124 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(     March,  1910. 
one  thing,"  and  quotes  Sollmann  who  suggests  that :  "  If  the 
Pharmacopoeia  is  not  and  cannot  be  made  practically  important 
to  physicians,  then  let  us  abandon  it  altogether." — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc., 
1909,  53,  P-  1645. 
Suggestions  for  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  by  Dr. 
Oliver  T.  Osborne,  of  Yale  Medical  School,  have  appeared  in 
serial  form,  in  recent  numbers  of  the  Journal  of  the  American  Med- 
ical Association  (1910,  54,  pp.  50,  132,  208,  290,  376,  467).  The 
author  presents  a  number  of  really  practical  suggestions  that  are 
well  worth  careful  consideration,  but  they  are  too  numerous  and  too 
comprehensive  to  reproduce  in  abstract. 
The  National  Formulary. — This  book  is  also  attracting  con- 
siderable attention,  and  much  valuable  material  is  being  presented 
in  connection  with  the  meetings  of  the  local  branches  of  the  Ameri- 
can Pharmaceutical  Association.  Among  the  more  novel  sugges- 
tions offered  recently  is  one  offered  at  the  meeting  of  the  Pittsburg 
Branch  of  the  A.  Ph.  A.  by  Louis  Emanuel,  who  proposes  the 
introduction  of  a  class  of  preparations  designated  "  Vehicular  "  to 
be  used  as  the  name  indicates,  as  vehicles  for  active  medicaments. — 
A.  Ph.  A.  Bulletin,  1910,  February,  p.  90. 
The  National  Formulary  Superfluous. — Donald  McKesson  is 
quoted  as  saying:  "The  N.F.  as  an  official  standard  in  prescribing 
the  make-up  of  compounds  hinders  progress  and  improvement.  It 
is  only  necessary  that  the  ingredients  be  standard  and  the  label 
correct  and  sufficiently  descriptive.  It  is,  of  course,  understood 
that  some  few  of  these  compounds,  by  reason  of  popular  and  long 
usage,  should  be  controlled  and  these  might  be  properly  introduced 
into  the  U.S. P. — Drug  Topics,  1910,  p.  19. 
Digest  of  comments  on  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States 
of  America  (eighth  decennial  revision)  and  the  National  Formulary 
(third  edition)  for  the  calendar  year  ending  December  31,  1906,  has 
just  been  published  as  Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  58.  The 
book  comprises  a  total  of  523  pages  and  includes  a  comprehensive 
review  of  the  literature  of  1906  relating  to  official  articles.  This 
bulletin  is  available  to  all  who  may  be  interested  on  application  to 
the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Public  Health  and  Marine-Hospital 
Service. 
Reports  of  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  to  January  1,  1909,  and  Reports  of  the  Council  on 
Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  for  1905,  1906,  1907,  and  1908  are  two 
