R. H. True:-Drug plant investigations of the Department of Agriculture. Consists of field and laboratory investigations. Field work includes the working out of practical methods of growing drug plants and of curing the product. Includes (1) plants and products now imported from other countries for which our country furnishes suitable conditions; e. g., opium poppy, camphor. licorice, belladonna, etc. (2) The utilization of plants now neglected, especially weeds; e. g. stramonium, burdock, yellow dock, etc. (3) The domestication and cultivation of valuable wild drug plants now be coming commercially rare; e. g., golden seal. Field work in Vermont. District of Columbia, South Carolina and Texas. Laboratory work at Washington, D. C., in histology, chemical plant physiology, and pharmacology, MI. Wilbert: - The Approximate measures of the U. S. P. The approximate equivalents for popular dose measures, directed in the eighth decennial revision of the U. S. P., appear to be based on the assumption that the metric system of weights and measures is closely related to, or dependent on, the weights and measures now generally used in this country. The fallacy of this assumption and the consequent inaccuracy of the equivalents, as given in the Pharmacopoeia, is readily shown. A descrip tion of an easily applied method for the exact capacity of spoons of different sizes, makes and patterns. The approximate measures directed by other national pharmacopoeias and their relation to the actual capacity of spoons. some reasons why the equivalents adopted in other countries should be carefully considered in this connection. Aloes and the U. S. P. On the necessity of taking cognizance of the history of medicinal substances in formulating an official description. The interesting history of aloes. Aloes in the earlier editions of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America. The introduction and use of true Socotrine aloes. The introduction of purified aloes. The use of purified aloes in official preparations. Some objections to the use of purified aloes. The article on aloes in the eighth decennial revision of the U. S. P. An enumeration of several of the more important, or more evident shortcomings. The necessity for an official description of the powdered drug. The error of restricting the official aloes to varieties containing isobarbaloin. The evident mistake of continuing the use of purified aloes, in the official preparations of that drug. A suggestion for a more rational solution of the problems involved. Section on Practical Pharmacy and Dispensing. The work of this section was also uneventful and is fairly well reflected by the list of papers read before it. Possibly the greatest interest was created during the discussion of a number of prescriptions. It is possibly fortunate that the general public is not present when such discussions take place for the differences of opinion expressed on such occasions would not tend toward greater confidence. One of the inherent weaknesses of the problems involved is that they not infre quently are lacking a firm scientific basis. The work of this section should not be allowed to become unscientific simply because there is a scientific section. As officers for the coming year the following members were elected: Wm. C. Alpers of New York City as Chairman, H. A. B. Dunning of Baltimore as Secretary, and W. C. Gross of Terre Haute as Associate. The following papers were read before this section: Geo. M. Beringer: The important changes made in the eighth decennial revision of the U. S. Pharmacpoeia with comments. The object of this paper is to offer a suggestion to pharmacists of how each can direct the attention of the physicians of his locality to the more important changes made. E. G. Eberle: - Pharmacy of to-day. F. E. Fisk: Echoes from the compounding laboratory, or side lights on some galenicals. C. S. N. Hallberg: - Cresol. It's soap solutions. A. A. Kleinschmidt:- A few of the defects of our new Pharmacpoeia. O. Raubenheimer: Benzin, naphtha and gasoline. Permanent ointment of red mercuric oxide. Amanda W. Stahl and Clara M. Malarkey: pharmacy. G. S. C. Simms: Women in practical Practical suggestions based upon long experience. Commercial Section. Chairman CHAS. R. SHERMAN.. Secretary -R. C. REILLY M. NOLL.. Associates - F. C. HENRY O. W. BETHEA. ..Omaha, Neb. Washington, D. C. Commercial Section. As on previous occasions, attempts were made to do away with this section but, as usual, they failed, and fortunately so. While it is true that this section has not demonstrated the same degree of vitality possessed by the other sections, its possibilities are by no means small. The number of papers read this year was greater than the average for several years and may be regarded as an encouragement. However, something more is needed, and that is, first of all, a demonstration of how commercial topics can be made interesting and instructive. It could be demonstrated