COMMERCIAL PHARMACY.

Watch Your Tincture of lodine.-It seems that tincture of iodine is a favorite article for examination by authorities who are examining drug stocks with a view of finding some substances not meeting with the pharmacopoeial requirements. At the January meeting of the New York City A. Ph. A. Branch an interesting discussion took place which we report, as follows:

Prof. H. J. Lohman, of Jersey City, read a brief note on the tincture of iodine U. S. P. VIII, based upon his experiences in connection with the defense of pharmacists who have been charged by the New Jersey State Board of Health with the sale of tincture of iodine which failed to comply with the requirements of the Pharmacopoeia. He pointed out that owing to the hyroscopic character of potassium iodide, the pharmacist should dry it at 100 degrees for half an hour before weighing it. It must be remembered also that the salt is only slowly soluble, three days being required for solution at a temperature of seventy-seven degrees F. The author gave the results of a number of experiments which tended to show that notwithstanding the presence of potassium iodide in the tincture, the amount of iodine and of the iodide also diminishes on standing.

Alfred Plaut said that he had had considerable difficulty with the tincture of the 1890 pharmacopoeia which deteriorated rapidly, but that his chemist had found all the iodine present in the form of either hodriodic acid or of ethyl iodide. Dr. George C. Diekman, of the Board of Pharmacy, said that it was almost impossible to believe that so great a deterioration as had been reported in some of the New Jersey cases could take place if the tincture was properly made and that it seemed to him probable that the results obtained in the New Jersey cases were rather a matter of bad analysis than of bad formula. His own experience, which had been considerable, corroborated very closely the experience reported by Professor La Wall in his paper on Tincture of Iodine at the last meeting of the general association showing comparatively little deterioration. In Mr. Lohmann's paper reference had been made to the production of color in an alcoholic solution of potassium iodide. This was easily explained by the interaction of the excess of alkali present in the iodide with the aldehydes present in the alcohol.

Dr. Joseph Weinstein of the Board of Pharmacy said that the statistics of the board showed that at least 92 per cent. of the tinctures examined were up to the required standard and it was interesting to note that the proportion of tinctures which fell short of the iodine contents had not been materially larger even prior to the introduction of the U. S. P. VIII formula. Mr. Dissosway said that the pharmacopoeia permitted the presence of 1 per cent. of foreign matter in potassium iodide of which some portion might well be water and

that therefore it should not be necessary to dry the salt. He also suggested the possibilty that the ethyl iodide found might be formed by the distillation as this substance was not readily formed save in the presence of heat.

Doctor Diekman said that the manner in which the New Jersey Board of Health had undertaken the enforcement of this standard was an additional argument in favor of having the enforcement of drug standards in the hands of the Board of Pharmacy, the members of which all were, or had been, pharmacists. Professor Lohmann defended the accuracy of his observations.

J. C. Gallagher said that an officer of the New Jersey Board of Health had informed him some months ago that the majority of druggists in that state were still using the 1890 formula for tincture of iodine.

Caswell A. Mayo said that several pharmacists had been arrested in Massachusetts by the State Board of Health on the charge of selling tincture of iodine below the required standard. He had corresponded with these druggists and been informed by one of them that when the charge was brought against him in court he was merely informed that an inspector had on October 11 purchased tincture of iodine which, upon examination by the chemist of the Board of Health was shown to be deficient in strength. Not having in his possession any more of that particular batch of tincture of iodine and not having been given a sample by the inspector who made the purchase, or warned that the purchase was for the purpose of examination, the druggist was not in a position to furnish any legal evidence regarding the character of that particular paper and upon the advice of his council had submitted a plea of "nolo contendere,” but appealed the case to a higher court. Mr. Mayo said that this method of taking samples left the druggist defenseless and was a very important matter.

