288  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {Amj„°e,riwoarm' 
obligatory  in  Porto  Rico,  there  has  been  adopted  in  the  Senate  of  the 
U.  S.  resolution  entitled  S.  J.  Res.  37  (Congressional  Record,  March  11, 
p.  3121),  which  is  now  under  consideration  by  the  Committee  on  Printing 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  resolution  provides  that  all  docu- 
ments, papers,  etc.,  published  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  be 
printed  in  the  English  language  and  would  require  that  wherever  references 
to  metric  weights  and  measures,  centigrade  thermometer  and  similar  stand- 
ards are  used,  the  equivalent  in  the  English  standard  be  given. 
This  resolution  scarcely  needs  other  comment  than  to  say  that  the 
necessity  exists  for  guarding  the  progress  that  has  already  been  made. 
A  similar  back  tendency  in  certain  directions  is  shown  by  a  recent 
editorial  in  American  Medicine  (January,  1910,  p.  7)  on  "  The  Tyranny  of 
the  Metric  Advocates  and  French  Metric  Tyranny."  While  the  percentage 
of  physicians  who  actually  use  the  metric  system  in  prescription  writing 
is  very  small,  it  is  probable  that  the  majority  of  them  recognize  its 
advantages,  and  hence  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  this  editorial  will 
not  have  any  real  influence  in  hindering  progress. 
As  showing  what  may  be  done  by  local  branches  of  the  A.  Ph.  A. 
attention  is  called  to  the  action  of  the  Chicago  Branch  which  proposed 
two  resolutions  for  submission  to  the  National  Convention  of  City  Sealers 
which  met  in  Washington  on  February  25  (See  A.  Ph.  A.  Bulletin, 
February,  1910). 
A.  B.  Stevens, 
Charles  E.  Caspari, 
C.  S.  Brinton, 
Philip  Asher, 
Henry  Kraemer,  Chairman. 
One  of  the  interesting  and  instructive  features  of  the  meeting 
was  an  exhibit  of  medicinal  plants  which  was  planned  by  President 
Rusby  and  largely  contributed  to  by  him.  Dr.  R.  H.  True,  of 
the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, also  sent  a  number  of  interesting  plants  from  the  Arlington 
drug  farm  of  the  government.  Support  was  also  received  through 
the  specimens  contributed  by  Messrs.  Eli  Lilly  &  Co.,  Prof.  E. 
V.  Howell,  University  of  North  Carolina  Department  of  Pharmacy, 
Professor  Sayre  of  the  University  of  Kansas  and  Professor  Kraemer 
of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.  With  the  exception  of  the 
specimens  of  hydrastis  growing  in  soil  and  brought  to  the  meeting 
by  Professor  Kraemer,  all  of  the  plants  were  placed  in  jars  con- 
taining water  and  retained  their  fresh  condition  during  the  greater 
portion  of  the  meeting.  Quite  a  number  of  the  specimens  repre- 
sented the  leafy  branches  of  the  plant  and  gave  rather  a  good 
idea  of  the  nature  of  the  plants.    The  following  is  an  attempt 
