PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

THIRTIETH ANNUAL MEETING

OF THE

American Pharmaceutical Association.

REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF PHARMACY.

FROM JULY 1, 1881, TO JUNE 30, 1882.

BY C. LEWIS DIEHL,

THE report which is herewith presented will be found to contain about the usual useful information, but is probably a more complete exponent of pharmaceutic progress than some of the previous reports, inasmuch as most of the journals furnished have been very thoroughly extracted. For the first time in a number of years also, it has been possible to keep pace with the material presented, so that the report is now completed, and will be ready for the printer as soon as the cuts needed,-which are in the hands of the engraver,-can be prepared. The arrangement is that which has been customary, and it seems doubtful whether this can be materially improved upon, particularly since in the present report a system of cross-references has been inaugurated, which, while incomplete in this, may doubtless be improved. upon in future reports. This has been done for several reasons, but principally because their cross-references are calculated to draw attention to subjects which, in the course of abstraction, are lost under obscure headings. Thus it may happen that some new principle, preparation, or substance is described under the substance from which it is obtained, or with which it is associated. If this new principle, etc., is then noticed under its proper heading, and reference is made to the substance or substances under which it is described, attention will be directed to it in a way in which it can scarcely escape notice. Moreover, this system of cross-references will materially aid the indexing, which has hitherto not been as complete as it should be. The Report on the Progress of Pharmacy may now and then be read systematically, but it is chiefly useful as a work of reference, and as such it is of importance that it should be provided with a good index. No one can

appreciate this more than the reporter, who has in each report occasion to refer to subjects noticed in previous reports, and has often been compelled to bring his memory into requisition when the index failed. to give the proper reference. It is confidently believed that under the system inaugurated much that has hitherto escaped will find its way into the index, and this alone would seem to warrant much more additional space than the insignificant amount which is consumed. It should be mentioned that the idea of introducing cross-references did not occur until the report was well advanced, and that, therefore, many substances have not been noticed in this way in the present report.

Finally, the reporter has endeavored to make the abstract as brief and concise as is in accord with the utility of the work.

PHARMACY.

A. APPARATUS AND MANIPULATIONS.

WEIGHTS-MEASURES-SPECIFIC GRAVITY.

New Dispensing, Balance.-Dr. John Gorham suggests a form of balance for prescription purposes, in which a rod or tube sliding within a tubular arm replaces an external movable weight. The new balance

FIG. 1.

Gorham's Dispensing Balance.

is shown by Fig. 1, which sufficiently explains its form and mode of operation. New Rem., July, 1881, p. 198; from Brit. Med. Jour.

Spiral Balance-Value for Different Purposes.-Mr. C. F. Cross, having occasion for frequent and rapid weighings of a substance in an atmosphere saturated with aqueous vapor, found Jolly's "Federwaage" or spiral balance to answer the purpose better than any other form of balance. This instrument, which was originally described by Mr. Jolly in "Sitzungsber. Bay. Akad.," 1864, I. 162, is now again described by Mr. Cross, and the different uses to which it may be put in the laboratory are mentioned, so that other chemists may profit by its use as he has done. The only improvement which he suggests is the enlargement of the scale pan, which, also, he has constructed of mica instead of glass.-Chem. News, August 26th, 1881, pp. 101-103.

New Apparatus for Weighing Filters.-In weighing filters containing precipitates, it is the usual practice to inclose them either within

watch-glasses held together by a clamp, or within thin, wide-mouthed bottles provided with glass stoppers. Both of these methods, however, particularly the former, have some disadvantages, owing to the smallness of the space into which the filter must be pressed, to the necessity of taking hold of it with the hand so as to fold in the edges, and to the alteration of form, which often prevents their replacement in the funnel for a fresh treatment with solvents. Mr. C. Gilbert, of Hamburg, avoids these defects by inclosing the filter in a small, hollow cone (of 60°), (see Fig. 2), made of nickel-plated sheet copper, and

provided with a turned-over, planed edge, upon which a thin piece of plate-glass is placed and held fast by a clamp. The filters are placed, during the drying, upon small hollow porcelain cylinders, from which they are transferred to the copper cone with the pincers. The cone is suspended in the balance like the potash-bulbs. To avoid the necessity of touching the cone with the hands, it is usually kept and carried about in a small tinned-iron cylinder.-New Rem., November, 1881, p. 326; from Repert. d. Analyt. Chem., 1881, p. 264.

Burettes-Attachment for Filling, etc.-Mr. Fr. O. Roeder having had trouble in procuring burettes with glass stopcocks which would not leak when freed from grease, made an apparatus having the following arrangement (see Fig. 3): A Mohr burette is connected by means of

glass and rubber tubing with a bottle (B) having three openings, to enable it to be filled and emptied (with water). Free communication between the burette and B is always to be maintained.

The siphon used to empty B is closed by means of a compression clip (C), as is likewise the siphon used to fill B from the reservoir placed above it. To fill the burette have B filled with water, close the clip D, place the lower end of the burette into the liquid used as a reagent, open the clip C, and as the water flows from B, the burette will

be filled. To empty the burette, close the clip C and open D, and as much liquid as runs into B will be discharged from the burette. Use corks boiled in paraffin in preference to india-rubber stoppers, and see that all the joints are tight. The latter may be accomplished by the use of melted paraffin upon all joints excepting those between the glass and rubber tubing, with which there is never any difficulty.-New Rem., February, 1882, p. 35.

Specific Gravity-Determination by the aid of Burettes.-Brügelmann draws attention to the simple method of determining the specific gravity of liquids, already recommended by Phipson, and applies it to the determination of the specific gravity of solids. Phipson's method consists in measuring a certain volume of the liquid by the aid of an accurate burette, and weighing it in a tared beaker. The specific gravity of solids is taken by adding a weighed quantity to the measured quantity of liquid in the burette and reading off the increase in volume, etc.-Pharm. Ztg., No. 41, 1882, p. 303.

Specific Gravity-Differential Method of Determination.--Mr. W. Dittmar suggests a method for determining the difference between two liquids of the same kind, and of very nearly the same density, by weighing a known volume of one liquid within the other, whereby the derived difference can be obtained directly and with greater exactitude than by ascertaining the specific gravities themselves. The apparatus required are as follows:

1. A cylindrical specific-gravity bottle, provided with a narrowly perforated glass stopper, and a hook (above or below) for suspending it from the balance by a fine platinum wire.

2. A cylinder large enough to float the bottle, supposing it to be suspended in a mass of liquid within the cylinder.

3. A balance, so arranged that things can be suspended below the pans, and when thus suspended are at convenient working height. After having ascertained (once for all) the capacity of the bottle for water, charge it with liquid I, suspend it from the balance within a mass of the same liquid, and ascertain its apparent weight (p' grams). Then repeat the experiment with liquid II inside, and note down the result p".

If the capacity of the bottle is fluid grams, we obviously have v (s′′ — s′ ) = p′′ — p', or—

In both weighings care must be taken to give the inner liquid time to assume the temperature of the outer. The author illustrates the method by several examples, and draws attention to the usefulness of its application: