892 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXn. No. 834 



cology. In these consultations it was soon 

 recognized that it would be possible to re- 

 ject many articles on account of glaringly 

 false statements made. As contracts for 

 some doubtful prodiicts expired the manu- 

 facturers were informed that they would 

 not be renewed until the truthfulness of 

 the claims could be investigated. To in- 

 vestigate such claims and others growing 

 out of the work it was seen that a com- 

 mittee or council would be necessary, and 

 the composition and functions of such a 

 body were the subjects of many confer- 

 ences between men interested in the out- 

 come of the work. Finally, the Council on 

 Pharmacy and Chemistry was organized in 

 the spring of 1905 and this body after 

 much correspondence and a number of 

 meetings formulated rules of procedure. 



It was seen at the very outset, however, 

 that the work of the council should not be 

 limited to the study of medicines adver- 

 tised in the Journal of the American 

 Medical Association, or there offered for 

 advertising, but should embrace an investi- 

 gation of all new articles advertised to 

 physicians, the results of the investigations 

 to be published in the Journal and later in 

 book form under the title of "New and 

 Non-official Remedies." It was under- 

 stood, however, that the studies of the 

 council could not be extended to the thou- 

 sands of products advertised in the lay 

 press to the general public. Many of these 

 articles are little better than frauds, to be 

 sure, but the work of the council could not 

 be made to include them. As an almost 

 necessary limitation it was agreed that the 

 studies and investigations of the council 

 should be devoted to the articles advertised 

 to physicians only. 



As it was first organized the council con- 

 sisted of twelve men, divided into three 

 groups or committees, on chemistry, phar- 

 macy and pharmacology. The present 



membership embraces sixteen men, a new 

 group, therapeutics, having been added. 

 As it has been my privilege to be a mem- 

 ber from the time of organization I can 

 best explain the work accomplished by 

 speaking in the first person. The mem- 

 bership of the council is made up by vote 

 of the trustees of the association and the 

 appointments are for a term of years. The 

 present membership includes the following 

 men and it will be seen that there is a fair 

 geographical distribution, as well as insti- 

 tutional representation : J. A. Capps, 

 Eush Medical College; D. L. Edsall, Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania; Otto Folin, Har- 

 vard Medical School; C. S. N. HaUberg, 

 University of Illinois School of Pharmacy ; 

 R. A. Hatcher, Cornell University; Reid 

 Hunt, Hygienic Laboratory of the Public 

 Health and Marine Hospital Service ; L. F. 

 Kebler, U. S. Department of Agriculture; 

 J. H. Long, Northwestern University; F. 

 G. Novy, University of Michigan; W. A. 

 Puckner, Laboratory American Medical 

 Association; J. 0. Schlotterbeck, Univer- 

 sity of Michigan; G. H. Simmons, editor 

 Journal American Medical Association; 

 Torald Sollmann, Western Reserve Uni- 

 versity ; Julius Stieglitz, University of Chi- 

 cago; M. I. Wilbert, German Hospital, 

 Philadelphia ; H. W. Wiley, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



Meetings of the whole body are held at 

 frequent intervals and there is an annual 

 meeting in Chicago. Most of our work is 

 naturally done by correspondence and by 

 the circulation of a weekly bulletin. It 

 must be added that the services of the coun- 

 cil are without any compensation. 



It is well known that acetanilide, or 

 phenylacetamide, is a very powerful and at 

 the same time a somewhat dangerous 

 remedy. It is much used by physicians, 

 but as so employed in the free form has 

 seldom caused fatal results. Not so, how- 



