HARMACY of the present day has different classes of followers-those who follow it with the professional love and regard, and whose ambition is to create and maintain a reputation for that sterling worth and integrity which is developed in making dispensing pharmacy the chief feature of their business, and with whom a minor key is struck in the necessity of providing their patrons with the leading necessities in the line of druggists' sundries, while the other class make large quantity of some special article of merchandise, medicinal or otherwise, and follow this at brief intervals with other equally interesting displays. There is a third variety of window dressing that is becoming common-too common. This consists in covering the glass of the windows with tawdry signs of cheap merchandise, of patent medicines, while within the windows are displayed articles of doubtful merit, objectionable goods, or show cards of theatres, or popular actors or attractions. This last-mentioned feature may be the weakness of good nature, but is in very bad taste even if it be indulged in by some very prominent stores. We call to mind some examples of these several styles of window attractions. A prominent druggist of Philadelphia once devoted one of his windows to a series of chemical and pharmaceutical productions, and at different times the operation of distillation, sublimation, percolation, dialysis and other operations were conducted to the entertainment of the passer-by and to his pecuniary advantage. The last phase of window display that we will allude to is what may be called the degraded tendency of competitionthe promiscuous sale of all other goods when placards herald ridicuously low predominant over that of medicines. Both of these classes can and do need to attract to their stores their own patrons, as also to attract their patronage, and to this end the eye is appealed to by various methods of window display. Window dressing is really a fine art in the way of tempting the purchaser, attracting the passer-by, impressing the locality of the store upon the memory, or introducing some new or desirable specialty to the public. It is not enough for the pharmacist to have a good reputation, a neat store and well-appointed arrangement to facilitate his business; he should make the exterior speak of the merit, taste and stock which he has to dispose of, and there is no way that he can do this with more intelligence, taste and profit than by a judicious round of displays in his store windows. There are pharmacists in our own and other cities who keep their store windows severely plain, depending rather on reputation and an established business, to hold their own against competitors. In these, perhaps, the window once seen is ever afterwards the same, or it may be that occasionally there will be a slight change in the articles displayed or in their arrangement; it may be some apparatus, chemicals or crude drugs. Others, while just as jealous of their reputation and proud of their business, are more awake to the fact that the public appreciate the taste displayed and the innovations which the rush of the present period demand, make frequent changes and place in their attractive windows pieces of bric-a-brac, a prices and the shop and its windows lose the integrity of what should be the boast of modern pharmacy, the place where reliable medicines are faithfully compounded, and it becomes the junk shop, where everything that is cheap and nasty is peddled out as promiscuous merchandise. The pharmacist may accomplish much by the utilization of his windows either for good or for evil. A proper use will prove vastly beneficial to trade, while an improper one may prove seriously detrimental. THE HOSPITAL CORPS OF THE ARMY. A VERY marked improvement in the efficiency of the work of the hospital corps in the National Guard has been observed since the introduction of the new drill regulations in 1896, and it is confidently expected that the regulations will prove particularly advantageous when putting raw recruits in the field. Now that a call for volunteers has been issued, the advantages of the new regulations will be tested under precisely the conditions under which they are expected to prove of greatest service. When the degree of special pharmaceutical and military knowledge and skill required of hospital stewards is taken into consideration. there is no question but that they should rank as commissioned officers, but in the press of matters of the gravest importance in the Congress the modest bill improv ing the status of the military pharmacist has been wholly overlooked. We hope for the good of the service that favorable action may be secured on this measure at once, for with an army of 150,000 men in the field and with prospects of a campaign in a most insalubrious climate, the Government should leave no stone unturned to add to the efficiency of the hospital service, and there is no question but that its efficiency will be materially improved by the passage of the bill now before the Congress to reorganize the hospital corps of the army. DANGEROUS HOT-WATER A BAGS. CCORDING to the Evening Post "A New York woman was the victim of a painful accident, the recital of which should prove a caution to others in the use of hot-water bags. To allay a sharp attack of