312  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  {AmjuOnUe"-i90iarm' 
The  first  speaker  was  Mr.  F.  B.  Kilmer,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J., 
who  read  a  most  interesting  and  exhaustive  paper,  entitled  "  A  Story 
of  Papaw."  (See  p.  272.)  Mr.  Gordon  stated  that  some  years 
ago,  when  stationed  at  Colon,  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  on  board 
the  Atlanta,  the  crew  were  supplied  with  salt  pork,  salt  fish  and 
beef,  the  physician  in  charge  ordered  them  to  get  a  supply  of  papaw 
and  wrap  the  meats  in  the  leaves  over  night,  which  rendered 
them  digestible,  and  as  a  result  the  crew  were  very  free  from 
sickness. 
In  reply  to  questions  by  Professor  Lowe,  Mr.  Kilmer  said  that  the 
natives  rub  the  meat  with  the  papaw  and  then  also  boil  it  with  the 
meat,  and  that  the  ferment  acts  until  the  boiling  point  is  reached 
when  it  is  destroyed.  Mr.  Kilmer  said  that  while  it  might  seem 
plausible  to  cut  off  the  fruits  and  then  incise  them,  this  was 
not  found  to  be  practicable  as  the  latex  flows  but  a  very  short  time 
only  after  the  fruit  is  removed  from  the  tree. 
In  reply  to  the  question  of  Mr.  Boring  as  to  whether  the  custard 
apple,  sometimes  found  in  this  region,  is  the  same  as  the  papaw  to 
which  Mr.  Kilmer  referred,  Mr.  Kilmer  stated  that  the  papaw  did  not 
occur  further  north  than  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  as  it  will  not  stand  the 
frost,  and  Dr.  Miller  stated  that  the  plant  to  which  Mr.  Boring  re- 
ferred is  the  Asimina  triloba,  an  entirely  different  plant. 
Referring  to  certain  portions  of  the  paper,  Professor  Kraemer  said 
in  speaking  of  the  variability  of  seeds  which  necessitates  a  selection 
on  the  part  of  the  planters  of  papaw,  that  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
all  the  seeds,  even  though  produced  in  the  same  pod  or  in  the  same 
fruit,  are  not  necessarily  alike,  because  each  does  not  receive  the 
same  amount  of  nutriment  and  hence  do  not  have  the  same  degree 
of  vitality.  In  this  connection  he  referred  to  recent  investigations 
which  showed  that  the  different  commercial  varieties  of  strophanthus 
were  not  necessarily  derived  from  different  species,  but  might  be 
obtained  from  the  same  species,  the  difference  being  due  to  the 
position  in  the  pod,  those  more  remote  from  the  direct  sup- 
plies of  food  being  less,  or  improperly,  developed.  He  also 
mentioned  the  fact  that  pistillate  plants  of  Arismma  triphyllum 
deprived  of  the  proper  amount  of  nourishment  produced  the  follow- 
ing year  staminate  plants. 
Professor  Kraemer  also  referred  to  the  subject  of  natural  indica- 
tors (see  this  Journal,  p.  174)  and  thought  that  the  color  principle 