Professor Lohmann said that the methods of securing samples followed by the New Jersey Board of Health were such as to leave the way open for gross injustice. A purchase was first made by some agent, frequently a child, and the representative of the board of health then came in took a sample and divided this with the pharmacist. Doctor Diekman explained the methods pursued by the New York Board of Pharmacy. The inspectors of which purchase and pay for a sample which they keep in the original bottle and then put a portion of this sample in a container furnished by the board and then give this container properly sealed to the seller at the same time sealing up the sample taken for examination.

Doctor Wm. Muir said that the real province of the board was to cure evils, not to catch offenders and this

point of view was kept to by the board of pharmacy but not always by others authorities. A vote of thanks was extended to Professor Lohmann for the paper.

Miss Katharine. A cat has nine lives.

Mr. Kidder. And at least eight of them are devoted to vocal culture.

PUBLIC EXPRESSIONS.

Read This Before You Write.

Contributions on subjects of interest to the pharmaceutical profession are always welcome. Write upon but one side of the sheet and spell out in full the names of medicines; never use abbreviations. The editor pays no attention to anonymous communications.

Enforce the Missouri Pharmacy Law. I fail to see why we cannot better enforce our pharmacy law now that we are experiencing a wave of reform. An effort is being made to enforce all laws as well as the local option law. I would gladly give my share to defray the expense of enforcing the Missouri Pharmacy Law, be it $5.00, $10.00 or $20.00. How many will join me in this proposition? If we can have the pharmacy law enforced, we can stand the local option law. [W. E. WHITSITT, Strasburg, Mo.

Do Not Amend the Pure Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906. The law as a whole is proving to be a timely regulation and an opportunity should be offered to demonstrate all of the strong points in the law and lay bare any faults that it has before an attempt is made to amend the act. It seems as if a large proportion of the American citizens take it for granted that every law should be amended whenever congress meets. We hope the Pure Food Law will escape what is likely to be mutilation if the law-makers are given a free hand. We fully agree with Frank A. Ruf, Ph. G., who has written the Missouri congressmen, as follows:

While I fully realize that every Congressman's constituency apparently requires him to prove his energy by the introduction of some certain bill or bills, will it be impertinent of me to suggest that there are already enough laws to make this a most excellent time to do nothing in this line, but to let the other branches of the Government put into effect the laws already on the statutes? I consider this particularly true as to laws which have been untried, and to which I understand many amendments and additions will soon be proposed. Especially does this apply to the Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906. I do not believe that the business of the country is in such a flourishing state at present, that further interference with old customs and methods is desirable, but on the contrary, I believe that it would be the part of wisdom to allow present laws to be thoroughly tried before changing them. I trust that you also feel this way and that you will not encourage or support such measures as will tend to upset or make still more uncertain, present business affairs.

Amend the Missouri Pharmacy Law.-Why have a pharmacy law, if everybody that takes out a merchant license can sell and dispense all patent and proprietory preparations, also such as carbolic acid, paregoric, calomel and laudanum, and in fact keep and sell every thing that the druggist keeps? Now this leaves the druggist nothing but the prescription work for his remuneration, and don't you think that a druggist in a small country town would have rather a dark brown taste in his mouth "when the rent comes around?"

Now I, for one, am in favor of bringing a bill before the Missouri Legislature that will make a general store displaying a sign indicating that drugs and medicines

are for sale therein a pharmacy, and subject to the provisions of the pharmacy law, and another bill that will provide that general merchants or dealers cannot sell proprietory medicines without first obtaining a permit from the board of pharmacy, and such permit not to be issued to general dealers in towns or neighborhoods where there are one or more drug stores.

My dear reader I trust that these few lines on this finitive question will inspire others who are robbed of their sales and profits day after day and month after month by the general merchants, who could not tell you intelligently the difference between quinine and calomel, to take hold of this much needed law and present it to the secretary of the board of pharmacy, and by so doing we as retail druggists may receive the benefits thereof.-[K. C. GARNER, M. D., Crosstown, Mo.

