them 
to  answer  a  good  purpose  and  claimed  for  them  rapidity  of  action.  Prof.  Maisch 
suggested  that  a  solution  would  act  with  still  greater  rapidity.  Charles  Bullock  did 
not  believe  that  a  greater  amount  of  action  could  be  claimed  by  the  choice  of  one 
form  of  administration  over  another.  The  effect  of  a  pill  is  equal  to  that  of  a 
powder,  it  may  require  a  little  more  time  5  but  will  frequently  cause  the  medicine  to 
be  retained  when  the  stomach  would  reject  the  same  medicines  when  given  in 
some  other  form.    J.  B.  McElroy  had  used  the  French  wafers,  and  considered  them 
