PHARMACY. 



687 





cheap, while other fuel is scarce and dear, and 

 lanre quantities of petroleum are consumed as 

 fuel. Elaborate experiments have been made, 

 not onlv by private individuals but by the 

 governments of the United States. Great Brit- 

 ian, and other countries, to ascertain the most 

 practical methods of burning petroleum as a 

 steam fuel. The result lias been in every re- 

 spect satisfactory, especially in the Caspian 

 region, where stationary, marine, and locomo- 

 tive engines are being run, not only by means 

 of the crude oil, but also by means of th 

 talki " or residuum that results in much larger 

 proportion from the manufacture of Russian 

 than American petroleum. Crude petroleum 

 and naphtha have been successfully used in the 

 manufacture of iron, and one of the purposes 

 for which the fetid oils of northwestern Ohio 

 have been lately introduced by pipe-line to 

 Chicago is to provide fuel for the extensive 

 steel-works in the southern suburb of that city. 

 High-test oils are largely used as a fuel in so- 

 called kerosene-stove-. 



PHARMACY. The advance in this art has 

 been manifested by the recognition that it has 

 received from the proposed formation of a sec- 

 tion on pharmacy and materia medica by the 

 American Medical Association. This was sug- 

 gested early in the year, and at the subsequent 

 meeting of that association an amendment to 

 its constitution providing for such a section 

 was introduced, but. according to the rules, an 

 amendment can not be acted on till the next 

 annual meeting. At the meeting of the In- 

 ternational Medical Conference in Washington 

 Dr. F. E. Stewart, of Wilmington, Del., in a 

 paper that he read before the section on thera- 

 peutics and materia medica, advocated the 

 establishment of a national laboratory for phar- 

 macological investigation. The duties of such 

 an institution would include the scientific ex- 

 amination of new therapeutic agents, with an 

 expression of opinion as to their value. With 

 such a bureau, the public would no longer be 

 at the mercy of dealers of nosti 'ins who widely 

 advertise their preparations, claiming that they 

 contain new drugs having wonderful curative 

 properties. A bill was introduced into Con- 

 gress by Samuel J. Randall providing that the 

 Government undertake the preparation of a 

 national pharmacopoeia, its execution to be 

 charged on a detail of officers from the various 

 governmental medical departments, who are 

 to invite three representatives from the Ameri- 

 can Medical Association, and a like number 

 from the American Pharmaceutical Association, 

 to aid in the work. This bill has not as yet 

 become a law. According to a recent com- 

 pilation, there are in the United States and the 

 Dominion of Canada 32. 244 druggists (pro- 

 prietors of stores) and drug firms. Of this 

 number there are 315 strictly wholesale, 310 

 wholesale and retail, and 31,619 retail drug 

 establishments in the two countries. In the 

 Dominion the number of establishments of all 

 kinds is placed at 1,199. New York contains 



2,897 drug-stores, and leads the list in this 

 country, which ends with Nevada, that con- 

 tains only 80. The other States that contain 

 over 1,000 drug-stores are Pennsylvania, 2,536; 

 Illinois, 2,284; Ohio, ],{" 

 Indiana, 1.549; Kansas. 1.442; Massacln 

 1,388; Iowa, 1,372; Maryland, 1,219; and 

 Texas, 1,156. 



Colleges. The faculty of the Michigan Col- 

 lege of Medicine in Detroit have organized a 

 school of pharmacy in connection with their 

 college. Two lectures each on chemistry, ma- 

 teria medica, and practical pharmacy are de- 

 livered every week, in the evening. It is re- 

 ported that a department in pharmacy had 

 been organized at the Denver University, Col., 

 the first session of which was to take place in 

 September. 



Legislation, In Louisiana an act was pas-ed. 

 on July 11, to regulate the practice of phar- 

 macy ; the sale of compounded medicines and 

 drugs, preparations and prescriptions ; the sale 

 of poisons ; to create a State board of phar- 

 macy, and to regulate the fees and emoluments 

 thereof; to prevent the practice of pharmacy 

 by unauthorized persons ; and to provide for 

 the trial and punishment of violators of the 

 provisions of this act by fine or imprisonment. 

 The amendment to the Kentucky law. that went 

 into effect on March 3, requiring druggists to 

 obtain certificates, has given general satisfac- 

 tion, and it is the desire of the pharmacists 

 that it be extended so as to include those doing 

 business in cities of less than one thousand in- 

 habitants. In Massachusetts, the law concern- 

 ing the sale of poisons has been amplified so as 

 to include some thirty more substances. The 

 new law provides that whoever sells any of 

 the poisonous articles named without the writ- 

 ten prescription of a physician, shall affix to 

 the bottle, box, or wrapper containing the ar- 

 ticle sold a label of red paper upon which shall 

 be printed in large black letters the word 

 "poison," and also the word ''antidote," if 

 there be one, and the name and place of busi- 

 ness of the vender. The States of Arkansas, 

 California, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi. Neva- 

 da, Oregon, Tennessee. Texas, and Vermont 

 still lack proper legislative measures to regu- 

 late the practice of pharmacy. An interesting 

 legal decision was rendered during the year to 

 the effect that " acid phosphate," claimed by 

 the Rumford Chemical Works as a trade-mark, 

 was decided against that corporation. The 

 matter is now before the higher courts, and a 

 definite decision has not yet been reached. 



Pharmacopoeia! Revision. During the coming 

 year delegates for this purpose will be chosen, 

 and the present committee have issued an ap- 

 peal to the several State pharmaceutical asso- 

 ciations for aid in gathering information con- 

 cerning the drugs and preparations actually in 

 use by physicians in this country. They desire 

 that analyses of the prescriptions of physicians 

 in all parts of the United States be made by 

 any who have the time and inclination, and 



