3^4 
American  Medical  Association. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I      August,  1908. 
increase  in  the  preparations  of  the  U.S. P.  and  the  N.  F.  Meetings 
are  being  held  jointly  with  the  physicians  for  the  discussion  of  this 
and  related  questions.  This  of  itself  cannot  fail  to  be  of  mutual 
advantage,  since  bringing  the  pharmacist  and  physician  together 
will  result  in  better  understanding  and  appreciation  of  each.  In 
Chicago  five  such  meetings  have  been  held  during  the  past  two 
months,  in  which  pharmacists  have  read  papers,  participated  in  the 
discussions  and  sometime,  exhibited  preparations  of  the  U.S.P  and 
N.F.  Such  a  thing  was  unheard  of  only  a  few  years  ago  and  not 
thought  possible,  until  the  branches  were  organized  of  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association. 
The  physicians  seem  to  show  the  right  spirit,  and  while  not 
always  mincing  words  in  speaking  of  the  unprofessional  practices  of 
some  druggists,  such  as  counter  prescribing,  substituting  and  push- 
ing patent  medicines,  as  a  rule  will  patiently  "  take  their  medicine  " 
when  told  of  their  shortcomings,  such  as  self-dispensing,  prescrib- 
ing proprietaries  and  forcing  multiplication  of  identical  articles. 
The  pharmacists  in  smaller  places  may  secure  at  nominal  cost  the 
literature  prepared  by  A.M. A.  for  distribution  to  physicians  and  by 
showing  their  own  make  of  the  official  preparation,  do  equally  as 
well  as  in  the  cities.  See 
"  New  and  Non-Official  Remedies." 
"  A  Propaganda  for  Reform  in  Proprietary  Medicines." 
The  greatest  difficulty  lies  in  having  the  physicians  realize  that 
the  use  of  short,  euphonious  names  for  medicines  is  simply  inviting 
lay  self-medication.  They  should  constantly  be  impressed  with  the 
danger  of  using  such  names  as  are  designed  for  patent  medicines. 
No  physician  should  patronize  any  medicinal  article  which  has  not 
a  scientific  pharmaceutic,  preferably  Latin,  title. 
The  public  is  now  using  scores  of  these  proprietaries  which  they 
would  not  have  become  acquainted  with  if  they  had  Latin  titles. 
Liquor  ferri  peptonati  cum  mangano  would  not  be  sold  on  bargain 
counters,  nor  would  they  now  be  calling  for  aspirin  if  it  had  been 
prescribed  as  acidum  aceto-salicylicum.  The  excuse  that  the  physi- 
cians cannot  learn  or  remember  these  names  is  apocryphal.  How 
can  they  remember  the  names  of  the  bones  of  the  body  or  the  names 
of  some  new  diseases  such  as  trypanosomiases  ?  The  official  titles 
must  be  insisted  on  and  no  pharmacist  should  encourage  their 
abbreviation  or  simplification.    All  persons  engaged  in  any  scientific 
