248 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



mainly rested in the hands of a few per- 

 sons, who have at the same time published 

 the very remunerative "Dispensatory of 

 the United States." The fifth edition of 

 the United States Pharmacopoeia, issued 

 three years after the convention met in 

 1873, did not, however, meet with the for- 

 mer approval, and was left without its cus- 

 tomary commentary, inasmuch as the au- 

 thors of the Dispensatory failed to prepare 

 in time a new edition supplementing the 

 n&y{ Pharmacopoeia. Suggestions for an ear- 

 lier revision of the Pharmacopoeia than in 

 1880 have since been advanced; and a 

 new departure advocated in the method 

 and scope of the revision. Dr. Edward 

 R. Squibb, of Brooklyn, submitted to the 

 American Medical Association an elaborate 

 plan for a new and completer work, to be 

 prepared by experts, under the control of 

 that Association. This plan, however, 

 was abruptly rejected by the American 

 Medical Association at its recent meeting 

 in Chicago, mainly on the ground that the 

 work of pharmacopceial revision is not ap- 

 propriate to that body. The American 

 Pharmaceutical Association, too, of which 

 Dr. Squibb is also a member, and to which 

 his plan had been presented, objected to it 

 on account of the unequal share accorded 

 to pharmacy in the management of the 

 work. 



The plan to obtain a better Pharmaco- 

 poeia at an earlier date, and under new 

 management, would practically have failed 

 for the present, if it were not for the judi- 

 cious and prompt action and energy of Dr. 

 Frederick Hoffmann, of New York, who car- 

 ried the subject, when dropped by Dr. Squibb, 

 into the American Pharmaceutical Associa- 

 tion at its recent annual meeting at Toronto. 

 He offered the resolution, that the Amer- 

 ican Pharmaceutical Association elect a 

 Committee to prepare a complete Phar- 

 macopoeia which may be submitted to the 

 criticism of the medical and pharmaceu- 

 tical professions, and may be proposed to 

 the above-mentioned National Convention 

 forrevising the Pharmacopoeia. This resolu- 

 tion passed unanimously; and the result 

 was, that a committee was appointed for 

 this purpose, which has agreed upon a plan 

 of its work and has selected the experts to 

 accomplish it. Dr. Hoffmann, of New York, 



has taken charge of the chemical part of 

 the new Pharmacopoeia, Prof. Maisch, of 

 Philadelphia, of the department of phar- 

 macognosy ; and Mr. Rice, of New York, 

 represents pharmacy. This committee has 

 promptly entered upon its labors, and 

 expects to submit the results to the Amer- 

 ican Pharmaceutical Association in the fall 

 of 18*79. It remains to be seen whether the 

 Association will then present the work of 

 its expert-committee to the National Con- 

 vention, supposed to meet in 18S0; and 

 whether the latter will accept this gratuitous 

 offer: or else, whether the American Phar- 

 maceutical Association, encouraged by the 

 character and value of the work, and by the 

 sentiments of its members and the profes- 

 sion at large, will choose independently to 

 publish its Pharmacopoeia. By such action 

 it would realize a desideratum which Dr. 

 Squibb vainly aimed to accomplish, and 

 would relieve the profession from the old 

 National Convention for revision of the 

 Pharmacopoeia, and this itself from any 

 further labors, by presenting in time a new 

 and adequate standard which by its in- 

 trinsic merits might at once command the 

 approval and acceptance of the professions. 



Salicylic Acid as a Remedy for Rlicnma- 

 tisuii The value of salicylic acid as a 

 medicine in the treatment of rheumatism 

 has been under discussion for some time, 

 the weight of authority plainly inclining 

 toward an affirmative solution of the prob- 

 lem. As a specimen of the favorable re- 

 sults obtained by the use of the drug, we 

 quote the observations of Dr. L. P. Yandell, 

 Jr., as stated in his " Report on Materia 

 Medica" to the Kentucky State Medical 

 Society. Dr. YandelFs report treats of a 

 number of recently-introduced drugs; it is 

 published in the Louisville Medical News. 

 His experience with salicylic acid may be 

 briefly stated as follows: First, in the City 

 Hospital of Louisville, nine cases of acute 

 articular rheumatism were treated with this 

 drug, and a " perfect cure " effected ; in 

 every instance the disease was arrested 

 within three days, and in several cases 

 relief was obtained in from eight to twelve 

 hours. The drug did not appear to have 

 any antipyretic effect. The patients took 

 the acid in ten and twenty grain doses, in 



