Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1880. 
EditoriaL 
285 
Board— lohn  F.  Rudell,  O.  A.  Beckman,  Wm.  Tafei,  George  Stauber,  Henry- 
Biischemeyer,  Jr. 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain. — At  the  Pharmaceutical  meeting  held 
March  3d,  Mr.  G.  F.  Schacht  in  the  chair,  Prof.  Redwood  read  a  very  interesting 
paper  on  the  diffusi've  properties  of  some  preparations  oj  iron  (see  p.  265).  In  the  discus- 
sion following,  for  which  we  cannot  make  room.  Prof.  Attfield  said  that  he  adhered 
to  Graham's  views  and  regarded  it  not  improbable  that  the  scaly  preparations  of 
iron  would  be  found  to  be  crystalline.  Mr.  Martindale  referred  to  the  activity  of 
basic  oxychloride  of  iron,  prepared  by  dissolving  pasty  oxide  of  iron  in  perchloride 
solution,  and  regarded  the  inefficiency  of  dialyzed  iron  as  "  not  proven." 
Dr.  Symes  stated  that  his  experiments  were  performed  in  a  different  manner  from 
those  made  by  Prof.  Redwood,  namely,  by  digesting  at  ioo°C.  a  mixture  of  dialyzed 
iron  and  peptone,  in  a  dialyzer,  when  iron  was  found  to  diffuse  through. 
After  some  further  discussion,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  commercial  ammonio- 
citrate  of  iron  usually  contained  more  than  the  minimum  quantity  (27  per  cent.)  o£ 
oxide  allowed'by  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  the  meeting  adjourned. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
Tests  for  Arsenic. — The  following  note  in  reference  to  the  statements  made  on 
page  194  of  our  last  number  explains  itself.     We  are  not  prepared  to  adopt  the  con- 
clusion arrived  at  by  our  correspondent. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy : 
In  an  editorial  note  on  my  article  in  the  April  number  relative  to  tests  for  arsenicj., 
regret  is  expressed  that  I  do  not  give  the  alleged  authority  for  the  solubility  of  anti- 
mony in  hypochlorite  of  sodium.  Not  being  able  to  recall  the  authority  in  ques- 
tion I  wrote  to  Mr.  James,  the  attorney  who  conducted  the  cross-examination,  and 
will  quote  from  his  letter  in  reply: 
"The  book  I  read  from  on  that  subject  (the  solubility  of  antimony  in  hypo- 
chlorite of  sodium)  was  '  Wharton  and  Stille's  Medical  Jurisprudence,'  vol.  2,  para- 
graph 429,  where  it  is  stated  that  hypochlorite  of  sodium  dissolves  the  arsenical 
spot,  but  that  antimonial  spots  resist  its  effect,  unless  they  are  small  and  of  a  dull' 
appearance^  njohen  they  nvill  be  dissolnjed."'' 
This  certainly  brings  the  subject  down  to  a  fine  point,  and  the  cautious  analyst 
will  have  to  be  sure  that  the  arsenical  spots  are  not  "  small  and  of  a  dull  appearance," 
which  in  all  cases  is  not  possible.  Hence,  we  believe  that  the  hypochlorite  of 
sodium  is  an  unreliable  test  for  the  spots  on  porcelain.  Phil.  Hoglan. 
NenjjcomerstO'Tvn,  O.,  April  20,  1880. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the  Twenty-seventh 
Annual  Meeting,  held  in  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  September,  1879.  Philadelphia 
Sherman  &  Co.,  printers,  1880.     8vo,  pp.  910.     Price,  bound  in  cloth,  $7.50. 
Having  in  the  October  number  given  a  condensed  account  of  the  transactions  of 
the  last  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  it  remains  now-^ 