pain in her chest, which she thought might portend pneumonia or some other serious illness, she partly filled a bag with very hot water and applied it. The steam filled the vacant space of the bag, and in two or three minutes it exploded with a loud report, and before she could fling it off she was seriously scalded. It is this sufferer's advice to buy very strong bags or to fill them quite full of water." One part of the story is quite credible, namely that the bag burst and the patient was scalded. That this was due to an evolution of steam is, of course, absurd, for as soon as the water is poured into the bag it will begin to cool off, condensing any steam present. There is sound sense, however, in the advice to buy strong bags, and druggists can advantageously use this incident as a warning to customers against buying cheap hot-water bags. ST THE REVISED B. P. TUDENTS of the Pharmacopoeia will read with interest the first installment in this number of a series of articles by our special correspondent in London, reviewing the general contents of the new British Pharmacopoeia. We are enabled to present this review of one of the leading pharmacopoeias of the world in advance of any other American drug journal, through the courtesy of the Pharmacopoeia Revisers, who allowed the representative of this journal to inspect the volume before it was issued to the registered druggists of Great Britain. It will be noted from our correspondent's review that the staid conservatism so characteristic of British methods still holds, and the new Pharmacopoeia is not the up-to-date work it was expected to be in view of the model which our English cousins had in the recent issue of our own medicine book. The British Pharmacopœia, 1898. Our special correspondent in London has been privileged to peruse an official copy in advance of publication. The Pharmacopoeia will not be on sale in London until next month at the earliest. A Prof. John Attfield, F.R.S., Ph.D., F.I.C., F.C.S., The General Medical Council yesterday issued a limited London, April 8, 1898. centres NTICIPATION naturally strongly in the publication of a National pharmacopoeia, and never perhaps has it been stronger, both in medical and pharmaceutical circles, than in the appearance of the present revision of the B. P. This interest has been whetted considerably by publication in the early part of this year, by the Chemist and Druggist, of two clever articles, forecasting some of the changes that might be expected to be found in the new work as contrasted with the old, based partly on what from time to time during the progress of the revision we had been led to expect and partly on data which it was understood the revisers had either considered or adopted. The publication of these articles was suppressed by the committee, but not before nearly all that could be known about the Pharmacopoeia outside the actual official circle and much that was believed to have been altered or omitted or added had been crystallized into an estimate in general terms, which now turns out to be wonderfully accurate. Thirteen years is a long interval between the issues of a pharmacopoeia of the importance and scope of this one, and W. M. even the additions of 1885 and the semiofficial formulary of the British Pharmaceutical Conference do not redeem the authoritative work of its reputation, well deserved, of lagging somewhat behind. Four years have elapsed since the work was actually begun by the appointment of a Pharmacopoeia Committee of the General Medical Council, the body intrusted by the Crown with the compilation and publication of the official medicine book. This consisted of the following well-known members of the medical profession: Sir Richard Quain, Bart., M.D. (chairman), since deceased; Dr. Lombe Althill, Dublin; Dr. Brudenell Carter, London; Sir Dyce Duckworth, Prof. Daniel Leech, M.D., London; Manchester; Prof. Donald MacAlister, Cambridge; Dr. D. C. McVail, Glasgow; Dr. C. R. C. Tichborne, Dublin; Dr. Batty Tuke, Edinburgh. For the first time in the history of the British Pharmacopoeia have practical pharmacists been invited to share in the work of revision. The following names of prominent British pharmacists are those of the committee appointed by the Pharmaceutical Society: Walter Hills (president), Michael Carteighe (ex-presi dent), Dr. W. Inglis Clark, W. Gowen Cross (ex-vice-president), Charles Ekin, John Harrison (ex-vice-president), Joseph Ince, N. H. Martin, William Martindale, Charles Umney, Prof. Henry G. Greenish, secretary. In addition to these the services of the following experts have been availed of: Dr. Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., Prof. T. R. Fraser, F.R.S., Edinburgh, Dr. Walter Smith, Dublin, therapeutics; Prof. Emerson Reynolds, F.R.S., Dr. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., Prof. William A. Tilden, F.R.S., chemistry; Thistleton Dyer, F.R. S., E. M. Holmes, F.L.S., botany. Dr. John Attfield, who has perhaps had more experience than anybody else in pharmacopoeia making, has acted as editor. The appointment of the Pharma. ceutical Committee and their intimate association with Dr. Attfield gave rise to the apprehension on behalf of some of the members of the medical profession that the work was likely to assume too much of the character of a pharmacist's pharmacopoeia, and insisted that therapeutical memoranda should be included in the text. The hitch was settled at the time, but not before it had retarded for six months the work of revision, by the appointment of Dr. Nestor Tirard to cooperate with Dr. Attfield, as secretary, in the work of the editorship. The net result of this compromise is not that the Pharmacopoeia has become a therapeutical ready reference book, but that the strengths of certain preparations have been altered to allow of more uniformity in doses, in order, presumably, to lighten the memory work of the prescriber. If we have ceased to idealize over an international work, we have had every reason to believe that the present issue would be an Imperial Pharmacopoeia. Professor Attfield said so at the beginning "an imperial character will be given to the new edition"-and we had conjured up something of the "Greater Britain" style of thing. But beyond a slight reference in the appendix to "alternative preparations sanctioned for use in India and the Colonies," there is nothing to substantiate the expectation. This provides for the addition where necessary of beeswax to the official ointment bases and of white wax to the suppositories when necessary in tropical climates, and an increase of alcohol in the preparation of liquid extracts and of syrup rhoeados when necessary for preservation. No attempt is made to include anything of the resources of the materia medica of India, of which so much has been heard from time to time. One is omitted-the bael-which has an excellent reputation in India as a remedy for dysentery, although certain preparations made from the dried and imported fruit have not been found so successful. LIST OF ADDITIONS. 220 Syrup of phosphate of iron with quinine and strychnine. Syrup of Virginia prune. Terebene. Thyroid solution. Tincture of quillaia. Tincture of Virginia prune. Tincture (ammoniated) of ergot. Virginia prune bark. The list of omissions, numbering about 200, includes: Aconite leaves. Amylic alcohol. Bismuth. Bismuth citrate. Bismuth and ammonium citrate. Bromine. Canella bark. Cinchona bark. Cinchonine sulphate. Glycerin of gallic acid. Larch bark. Lead nitrate. Leaf tobacco. Lettuce. Manna. Matico leaves. Meconic acid. Mercury oleate. Mercury persulphate. Morphine sulphate. Oil of rue. Oil of savin. bebs. Potassium ferro cyanide. Purified bismuth. Raisins. Refined silver. Santonica. Simple ointment. Sodium nitrate. Sodium valerianate. Solution of dialysed iron. White marble. There are also deleted all the poultices, Among other alterations that may be Characteristics of the New B. P. incorporated in the descriptions of many of the drugs, but these perhaps lack the practical value they would otherwise have had if it had been possible to augment the descriptions by illustrations. There is a copious index, the value of which is enhanced by the incorporation of tables of doses, strengths and of the preparations into which the items enter, after the style of Squire's Companion to the Pharmacopoeia. The get-up of the volume is precisely the same as that of the last edition, as far as type and arrangement are concerned. The color of the cover is a dark red instead of a dark blue. The size is practically the same and the number of pages is 535, of which 91 are devoted to the index, as against 536 in the last edition, of which 34 were index. We note hardly a single typographical error, which is in marked contrast to the 1885 volume, which was so full of errata in its first edition that the specially compiled list of them formed quite an appendix to the work. The printers and publishers are as formerly Messrs. Spottiswoode & Co., of Gracechurch street, London, E. C. the resources of India's materia medica utilized as might have been anticipated, although it is a fact that several additions were contemplated and monographs for them actually written in the The work of early stages of revision. selecting and formulating galenical preparations and processes for them has doubtless proved too formidable a task to be attempted for inclusion of the results in the present volume. As it is, the bael fruit, while it is extensively used and with much success in India, has been omitted, doubtless owing to the fact that preparations of it as made in this country are usually quite inert. There is no mention of papain or of mangosteen or chaulmugra, kreat, kurchi or jambul, besides others which have been found useful. Most of the things that are buried forever have been dead for a long time. We have already given a list of some of them; among others there are some that will continue to be in demand in different localities. dried lemon peel may be used when the fresh article is not obtainable. But the There is something peculiarly British formula, "India and the Colonies," savors somewhat of the Colonial Office and Blue about this new edition of our National Books, and the conditions and needs of medicine-book, a conservative, almost the former dependency are not the same, sentimental, adherence to things more or generally speaking, as those of the Colless ancient, and nothing has been introduced that is very revolutionary or strik- onies, which are for the most part pracingly modern among things pharmaceutically the same as those at home. Nor tical. There