Am"/u°iy^i908arm'}    Elixirs  of  the  National  Formulary.  335 
activity  of  certain  others;  thus,  small  quantities  of  barium  render 
toxic  an  otherwise  non-toxic  dose  of  KCNS,  so  that  the  final  test 
must  be  that  on  animals. 
The  question  comes  up  as  to  who  shall  perform  such  tests.  Phar- 
macists and  the  practicing  physician  certainly  would  not  be  in  a 
position  to  carry  them  out  on  account  of  the  special  training  which 
these  tests  require,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  both  of  these  classes  of 
gentlemen  already  have  their  hands  full.  The  difficulty  of  such 
testing  becomes  apparent  when  we  see  what  different  results  experi- 
menters are  arriving  at  as  to  the  question  of  the  toxicity  of  the  food 
preservatives,  and  even  in  the  case  of  such  a  well-known  body  as 
ethyl  alcohol.  Many  of  the  large  firms  are  now  employing  profes- 
sional pharmacologists  to  do  such  work.  In  Germany1  there  is  now 
a  considerable  movement  to  organize  a  Government  Bureau  for  the 
testing  of  these  preparations,  and  it  will  not  be  long  before  the 
Federal  Government  will  be  compelled  to  establish  such  a  Bureau.2 
It  is  urgently  desired  that  representatives  of  the  various  pharma- 
ceutical and  medical  societies  meet  and  decide  upon  suitable 
standards. 
ELIXIR5  OF  THE  NATIONAL  FORMULARY. 
By  E.  Fuiaerton  Cook,  P.D.3 
The  statements  which  are  made  in  this  paper  of  a  critical  char- 
acter, or  otherwise,  are  based  upon  actual  experiments  with  com- 
mercial products.  Where  difficulties  have  been  met  with,  it  maybe 
that  in  some  instances,  at  least,  minute  quantities  of  foreign  sub- 
stances in  the  ingredients  have  caused  precipitation  in  the  liquid 
preparation.  Further  experiments  will  subsequently  be  conducted 
to  verify  the  results  here  reported  and  to  suggest  satisfactory  mod- 
ifications in  the  several  formulas. 
1  Fraenkel,  A.  Ueber  d.  physiol.  Dosirung  von  Digitalispraparaten.  Thcr. 
d.  Grgenw.  n.  s.,  Vol.  4,  p.  112.  1902.  Klemperer,  Ther.  d.  Gegenw.  n.  s., 
Vol.  6,  p.  526.  1904.  Wendt,  G.  Doctor  und  Apotheker,  im  dunkeln  Spiegel 
galenischer  Praparate.    Med.  Woche.,  Vol.  6,  p.  100.  1905. 
2  Edmunds,  C.  W.  Standardization  of  Cardiac  Remedies.  Jour.  Amer. 
Med.  Assoc.,  Vol.  48,  p.  1747.  1907. 
3  Assisted  by  T.  C.  Ladakis,  Ralph  R.  Johnston,  Edgar  R.  Buzzell,  D.  H. 
Reighter,  and  S.  T.  Bonnell. 
