and brittle by keeping. How can their soft consistence, as when freshly made, be preserved? Continued to Hugo W. C. Martin, Chicago. 27. It has been asserted that some pharmacists pay percentages to physicians who send prescriptions to their stores. Is this true to any great extent ? What is the feeling of the pharmacists of our country regarding the matter, and the feeling of physicians? Continued to Hugo W. C. Martin, Chicago. 28. The alkaloid berberine is by some writers claimed to be nearly insoluble, while another claims it is freely soluble in water. This discrepancy in statements should be investigated. Continued to O. Eberbach, Ann Arbor. 29. What is the chemical nature of the acrid principle of mezereon bark? Continued to O. Eberbach, Ann Arbor. 30. Is brucine poisonous? Dr. Garrod has stated that it is not. Accepted by Robert Bartholomew. 31. What is the nature of the crystalline precipitate which forms in tincture of Boletus Laricis? Continued to C. W. Phillips, Cincinnati. 32. What menstruum is best adapted to extract and hold in solution the desirable principles of licorice root? Continued to F. F. Prentice, Janesville, Wis. 33. Does the brucine of commerce contain strychnine? An examination of the brucine of commerce is desired. Continued to S. A. D. Sheppard, Boston. 34. Good authority states that artificial salicylic acid is now used in making oil of wintergreen, and that this artificial oil is cheaper than the natural. To what extent is this true? Accepted by Adolph W. Miller, Philadelphia. Continued to C. S. Hallberg, Chicago. 35. What is the quality of the narcotic herbs of commerce? 36. To what extent, if at all, is it proper for physicians to specify in their prescriptions the particular make of preparations prescribed by them? Accepted by Prof. Otto A. Wall, St. Louis. 37. Does oil of thyme made years ago contain a larger proportion of thymol than that of the present day? Accepted by Prof. Joseph P. Remington, Philadelphia. 38. The source and supply of indigenous drugs? Continued to C. B. Allaire, Peoria. 39. What should be the relation between wholesale druggists, manufacturing chemists, and pharmacists and dispensing pharmacists, as to the maintenance of proper standards of purity, quality and strength of medicinal substances? Accepted by Prof. Oscar Oldberg, St. Louis. 40. Is it proper to prepare tinctures, wines, syrups, decoctions, infusions, etc., from fluid extracts; and if so, to what extent? Accepted by Prof. Otto A. Wall, St. Louis. 41. Examine the bromide of potassium of commerce. 42. A paper on sassafras camphor. Accepted by Virgil Coblentz, Springfield, O. Accepted by S. A. D. Sheppard, Boston, Mass. 43. What is the quality of the belladonna leaves of commerce? Accepted by B. F. McIntyre, New York. 44. The crystalline form of the white alkaloid of Hydrastis Canadensis. Accepted by Virgil Coblentz, Springfield, O. Caffeine in Commercial Powdered Guarana. By B. H. Feemster. On Oil of Birch Bark and Oil of Wintergreen. By Geo. W. Kennedy. The Precipitate in Tincture of Boletus Laricis. By C. W. Phillips. Report of Committee on Publication Report of Committee on Membership. Committee on Exhibits Appointed; Reading of Reports. Minutes of the Second Session: Minutes of Council; Election of Members. Report of Nominating Committee. Reports of Committees on Prize Essays and on Meeting in California. Discussion on Proposed Meeting in California. Invitation from New Orleans; Reports Read; Committee Appointed . Minutes of Council; Election of Members. Election of Local Secretary. . . Reconsideration of Time of Next Annual Meeting. PREFATORY NOTICE. ARRANGEMENTS for the printing of the Proceedings could not be made. until December, 1883, when the last of the manuscript reached the editor. Most of the wood-cuts used in the Report on the Progress of Pharmacy. were, as for previous volumes, loaned by the publishers of New Remedies, and of the American Journal of Pharmacy, and those illustrating the paper on Precipitates in Fluid Extracts were furnished by the author, Professor Lloyd. In the meantime a General Index had been prepared, and it was contemplated to issue this with the present volume; but it was found that this would cause a much greater delay than was at first supposed. The book, therefore, appears without this General Index, which will be published with the next volume. The frontispiece of this volume is the portrait of Dr. John William Neergaard, who, although never prominent as author or speaker, was well known to those members who met him at the annual meetings, from which he was rarely absent, and who was greatly respected for his high aims, his pure principles, and his sterling qualities as a man and as a pharmacist. He was born at Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1810, passed the examination as assistant pharmacist in 1828, and as apothecary in 1831; came to the United States in 1840, and then resided in the city of New York until the time of his death, May 25, 1880. A brief sketch of his useful life will be found on page 497 of the Proceedings for 1881. The prices of the several issues of the Proceedings now on hand, including postage, are: |