88 THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 



CLASS NOTES. 



In the middle West Geo. Alexion of '06 has been for about one year. 

 He was formerly managing the Cosmopolitan Pharmacy of East St. 

 Louis, 111., and successfully passed the Illinois Board of Pharmacy. 

 Now he is managing one of the stores owned by Geo. Heller, '8fi (N.Y. 

 C. P.), located at 9th and St. Clair Avenue, East St. Louis, 111., 

 *06 boys write to him. 



G. Mathey, '03 is back again with Hegeman & Co., 200 Broadway, 

 New York City. 



Medicinal Earths. 



Otto Raubenheimer at the last meeting of the New York 

 Branch, A.Ph.A. presented a translation of a sketch by Dr. Hermann 

 Schelenz, of Cassel, Germany, on "The History of the Medicinal 

 Earths and of Cataplasm of Kaolin." 



Taking as his text the following quotation from Horace: "Multa 

 renascentur quae jam cecidere ; cadentque, quae nunc sunt in 

 honore" the author advanced evidences of the use of earths and 

 clay-pastes and poultices in medicine, intermittently, during prac- 

 tically the whole history of medicine. The recent resuscitation of 

 clay poultice was but another returning to honor of an oft-used 

 and oft-forgotten medicament. The introduction of cataplasm of 

 kaolin into the LInited States Pharmacopoeia (which he called the 

 aristocrat of pharmacopoeias) was in his opinion largely influenced 

 by the demand created by the manufacturers of similar prepara- 

 tions. He deprecated the tendency to exploit clay as a panacea. 



Dr. A. Herzfeld, who had been requested to discuss the subject of 

 clap poultices from a therapeutic standpoint, considered this intro- 

 duction into official materia medica an ill-advised step. In many 

 of the indications for which they have been advanced, they inhibit 

 rather than promote progress toward recovery. Recognition by 

 the compilers of the Pharmacopoeia of formulas simulated in pro- 

 prietary preparations gives the proprietor an opportunity to claim 

 extraordinary efficiency for his preparation. 



During his remarks, the doctor made the pertinent statement 

 that one good way of inducing physicians to cease using a medica- 

 ment is to recognize it in the Pharmacopoeia. 



Dr. G. C. Diekman supported the action of the revision com- 

 mittee in giving official standing to cataplasm of kaolin, which he 

 said has some merit. Its introduction into the Pharmacopoeia he 

 believed was due largely to the extended use of similar preparations 

 among the physicians represented on the revision committee. — 

 "Apothecary." 



