366 THE PROFESSION OF PHARMACY. 



be welcomed by all scientiiic men, namely, the adoption for the 

 lirst time throughout of the metric system. Another impression, 

 which even the casual observer cannot escape, is the necessity for 

 a more intensive study during the earlier years of preparation 

 for the profession of the subject of organic chemistry, which 

 now plays so conspicuous a part in the modern drug world. 

 Synthetic organic preparations have been common articles of 

 commerce for many years now, and the tendency is for their 

 number to increase. On this ground alone the necessity for a 

 greater attention to this subject is of importance, but the sections 

 relating to commoner organic substances, such as the fixed and 

 essential oils, acids, etc.. have been much amplified from a more 

 strictly scientific point of view, rendering a knowledge of the 

 subject more needful than was formerly the case. A large 

 numbtr of other changes hu\e been made in the i)rc^vnl i^sue 

 of this well-known work, but they have little bearing on the sub- 

 ject at issue. 



In conclusion, the author ventures to hope that the sug- 

 gestions herein i)resented may be found worthy of consideration 

 when the time arrives for the union of the Boards now repre- 

 senting ])harmac}- in the four Provinces. 



Problems of Living Matter. — In the Guthrie lec- 

 ture, delivered before the Physical Society (London) on the 2cSth 

 January, 19 16, Mr. W. B. Hardy, M.A.. Sec.R.S.. dealt with a 

 number of interesting phenomena observed in the studv of living- 

 matter and with the problems raised thereby. The activi- 

 ties of the simplest organisms are, he said, as simple at first sight 

 as their structure ; but the appearance of simplicity is only an 

 exam])le of tiie characteristic of living matter, the adaptation of 

 means to end. Many of the long-accepted theories of the struc- 

 ture of living organisms were due wholly to the method of killing 

 the organism and preparing it for examination, and exactly 

 similar structures could be obtained in pieces of gelatine if 

 treated in the same way. Interesting results were observed in 

 connection v*- ith the study of vitamines and their efifects : rats 

 fed on synthetically prepared milk lost weight and died, but when 

 to this artificial milk as little as 2 per cent, of ordinary milk was 

 added, the growth rapidly became normal. On the other hand, 

 in mice, inoculated with a rapidly growing sarcoma, and fed on 

 a chemically prepared diet, the progress of tlie cancer was rela- 

 tively slow : a mouse after ^2 days of artificial diet showed a 

 timiour oidy 4 mm. in diameter. It was then put on normal diet, 

 and in 30 days the tumour was nearly as large as the mouse 

 itself. 