are those who are well qualified to judge who believe that the compilers of this Pharmacopoeia have not made a signal success of a grand opportunity for producing a work which ought to have been a model among latter-day pharmacopoeias. And, without prejudice, if you have apprehended an eclipse of your U. S. P. of 1890 you may be reassured on that score. That is not yet, although we are coming that way, slowly. had certainly expected much, and are, perhaps, not altogether not disappointed. We had been led to expect that an imperial character would be given to the new work; that it would embrace something of the materia medica, and be adaptable to the pharmacy of Britain beyond the seas, and while suggestions were asked for and received from Canada, India, New South Wales, Australia and New Zealand, among other places, this portion of the work is relegated to an Appendix, occupying a few lines more than a page, and entitled "Alternative preparations sanctioned for use in India and the Colonies," with the promise of an addendum, to be published at an early date, to embody a fuller consideration and application of the suggestions made by medical and pharmaceutical authorities in these parts. This appendix provides for the use of "indurated lard," which is the B.P. lard deprived of a portion of its oil by pressure, as a substitute for the ordinary article when it becomes too soft in hot climates; it is permissible also to vary the quantities of suet and beeswax and hard and soft paraffins in ointment bases when conditions of temperature render this necessary; the quantity of alcohol in liquid extracts may be increased to as much as a fourth of their bulk, when necessary to their better preservation, and Pharmacy. A very large number of the strengths of preparations have been altered; many of them, as we have indicated, in order to secure greater uniformity in the matter of dosage. Thus, the doses of all the more potent tinctures are 5 to 15 minims, and of the less potent half to one fluid dram. A new form of extracts is introduced. They are in powder and are really a revival of the now obsolete abstracts of the former U. S. P., in which sugar of milk is used as a diluent to bring the dose into line with that of other similarly po tent extracts-that of calabar bean, for instance. (To be continued.) make brass rings for top and bottom with a flange, as shown in Fig. 1, the inside diameter of which is a little smaller than the outside diameter of the copper. Now put the rings in a lathe and turn down the outsides till they are perfectly clean. Next bore out the inside so that it will just slip on the outside of the copper, then clamp your rings together and bore out four holes in the flange through which to put bolts to screw them together (cc, Fig. 1) and put the rings in place, one on the lower part of the copper, and one on the upper part in such a way that the flanges come together, as in in diameter, and a flange turned up on which to solder the pipe, Fig. 3. Now make a tin pipe of the shape shown in Fig. 3 and solder on to flange A, Fig. 2, with hard solder. A washer is now to be made of the same shape as the flange on rings and put between the upper and lower flanges; the bolts may now be put through flanges and washer, and the nuts screwed on. The still is now ready for use. A good condenser is made by taking a few feet of -inch block tin pipe and ← 2 in → 12 inches Syr. senegae Syr. tolu, of each .30 grs. 2 Gm. .... 1 A. dr. 4 Cc. 2 fl. drs. 8 Cc. 15 Cc. 4 fl. drs. 15 Cc. Aquae cinnam. ..q. s. ad 4 fl. ozs. 120 Cc. Dose: 1 fluid dram for children. MISTURA ACIDI SALICYLICI. Acid salicylic 8 Gm. 8 Gm. 2 Gm. Aether Dose: 1 fluid dram. MISTURA ACONITI PRO INFANTIBUS. 1 vol. 2 vols. 3 vols. MISTURA ANTASTHMATICA (FOTHERGILL). Measles Mixture. Syr. tolu 112 fl. oz. 45 Cc. Tinct. lobeliae..q. s. ad 4 fl. ozs. 120 Cc. Dose: 1 fluid dram. 1 fl. oz. .... Syr. tolu 5 fl. drs. 30 Cc. 20 Cc. MISTURA ANTICHOLERICA. q. s. ad 4 fl. ozs. 120 Cc. Dose: 1 fluid dram every three hours for children of two years of age. Tinct. rhei. Spir. camphorae. Spir. menthae piperitae, of each equal vol. Dose: 20 to 60 minims, for adults. MISTURA ANTIDIARRHOEICA. Spir. camphorae. Spir. menthae piperitae. Tinct. capsici. Tinct. catechu co. Tinct. rhei aromaticae, of each equal vol. Potass. bicarb. 1 oz. 31 Gm. Tinct. opii. 15 Cc. ........ of each 4 fl. drs. q. s. ad 8 fl. ozs. 15 Cc. 240 Cc. Dose: 20 to 40 drops for adults every three or four hours until relief is obDose:fluid ounce in water, 2 hours tained. For children over 5 years, 5 to 10 after meals. drops, repeated with caution. STUDIES IN PHARMACOLOGY. found that the mucilage cells were well Larrea Mexicana, or Grease Wood -A Study of Plant Mucilage. PROF. LLOYD ON THE COMMON NAMES OF PLANTS. T Specimen of Madagascar Cocoanut. HE regular pharmaceutical meeting of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy was held Tuesday, April 19th, with J. W. England in the chair. The Madagascar Cocoanut. Attention was first directed to a specimen of the fruit of the Madagascar cocoanut, which was received from Dr. J. J. Lemon, of Biloxi, Miss. The plant is a species of palm and its native habitat is said to be the Seychelle Islands. It is also known as the sea cocoanut and owing to the hard and resistant texture of the