Pharmacian.—Anent the word "pharmacian" recently discussed in the MEYær Brothers Druggist. The dictionaries, it is true, do not mention such a term, yet if I am not very much mistaken, I have, sometime, somewhere, seen in pharmaceutical (not "pharmacal," mind you!) literature this form. Nor would I be inclined to condemn it, considering it rather better-derived than the modern American

me.

"pharmacist," which I think is quite improperly constructed, having no true anology that now occurs to "Pharmacian," however, I would not connect with the French pharmacien, but look upon it as analogous to (and similarly pronounced) as physician, optician, magician, practician, and so on.

That a certain word is not recorded by lexicographers by no means rules it out of the language; it merely shows that it has not found general acceptance in literature, but may later. The main point is that a word to be correct be constructed in conformity with the spirit of the language, else how could the latter grow at all? Thus many excellent new words continually appear sporadically in print, well understood by the reader but for some reason fail of popular approval and so die abornin'. (In living speech likewise new words are daily coined which do not survive.) But as to the dictionaries once more. Numerous good words are in common use, known by everybody, and yet these reference-books have not as yet considered them of sufficient hoary respectability to incorporate them. My work in these lines often demonstrates this fact, and more than once have I sent memoranda to publishers on this score. Of unrecorded words let me mention for instance, "pharmic," as formerly seen in print occasionally, and "just as good" as the ancient "medic;" while the now very common "pharmacist" has not yet been honored with an independent place in lexicographic order, in the Standard Dictionary at least, but is to be discovered under the head of pharmaceutist, and marked "obsolescent." "Practician" has not as yet a place in Gould's and Dunglison's medical dictionaries, although enumerated in the Standard and Webster. Really Mr. Editor, "pharmacian" does not seem half-bad.—[ADOLF G. Vogeler, Ph. G., '73, Chicago, Ill., Jan. 1908.

STRAY ITEMS AND COMMENTS.

The Colorado Ph. A. will again meet at Glenwood Springs. This has been officially announced by President Charles M. Ford, of Denver.

The Denver Ph. A. at its annual meeting, January 14, elected the following officers: H. B. Secheverell, president; E. C. Soetje, vice-president; Chas. J. Clayton, secretary-treasurer; H. F. McCrea, F. J. Lord and C. K. Brower, trustees.

The Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition is scheduled for Seattle in 1909. It is for the purpose of exploiting Alaska and the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean. The enterprise is receiving much favorable comment throughout the country. Pharmacists will take due interest and be well represented in the exhibits and at the opening June 1, 1909.

Maryland is likely to have a pure food and drugs law before the general assembly adjourns. The druggists of the state will do all in their power to give proper shape and scope to the law. Dr. J. F. Hancock, of Baltimore, is chairman of the committee on legislation of the state association. It will be demanded that the state board of pharmacy be equally recognized with the state board of health in the enforcement of the law.

The Northwestern Branch of the A. Ph. A. held its largest meeting January 22, one hundred and seven were in attendance and a dinner was served for the occasion. Many of the guests were physicians and the discussion of the evening was U. S. P., N. F. and the mutual relation of physicians and pharmacists. The utmost good feeling prevailed. The speakers were, President F. J. Wulling, Vice-President W. A. Frost, Charles H. Huhn and Doctor F. A. Knights, president of the Hennepin County Medical Association.

Is Re-registration Wrong in Principle or a Hardship in Fact?-J. T. Davison, of Pueblo, is advocating an amendment of the Colorado Law, which will do away with re-registration. This news will encourage Missouri pharmacists who are opposed to re-registration; but as long as the states in general have such laws it will be looked upon by the majority as just and proper as a means of keeping track of the registered pharmacists and as an aid in supporting the Board of Pharmacy.

