Am.  Jour,  pharm. )  Pharmaceutical ,  Meeting.  1 8 1 
March,  1895.  / 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
Philadelphia,  February  19,  1895. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  appointing  Prof.  P.  G.  Ryan  Chairman. 
On  motion  the  reading  of  the  minutes  was  dispensed  with. 
The  Registrar  announced  that  there  had  been  received  as  donations  since  the 
last  meeting  the  following  works: 
Les  Drogues  Simples  djOrigine  VegHale,  by  MM.  Planchon  and  Collin. 
From  Octave  Doin. 
Bastin's  Laboratory  Exercises.    From  W.  B.  Saunders. 
Extent  and  Character  of  Food  and  Drug  Adulterations.  Proceedings  of  the 
Eleventh  Annual  Convention  of  the  Association  of  Official  Agricultural 
Chemists.    U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 
U.  S.  Consular  Reports  for  1894. 
U.  S.  Civil  Service  Commission.    Tenth  Annual  Report. 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education. 
Mr.  h.  F.  Kebler  read  some  notes  on  beeswax  and  various  adulterations ; 
conspicuous  among  the  variations  are  those  of  the  specific  gravity  and  acid 
numbers;  the  principal  contaminations  being  paraffin  and  earthy  materials, 
the  latter  to  make  its  specific  gravity  nearer  to  normal.  When  paraffin  is  used 
to  any  large  extent,  the  surface  of  the  mixture  will  always  show  a  concavity  of 
marked  character. 
Petrolatum  was  also  reported  on  and  he  had  examined  nine  samples,  but  one 
of  them  was  closely  within  the  requirements  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Where 
vegetable  or  organic  matter  was  the  contaminant,  the  French  chemists  relied 
upon  a  saturated  solution  of  permanganate  of  potassium,  used  in  the  proportion 
