442  Twenty-fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  }AmSep?"'i?7h6arm' 
The  reading  of  essays  being  called  for,  Mr.  J.  D.  Wells  read  a 
paper  on  " Senega  root,"  in  answer  to  query  I,  giving  a  brief  history  of 
its  introduction  into  medicine,  and  stating  that  it  grows  rather  sparingly 
from  Canada  and  along  the  Western  slope  of  the  Alleghenies  through 
the  valley  of  the  Ohio  river,  being  more  frequent  in  Southern 
Indiana,  likewise  in  Iowa  and  Minnesota,  in  the  Virginias,  North 
Carolina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  the  northern  parts  of  Georgia, 
Alabama  and  Texas  ;  but  it  is  scarce  in  Missouri,  and  has  not  been 
found  between  32  and  450  N.  Lat.  and  from  970  Long,  west  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  No  accurate  information  can  be  obtained  with  regard 
to  the  amount  of  senega  exported  ;  but  a  leading  drughouse  of  New 
York  estimates  the  quantity  at  rather  more  than  2,000  pounds  annually. 
A  paper  by  H.  N.  Rittenhouse,  on  uAmmoniacal  glycyrrhizin," 
was  read,  and  a  handsome  sample  of  the  same,  in  thin,  dark-colored 
transparent  scales,  exhibited.  The  preparation  was  made  by  the  pro- 
cess of  Z.  Roussin  ("Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1875,  p.  405-410),  omitting, 
however,  the  refining  by  resolution  in  alcohol,  and  precipitation  with 
ether,  which  would  add  materially  to  the  cost.  It  appears  to  be  well 
adapted  for  masking  the  bitter  taste  of  quinia  and  other  compounds. 
In  a  paper  presented  in  answer  to  query  9,  Mr.  G.  W.  Kennedy 
proposes  a  fluid  extract  of  guarana  (Paullinia  sorbilis),  which  is  pre- 
pared by  displacing  the  moderately-fine  powder  with  a  mixture  com- 
posed of  8  fluidounces  of  strong  alcohol  and  4  each  of  glycerin  and 
water,  and  completing  the  exhaustion  with  diluted  alcohol ;  the  first 
12  fluidounces  of  the  percolate  is  reserved,  the  remaining  portion  being 
evaporated  to  4  fluidounces,  and  mixed  with  the  reserved  liquid. 
Dr.  Pile,  in  answer  to  query  8,  presented  a  short  paper,  in  which 
he  stated  that  he  had  been  unsuccessful  in  preventing  the  change  of 
syrup  of  iodide  of  iron  by  the  addition  of  citric  acid,  unless  it  was  kept 
in  well-filled  vials  and  excluded  from  contact  with  the  air.  Several 
members  claimed  to  have  been  quite  successful  in  preserving  the  pale- 
green  color  of  the  preparation,  even  in  partly-filled  bottles,  by  adding 
to  20  fluidounces  of  the  freshly-prepared  syrup  5  grs.  of  citric  acid. 
Other  members  had  used  it  in  larger  proportion.  In  the  discussion^ 
the  change  of  the  color  of  the  syrup  from  pale  green  to  colorless,  under 
the  influence  of  the  direct  sunlight,  was  likewise  alluded  to. 
The  Secretary  read  a  paper  by  J.  U.  Lloyd  on  "Fluid  extract  of 
