480  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {ASepte0mbeffi»5?' 
On  Friday,  August  16th,  at  8.30  a.m.,  three  special  trains  left  the  Union 
Depot  at  Denver  to  take  the  members  and  friends  of  the  Association  on  a  trip 
up  Clear  Creek  Canon,  over  the  famous  Loop,  to  Silver  Plume.  Here  the 
well- known  Mendota  Mine  was  visited,  and  the  process  of  mining  witnessed. 
The  thoroughly  delighted  party  then  returned  to  Denver,  arriving  in  that  city 
about  7  p.m. 
SECTION  ON  SCIENTIFIC  INTERESTS. 
The  first  session  of  this  section  was  held  on  Saturday,  August  17th,  at  10  a.m. 
Prof.  Remington  presided  in  the  place  of  President  Simpson  during  the  pre- 
liminary session  of  the  Association  proper,  which  is  usually  held  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  meeting  of  the  section.  At  this  meeting  of  the  main  body  the 
minutes  of  the  seventh  session  of  the  Council  were  read  and  approved.  Chair- 
man Dohme,  of  the  section,  then  read  his  address,  Prof.  Good  having  been 
asked  to  occupy  the  chair  during  the  reading.  The  speaker  reviewed  the  his- 
tory of  chemistry  from  the  latter  part  of  the  past  century.  He  referred  in  par- 
ticular to  the  progress  that  had  been  made  in  plant  chemistry  and  the  synthesis 
of  organic  compounds.  Mention  was  also  made  of  the  discovery  of  argon  and 
the  terrestrial  source  of  helium.  The  chairman  expressed  himself  as  pleased 
with  the  present  outlook.  He  suggested  that  a  committee  of  three,  consisting 
of  the  Permanent  Secretary,  the  chairman  of  the  Section  on  Scientific  Interests 
and  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  United  States  Pharma- 
copoeia, be  appointed  to  call  upon  members  for  research  work  ;  and  that  the 
expense  of  such  work  be  paid  out  of  the  funds  of  the  Association,  the  amount 
being  subject  to  proper  regulations.  The  address  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  three  for  consideration  of  the  suggestions.  Chas.  Caspari,  Jr.,  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Use  of  Indicators  Employed  in  the  Titration  of  Alkaloids,  which 
was  outlined  by  Prof.  Sayre  at  last  year's  meeting,  reported  the  extensive  work 
which  the  committee  had  performed.  The  committee  had  been  assisted  by 
Profs.  Prescott  and  Lloyd.  It  suggested  the  use  of  hydrochloric  acid  as  pre- 
ferable to  that  of  sulphuric  for  the  titration  of  quinine,  for  the  reason  that  the 
fluorescence  was,  to  a  large  extent,  circumvented.  Hasmatoxylin  was  decided 
to  be  the  best  indicator  for  use  in  standardizing  the  acid  and  alkaline  solutions, 
brazil-wood  was  recommended  for  use  in  the  case  of  quinine,  while  for  the  titra- 
tion of  morphine,  brazil-wood,  cochineal  and  methyl-orange  were  all  found  to  be 
serviceable.  The  opinion  of  the  committee  was  to  the  effect  that  cochineal  was 
the  best  general  indicator  for  alkaloidal  titrations.  The  report  also  gave  cer- 
tain instructions  regarding  the  proper  amount  of  indicator  to  be  used,  and  in 
this  connection  mentioned  the  initial  and  final  colors  that  should  be  obtained. 
The  work  is  not  yet  done,  but  the  tabulated  results  which  accompanied  the 
report  indicated  that  the  subject  was  being  very  thoroughly  studied.  The 
report  was  accepted  with  the  thanks  of  the  Association,  and  a  motion  carried  to 
send  a  copy  of  it  to  the  Revision  Committee  of  the  United  States  Pharmaco- 
poeia. Another  motion  to  reimburse  the  members  of  the  committee  for  the 
materials  used  in  the  work  received  the  approval  of  the  Association.  Nomina- 
tions for  the  officers  for  next  year  being  in  order,  Messrs.  Prescott,  Dohme  and 
Sadtler  were  named  for  chairman  of  the  section.  The  first  two  gentlemen, 
however,  withdrew  their  names,  after  which  the  nominations  were  closed  until 
the  afternoon  session.  Messrs.  Alpers  and  Eliel  were  thereafter  nominated  for 
the  secretaryship  of  the  section,  and  nominations  for  this  office  were  closed 
until  the  next  session. 
