534  American  Phar'maceutical  Association.        |  bcT^iSs^^'"' 
by  the  new  pharmacopoeia.  The  pills  from  14  manufacturers  were  found 
to  be  of  full  weight  and  witli  the  hydration  calculated  generally  showed  an 
excess  in  weight  ranging  from  1  to  7  per  cent.,  apparently  proving  that  a 
more  or  less  effloresced  salt  had  been  used.  The  amount  of  quinine,  estimated 
by  the  herapathite  test  showed  the  salt  to  be  good  commercial  sulphate  as 
compared  with  quinine  sulphate  of  American  manufacture.  The  pills  of 
one  manufacturer  were  correct  except  the  1  grain  j)ills  which  were  6  per  cent, 
short,  and  the  pills  of  the  remaining  three  manufacturers  were  all  under 
weight  varying  from  6  to  32  per  cent.,  the  quinine  being  at  the  same  time 
mixed  with  other  cinchona  alkaloids,  in  one  case  with  over  30  percent. 
Mr.Coblentz  states  that  of  the  four  makers  of  these  pills,  though  not  widely 
known,  all  have  "always  had  a  very  unsatisfactory  reputation  as  to  their 
integrity." 
In  commenting  on  this  jjaper  Mr.  Parsons,  stated  that  in  the  examination 
of  over  1,000  diflterent  samples  of  quinine,  he  had  found  but  3  or  4  which  con- 
tained 8  molecules  of  water;  quinine  of  American  and  foreign  manufac- 
tures contained  pretty  uniformly  7,  and  perhaps  quite  as  often  only  6  mole- 
cules; the  manufacturers  should  therefore  be  entitled  to  no  more  than  7. 
Regarding  DeVrij's  process  he  considered  it  probably  as  the  best  for  the 
estimation  of  quinine ;  but  it  was  nevertheless  likewise  a  dangerous  one, 
in  as  much  as  apparently  slight  deviations  would  considerably  reduce  the 
results.  In  extracting  the  alkaloid,  notably  when  decomposing  the  solution 
with  ammonia,  minute  quantities  of  glucose  and  other  foreign  matters 
would  be  dissolved;  the  difference  between  the  first  weighing  and  the 
results  from  herai^athite  should  therefore  not  be  charged  to  foreign  alkaloids, 
unless  the  nature  be  shown. 
Professor  Prescott  reviewed  the  different  tests  which  had  from  time  to 
time  been  proposed  for  quinine  sulphate,  and  argued  that  the  only  just 
criterion  of  the  purity  of  this  salt,  whether  examined  by  itself  or  in  pills, 
was  the  tests  laid  down  in  the  pharmacopoeia. 
Advertisements  having  been  distributed  in  the  meeting  room,  the  further 
distribution  of  such  matter  was,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Vogeler,  prohibited. 
Professor  Oldberg  next  read  a  paper  on  specific  volumes,  which  term  the 
author  proposes  for  the  relative  volume  of  a  liquid  as  compared  with  the 
volume  of  an  equal  weight  of  water,  or"  in  other  words  the  volume  of  one 
gram  of  a  liquid  stated  in  cubic  centimeters.  The  paper  is  accompanied  by 
the  following  table  giving  the  relative  weight  (specific  gravity),  weight  of 
1,000  cubic  centimeters  in  grams,  weight  of  100  U.  S.  fluidounces  in  avoirdu- 
pois ounces,  relative  (or  specific)  volume,  volume  of  1,000  grams  in  cubic 
centimeters  and  volume  of  100  ounces  avoirdupois  in  U.  S.  fluidounces,  of  a 
large  number  of  pharmacopoeial  liquids.  The  usefulness  of  such  a  table, 
furnishing  as  it  does  at  a  glance  the  relation  of  weight  to  bulk  and  vice 
versa  is  quite  apparent.  Dr.  Rice  stated  that  a  somewhat  similar  table 
was  in  course  of  preparation  for  the  new  pharmacopoeia  and  would  soon  be 
published. 