shell of the nuts, they are carried uninjured many hundred of miles by ocean currents, and thus the plant has been propagated far from its original habitat. A Study of Grease Wood. The Dr. C. B. Lowe read a paper on "Larrea Mexicana." The habitat of the plant was described as extending from California eastward to Western Texas, and from Utah and Nevada southward into Mexico. The plant is a member of the natural order Zygophyllaceae, and has been variously named by different botanists and explorers as follows: Zygophyllum Californica, Larrea glutinosa, and Larrea tridentata. Popularly it is known as "Creosote bush" and "grease wood." plant was described by the author as a diffusely branched and densely leaved evergreen shrub from 4 to 10 feet in height. A resinous substance resembling shellac in appearance forms a coating on the leaves and twigs. This substance is strongly odorous and it was owing to this characteristic that the name "creosote bush" was given to the plant. In addition to some economic uses of the plant it is said to be highly esteemed by the people of the desert regions as a remedy for external ailments, a decoction being the form in which it is applied. In a recent analysis of the plant, Wm. E. Krewson, Jr., P.D., found that ether extracted 17.27 per cent of substances, consisting of resins and vegetable acids, and that alcohol extracted 7.30 per cent of substances consisting of resins, chlorophyll and vegetable acids. Dr. Lowe said that the medicinal properties of the plant were probably due to the resinous constituents and suggested that an excellent ointment might be made by incorporating the resin with lard or by digesting the leaves in lard on a water bath. A contribution entitled "The Detection of Mucilage in Plants" was presented by Prof. Henry Kraemer. The author stated that mucilages were understood to mean those plant substances which dissolve in water or are caused to swell by it and are precipitated by alcohol in a more or less granular condition. He divided them into two classes -those which are the product of the cell contents and those which are formed by metamorphoses in the cell wall. In working on the violet a year or so ago the author brought out by the use of a solution of methylene blue. He has since applied the solution to a number of other plants and found that whenever mucilage was present the cells were well differentiated by its aid. The only other similar reaction with methylene blue is that with lignin. The Common Names of Plants. A "Note on the Common Names of Plants," by Prof. J. U. Lloyd was read by Prof. Henry Trimble. A remark by Prof. Kraemer at the last pharmaceutical meeting on this subject attracted the au thor's attention and led him to relate some of his own experience. He said that at one time he advocated the scientific names of medicinal plants exclusively as being less confusing than the common names, but that his experience since then had convinced him that the use of common names in certain cases was to be preferred by physicians and druggists. A number of examples were given in illustration. A Pharmaceutical Sieve. A paper on a pharmaceutical sieve was read by Prof. Trimble in the absence of the author, J. Frank Strawinski, P.D., a recent graduate of the college. The points which the author claimed in favor of his invention were (1) less liability to contamination, (2) utility, (3) compactness, (4) durability, (5) accuracy and (6) cleanliness. The main point of difference between the author's apparatus and the ordinary sieve is that it consists of a single frame with a number of detachable sieveplates, whereas ordinarily a nest of sieves is required for the powders of various degrees of fineness directed by the Pharmacopoeia. The apparatus may be described as follows: The frame or body of the sieve is made of brass lined with tin. At its base is a worm or coarse threading, over which a collar containing a sieveplate is screwed. The exterior of the collar is furnished with five finger-holds, which enables the operator to screw it on firmly. The adjustment is quite simple, which merely consists in placing a sieveplate of the desired mesh within the collar and attaching the latter as above described. The last item on the programme was an informal talk by Prof. Kraemer on a recent botanical trip to Wilmington, N. C. In addition to the many points of interest which the speaker noted, specimens of nearly all, if not quite all, of the plants mentioned were exhibited. Prof. Kraemer said that the vegetation of North Carolina is remarkable in many ways. One thing to be noticed is the wantonness with which the destruction of plants is carried on. Another observation was that the State seems to be the dividing line between the northern and southern floras. Several species of pine are found growing there which also extend far north, while on the other hand palms, which are characteristic of tropical vegetation, may also be found there. Formaldehyde as a Test for Albumin in Urine.—A correspondent calls our attention to the availability of formaldehyde as a test for the presence of albumin in urine, and a few preliminary experiments conducted by us seem to prove the soundness of his observation. Details of the behavior of formaldehyde toward the substance named will be given in a later number. |