In each instance, the drops were allowed to fall from the lip of an ordinary quart tincture bottle, except the sulphuric acid, which was contained in a small pint tincture bottle, and of which I used three times the number of drops directed; the drops being about one third the size of a drop of distilled water, which was shown to be correct, by the necessity for that quantity to effect a solution which took place without the aid of external heat. With regard to this matter of drops, it is a considerable eyesore. I would recommend to apothecaries, (perhaps it might be deemed worthy of the action of the convention), to agree upon some standard size for the {331} drop,—say that of a drop of distilled water, under definite circumstances. It is true, we have a measure; but it is for minims not for drops, whilst in this way, by a little practice, the eye might be accustomed to the proper size of the drop, so that there would be little or no difficulty in obtaining an exact result, by increasing or diminishing the number of drops, according to the proportional size of its drop, to the standard one. Of course, when I speak of “keeping the drop in the eye,” I do not mean to imply anything incompatible with the Maine Liquor Law. I speak aquatically, not spiritually.
NATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL CONVENTION.
According to the arrangement which had previously been announced, the National Convention met in Philadelphia, on Wednesday the 6th of October, at 4 P. M. In the absence of Dr. Guthrie, the President, the Convention was organized by the appointment of Mr. Coggeshall, of New York, as President pro tempore; Mr. A. B. Taylor, of Philadelphia, as acting Secretary. A committee was then appointed by the Chair, consisting of Messrs. Ellis, of Philadelphia, Colcord, of Boston, and Laidley, of Richmond, to examine the credentials of the delegates present; and to report a resolution in regard to the admission of such apothecaries as might be present, who, though not {332} delegated by any incorporated institution, desired to attend the Convention.
The committee reported that satisfactory credentials had been presented by the following gentlemen:—
From the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy—Joseph Burnett, Samuel M. Colcord, Dr. Samuel R. Philbrick.
From the College of Pharmacy, of the City of New York—George D. Coggeshall, L. S. Haskell, John Meakim.
From the Richmond Pharmaceutical Society—Alexander Duvall, John Purcell, Joseph Laidley.
From the Cincinnatti College of Pharmacy—William B. Chapman, Charles Augustus Smith, Edward S. Wayne.
From the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy--Daniel B. Smith, Charles Ellis, William Procter, Jr.