154 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
( A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1      March,  1901. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  fifth  of  the  series  of  pharmaceutical  meetings  of  the  Phila- 
delphia College  of  Pharmacy  for  1900-1901  was  held  Tuesday, 
February  19th.  Theodore  Campbell,  a  local  pharmacist  and  a 
member  of  the  College,  presided. 
The  first  speaker  was  Dr.  Wm.  C.  Alpers,  of  New  York  City, 
who  is  well  known  for  his  active  interest  in  pharmaceutical  matters 
in  general.  Before  taking  up  the  main  topic  of  his  paper,  Dr. . 
Alpers  said,  in  referring  to  the  oft-repeated  statement  that  pharmacy 
is  not  in  a  satisfactory  condition,  that  if  any  advancement  is  to  be 
made,  the  impetus  must  come  from  the  colleges  of  pharmacy.  He 
therefore  urged  the  students  who  were  present  to  strive  to  make 
the  most  of  their  opportunities  while  in  college  and  to  strive  for 
high  ideals.  He  said  that  there  is  something  greater  than  pennies, 
that  knowledge  is  a  greater  and  nobler  capital  than  dollars  and 
cents.  It  is  a  capital  which  neither  sickness  nor  misfortune  can 
take  away.  He  said  he  had  little  respect  for  the  man  who  stoops 
to  the  gutter  to  find  a  penny,  but  high  regard  for  the  man  who 
looks  up  to  the  stars  for  his  ideals. 
•  Then  taking  up  the  subject  of  his  paper,  which  was  entitled 
"  Remarks  on  a  New  Cold  Cream  and  Other  Ointments,"  the 
speaker  gave  a  practical  demonstration  ot  his  method  of  procedure 
(see  page  117).  One  point  which  was  brought  out  by  the  speaker 
and  which  he  especially  emphasized  was  that  of  using  chemical 
thermometers  for  operations  requiring  heat,  this  being  a  point  that 
is  too  often  neglected  by  pharmacists. 
In  reply  to  a  question  by  Wallace  Procter  as  to  whether  cold 
cream  made  by  the  proposed  formula  retains  the  water  better  than 
the  official  ointment,  Dr.  Alpers  said  that,  so  far  as  his  knowledge  " 
went,  it  did,  his  experience  having  been  with  samples  only  a  year 
old,  which  as  pointed  out  had  kept  perfectly. 
F.  W.  E.  Stedem  said  that  his  only  criticism  on  the  official  cold 
cream  was  the  presence  of  borax,  which  interfered  with  its  use  as 
a  basis  for  mercurial  salts. 
E.  M.  Boring  also  remarked  upon  this  point  and  said  that  he 
invariably  omitted  the  borax.  His  method  of  procedure  is  to  melt 
together  the  spermaceti,  white  wax  and  expressed  oil  of  almond, 
and  to  allow  to  cool  over  night,  the  rose  water  being  incorporated 
