THE  AMERICAN 
JOURXAL  OF  PHARMACY 
APRIL,  ipop 
THE  STORY  OF  A  PIECE  OF  PITCHBLENDE.1 
By  Harry  F.  Keller.  Ph.D." 
Not  long  ago.,  after  a  somewhat  dull  meeting  of  one  of  our 
scientific  societies,  a  little  coterie  among  the  members  agreed  to 
hold  an  informal  symposium  on  some  topic  of  more  general  interest. 
Quite  a  number  of  subjects  had  been  suggested  only  to  be  dismissed 
as  not  suited  for  the  occasion,  when  one  of  the  gentlemen  made  a 
ten-strike  by  proposing  that  every  one  present  give  his  views  as  to 
which  mineral  substance  should  be  regarded  as  the  most  interesting 
component  of  the  earth's  crust.  The  motion  was  carried  unani- 
mously, and  the  discussion  that  followed  continued  into  the  small 
hours  of  the  morning. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  a  stenographic  report  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, set  up  in  type,  would  prove  entirely  satisfactory  to  the 
several  speakers,  but  "  the  way  they  heaved  those  fossils  "  certainly 
made  more  pleasing  impressions  than  that  indulged  in  by  the 
members  of  the  "  Society  upon  the  Stanislaus  "  in  Bret  Harte's 
poem,  and  all  went  home  with  the  feeling  of  having  assisted  at  a 
most  profitable  and  entertaining  seance. 
1 A  .post-graduate  lecture  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  Philadelphia 
Branch  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the  Central  High 
School,  Philadelphia. 
2 1  would  gratefully  acknowledge  here  the  kind  permission  of  Messrs. 
Munn  &  Co...  publishers  of  the  Scientific  American,  William  J.  Hammer,  Esq., 
of  New  York,  and  Prof.  Arthur  W.  Goodspeed,  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, to  use  some  of  the  portraits  and  radiographs  with  which  this  lecture 
was  illustrated. — H.  F.  K. 
(157) 