The Association Pharmaceutica de Fillipinas held the annual election in December, and elected Filipinos to all of the offices with the exception of first vicepresident, which was given to Dr. P. L. Stangl, Dean of the College of Pharmacy. The doctor was formerly a resident of Philadelphia, but is in full sympathy with the Filipino cause. The president was secretary of the Filipino Commission to the St. Louis World's Fair, and is a member of the A. Ph. A. The officers

Stangl; Second Vice-President, D. Lucio Alcantara; Secretary, D. Luis Dizon; Treasurer, D. Manuel Reyes.

New York City A. Ph. A. Branch.-The following are the officers elected at the January meeting for the

year 1908:

President, Professor Herman J. Lohmann, Jersey City.
Vice-president, Jacob Diner, New York.

Secretary, Hugh Craig, New York.

Treasurer, Dr. Joseph Weinstein, New York.

Chairman of the Committee on Membership, John C. Gallagher, Jersey City.

Chairman of the Committee on Professional Relations, Otto Raubenheimer.

Chairman of the Committee on Practical Pharmacy, Dr. George C. Diekman.

Chairman of the Committee on Education and Legislation, Thomas P. Cook.

The Chicago Veteran Druggists' Association has

O. F. FULLER.

an informal luncheon each Friday afternoon, at No. 111 Randolph Street. The members of the Bodemann Club were invited to attend this luncheon during the N. A. R. D. week, and a number of them accepted and enjoyed a social hour. President O. F. Fuller was at the head of the table and welcomed the visitors.

The patron of the society, Dr. G. N. Jamison, was at one time a Chicago drug clerk and has a heart full of

sympathy for the clerks as well as proprietors.

Living Beyond Means.-Few indeed are the families keeping systematic accounts of their expenditures in good, bad or indifferent times. Therefore the opposition to answering the questions to be asked by the canvassers of the Sage foundation may not much affect the total of exact information secured. Living from hand to mouth, or from hand to back, is unfortunately the condition of the great majority. They know how their money comes; not how it goes. This is true not only of what are called the working classes, but of what is called the middle class. The recent stoppage of cash payments of salaries and wages revealed a woeful condition of thriftlessness in all of the great cities of the country. Families thought to be, from their style of living, in possession of means to tide them safely over transient difficulties of that kind, were found to have nothing but heavily paneled storm doors between them and the wolf on their wide stone steps. Their pay checks had to be cashed at their tradesmen's stores in exchange for necessaries, or by landlords in payment of rents, the heads of such households being unable to draw checks of their own which would be honored in any bank. Such a woeful pinch could be explained in some cases, by the fact of unavoidable deposits bearing interest, but in the great majority of cases it could be explained only as an evidence of living beyond means.-[St. Louis GlobeDemocrat.

moisture of the air should be kept in carefully closed nonactinic containers. Manufactured by Carlo Erba, Milan, Italy.

Formidine, described as methylene disalicylic acid iodide, forms a reddish-yellow powder, insoluble in water, acids or alcohol, but dissolving readily in alkaline solutions. It is recommended as a substitute for iodoform, being antiseptic and germicidal in action. Also used internally in doses of 1 to 5 grains, repeated as required. Made and marketed by Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich.

Fulgural is the name of a German proprietary alterative stomachic and laxative preparation, which is stated to be composed of buckthorn bark, 10 parts; ononis spinosa (rest harrow), 10 parts; senna, 10 parts; sassafras, 10 parts; guaiac, 10 parts; centaury, 10 parts; peppermint, 10 parts; sarsaparilla, 10 parts; magnesium sulphate, 100 parts; extract of trifolium, 5 parts; extract of English cowslip, 5 parts; extract of juniper, 5 parts; extract of licorice, 5 parts; sugar, 50 parts; alcohol, 100 parts; wine enough to make 1,000 parts.

Guaiacol-Somatose is a solution put up by Farbenfabriken vorm. Fried. Bayer & Co., Elberfeld, Germany, which contains 5 per cent. of calcium guaiacol sulphonate.

Hæmotrophine Arsenate is a hæmoglobin preparation containing 0.005 per cent. of arsenic. Made by C. Fr. Hausmann, St. Gall, Switzerland.

