156 Scientific Nanies vs. Trade Designaüons [Sept. 



tected by a United States patent and the firm which holds this patent 

 has offered it for sale under the proprietary non-descriptive name 

 " Orphol." On examination in the chemical laboratory of the 

 American Medical Association, Orphol was found not to be bis- 

 muth betanaphtholate at all {Journal of the American Medical 

 Association, Dec. 18, 1909, p. 21 10). A suit for an infringement 

 of this patent would no doubt have been defeated in court; yet the 

 manufacturer of a superior product, sold under its chemical name, 

 discontinued the sale of his product because the patentee protested 

 against it. 



Such abuses of the patent and trade-mark laws by commercial 

 interests may have to be corrected through the courts or by an 

 amendment of the laws. The Committee on Patents and Trade- 

 Marks of the American Medical Association has recommeded ac- 

 tion by the Association {Journal of the American Medical As- 

 sociation, June 19, 1909, p. 2063). However, it is mithin the 

 pozver of physicians to iniprove these conditions by giving prefer- 

 ence, as far as possihle, to the chemical or scientific name of an 

 article over the proprietary jmme. Physicians should familiarize 

 themselves with such pharmacopeial titles as acetphenetidin 

 ("phenacetin "), hexamethylenamin ("aminoform," "formin," 

 "urotropin," etc.) and sulphonmethane ("sulphonal "), and use 

 them in preference to the proprietary names for these substances. 

 The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical 

 Association provides scientific names as Synonyms for unofficial 

 substances manufactured by more than one firm, and if the pre- 

 scriber prefers any particular product he may append the firm's 

 initials to the scientific name of the article. 



The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American 

 Medical Association was originally created to protect the medical 

 profession against fraudulent proprietary medicines. After giving 

 the subject füll consideration, the Council determined to announce 

 those among the proprietaries that were worthy of recognition by 

 the profession, rather than to condemn those which were more or 

 less fraudulent and not worthy of recognition. In line with this 

 proposition it was decided to publish a book to contain a list of the 

 articles considered worthy, with such Information regarding them 