without much difficulty that there is something more to the commercial aspect of pharmacy than the mere making of money and that topics of this class should be made the subject of careful study; in other words, that they should be treated in a scientific up-to-date manner. As Chairman of this section H. P. Hynson of Baltimore was elected. The following papers were presented to this section: J. M. Alexander: To what extent may the pharmacist extend his personal activities. O. W. Bethea: For the laboratory. S. L. Caine: - Reply to several queries. E. G. Eberle: - Notes anent the drug business. A. Fly: In the practice of pharmacy is commercialism justifiable. F. II. Frerichs: Unfair fire insurance rates. A remedy. - Evolution of the drug store window. H. P. Hynson: To what extent may the average retail pharmacist carry his commercial activities without offending medical men? H. P. Mason: - A reply to several of the queries of the committee submit ted by B. E. Pritchard of McKeesport, Pa. Thos. D. McElhenie: The treasury deficit and the replacement of the stamp tax. O. Oldberg: - Trade training in the pharmaceutical schools. Chas. E. Rapelye: mercial methods. To what extent may the pharmacist employ com Geo. H. Shafer: A reply to several of the queries of the committee submitted by B. E. Pritchard of McKeesport, Pa. G. G. C. Simms:- Thoughts on commercial subjects. Concerning Substitutes and Adulterations.* By John Uri Lloyd. An adulterant is a substance mixed with, or designed to be mixed with. a drug (or other substance), for the purpose of cheapening the drug. Thus, brick dust becomes an adulterant when mixed with powdered blood root. A substitute (commercial) is a substance offered or sold in place of another. Thus, willow twigs sold under the name "willow herb," is a commercial substitute, but not a therapeutical substitute. A therapeutic substitute is a substance nearly or quite paralleling another, or similar to another, in its therapeutic action. Thus, the physician who desires a tonic, say gentian, which, however, is out of his reach, may substitute for it quassia, another tonic. Simple as these statements seem to be, shadings and complications that come to one concerned in the handling of drugs, lead to questionings and confusion in special directions that can not now be considered.-directions where dictionary makers have perhaps never personally trodden. . Editorial in The Electic Medical Gleaner, September 1905. "Contributed by the author." Advance proof sent to the Review simultaneous publication. We can not attempt, in our limited space, to touch, even briefly, the common adulterations and substitutions of either the past or the present. To do so would necessitate a volume. Pharmaceutical literature the world over is filled with exposures of the impositions practiced in every country. The pharmacapoeias of all lands are marked by explicit directions for establishing the purity of the preparations and drugs mentioned therein, which, conversely, means the method of detecting impurities (adulterations and contaminations) in said drugs and preparations. Handlers of drugs and foods, before quoting said drugs or foods, may ask, "What quality do you desire?" which, analyzed generally, means, "How much are you willing that it be adulterated, contaminated, or deteriorated?" The Boards of Health of all states and countries are perplexed over methods for determining the purity of milk, foods, and medicines, and the same is true of the Boards of Health of all cities of this and other countries. The universities of all lands find an endless work in determining the question of exactness, both as reagents and reactions in connection with known and possible adulterants, whilst the Government laboratory at Washington is confronted with the overwhelming necessity of a national law, to both serve and protect the people. The mass of literature in the Lloyd Library bearing on this entire subject is enormous. The perplexity surrounding the men involved in attempts to serve the people, the professions and the world at large, by resisting and exposing wrongful substitution and adulteration are known only to one in a position to perceive the enormity of the problem: a problem that can be comprehended only by practical experience in connection with a study of all the literature bearing thereon. And, this literature itself is unquestionably but a drop in the bucket, as contrasted with what might be written, could the men with the test-tube and the microscope at their command be aware of the mysteries that lie outside the limited field their research has touched. When an analysit lies down at night satisfied that his work has at last been accomplished, he may arise in the morning to find that, while he slept, the artful manipulator turned the tables on him, and devised an unexpected adulteration to conform exactly with the test he so painstakingly laid down to establish the purity of a drug. (To be continued.) |