Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
April,  1901.  J 
PJiarmacentical  Meeting. 
209 
four  reasons:  (1)  Its  solutions  may  be  boiled  and  remain  stable  (a 
point  of  immeasurable  superiority  over  cocaine).  (2)  It  is  cheaper 
than  cocaine.  (3)  It  produces  practically  no  dilatation  of  the  pupil. 
(4)  It  does  not  loosen  the  epithelium  with  which  the  front  surface  of 
the  eye  (the  cornea)  is  paved  as  does  cocaine ;  and,  finally  (5),  its 
point  of  greatest  superiority,  it  possesses  distinctly  antiseptic  proper- 
ties, and  is  therefore  also  its  own  preservative  when  in  solution.  This 
renders  it  an  ideal  agent  for  the  after-treatment  of  cinders  and  other 
non-penetrating  foreign  bodies  in  the  eye.  Its  one  disadvantage  is 
that  because  of  its  extreme  toxicity  when  internally  used,  it  cannot 
be  introduced  under  the  skin  or  into  the  cavity  of  the  spinal  col- 
umn, as  can  cocaine  and  eucaine  B.  For  such  purposes  it  is  dis- 
tinctly inferior  to  cocaine,  and  especially  in  spinal  puncture  to  eu- 
caine B. 
Mr.  F.  W.  E.  Stedem  said  that  in  his  work  in  urinalysis  he  had 
experienced  considerable  trouble  in  determining  sugar  when  the 
patient  had  been  taking  various  of  the  synthetics.  Professor 
Coblentz  commended  the  phenylhydrazine  test  for  the  detection  of 
sugar  in  urine  where  the  newer  synthetics  had  been  administered. 
Mr.  F.  T.  Gordon  employs  the  customary  fermentation  test.  Pro- 
fessor Moerk  said  that  there  were  several  works  in  which  the  authors 
treated  of  the  influence  of  synthetics  on  the  usual  tests  employed 
in  such  work.  Dr.  E.  Spaeth  in  his  work  considers  a  large  number 
of  synthetics,  with  means  for  detecting  them  in  urine. 
Professor  Kraemer  referred  to  the  important  work  which  is  be- 
ing  developed  in  this  country  by  both  plant  and  animal  physiolo- 
gists in  showing  the  relationship  between  the  radicals,  or  especially 
tons j  of  certain  chemical  compounds  in  solution  to  plant  and  animal 
functions ;  and  said  that  Dr.  Jacques  Loeb  had  recently  shown,  for 
instance,  that  there  could  be  no  heart  beat  unless  sodium  ions  were 
present,  and  on  this  basis  had  shown  the  value  of  sodium  chloride 
solutions  in  prolonging  and  saving  life.  He  has  even  gone  further 
and  shown  the  important  role  that  potassium  and  magnesium  ions 
play  in  carrying  on  certain  fundamental  life  processes. 
Mr.  Lyman  F.  Kebler  presented  a  paper  on  "  The  Physical  and 
Chemical  Examinations  of  Oils  of  Sandalwood,  Lavender  and 
Thyme,"  in  which  he  stated  that  the  amount  of  some  one  import- 
ant constituent  was  of  more  significance  than  physical  tests.  This 
paper  will  be  published  in  full  in  a  later  issue  of  this  Journal. 