Helgotan Bromate is a brom-tannin-methylene compound containing 20 per cent. of bromine; it forms a yellowish-brown, tasteless and odorless powder, and is used in the same way as bromocoll.

Hermesy is the name applied to a calomel-lanolin ointment intended for use in the mercurial treatment of syphilis by inunction.

Hygiopon is the name of a new fluid iron preparation obtained by an electrolytic process. The iron is said to exist in the solution in a very finely divided condition (colloidal?) and yields a light brown colored solution. It is miscible with water, though some drops remain at the bottom of the container before passing into solution. Hygiopon is chemically and physically incompatible with alcohol and it is decomposed by milk. The specific gravity of the solution is 1.205. One drop weighs 37.6 Mg. and 1 gramme contains about 27 drops. The preparation must be kept away from light and too warm places. It is recommended as a tonic and appetizer in drop doses. The inventor of hygiopon is said to be a mechanic in a Berlin electrotechnical factory.

Hypnogen is the name given to a new hypnotic which is described as a diethyl barbituric acid. Barbituric acid is a synonym for malonylurea, and diethyl malonyl-urea is the chemical description of veronal. Hypnogen, therefore, chemically speaking, is veronal under a new name.

Ichthynat is an organic sulphur preparation intended as a substitute for ichthyol in all cases in which ichthyol is used. Marketed by the Heyden Chemical Works, New York.

proteid combination to the extent of 21.5 per cent. of | iodine, soluble in alkaline solutions only; insoluble in water, acids or alcohol. Used for same purposes as potassium iodide, being alterative, resolvent and eliminative. Dose: 5 grains, repeated as desired; 1 oz. bottle 90 cents; 5 grain capsules, bottle of 100, $1.00. Made and marketed by Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich.

lodofan, a brick-red powder, is a condensation product of formaldehyde and iodoresorcin, having the constitution of a mono-iodo-dioxy-benzene. It is intended for use as a substitute for iodoform and has the advantage over iodo form of being without taste or odor. It contains 36.14 per cent of iodine and leaves 0.21 per cent. of ash on incineration. Made by Dr. A. Horowitz, Berlin, Germany.

Kaliol. See Xyol.

Korysan is the name given to a carbonated hæmatogen, made by the firm of Homeyer & Co., Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany. A similar preparation of hæmatogen, preserved with carbon dioxide is already on the market under the name of eubiose.

Kurin is one of the newest of the phenolphthalein laxative preparations and consists of a mixture of compound licorice powder and pnenolphthalein put up in tablet form.

Laxinconfect has been applied to a compound of apple pulp and phenolphthalein, which is recommended as a laxative. Phenolpthalein has come largely into use of recent years as the active laxative principle of a number of preparations advertised as laxatives. The average dose is from to 3 grains, and the action is said to be prompt.

Lysan is an antiseptic and germicidal application for wounds and disinfection of the bands and surgical instruments, which is of alkaline reaction and mixes to a clear solution with water, glycerin and alcohol. It is understood to contain formaldeyde, in combination with eucalyptol, menthol, eugenol and other alcoholic solvents.

Lytrol has been named as a substitute for lysol. It is said to consist of 20 per cent. of betanaphthol in an alcoholic solution of potassium soap.

Maukalan is an ointment-like substance used in veterinary practice, which contains thigenol as its active ingredient. It is recommended in the treatment of saddle gall, inflammations and especially in malanders.

Mercurial Embrocine consists of one-third part of metallic mercury and two-third parts of a mixture of bezoinated lard and soap. Made by P. Beiersdorf & Co., Hamburg, Germany.

Ouabain Amorphous has been isolated from the East African plant Acocanthera Schimperi, one of the most important and most productive sources of arrow poison. It resembles in its chemical and toxicological properties the crystalline ouabain formerly known. The action of amorphous ouabain is to slow the pulse, strengthen the systolic action of the heart and increase the blood pressure.