Amju°nUe?iF£arm'}  Proprietary  Preparations.  319, 
put  on  the  market  under  copyrighted  names,  although  at  present 
the  best  grades  of  the  several  articles  sold  under  their  common 
names  appear  to  answer  every  purpose.  These  products,  he  thinks, 
are  unobjectionable,  but  he  says  it  seems  preferable,  as  it  is  certainly 
more  economical,  to  order  them  under  their  common  names,  espe- 
cially acetanilid,  bismuth  subgallate  and  formaldehyde. 
His  third  class  preparations  that  are  not  products  of  nature,  sold 
under  copyrighted  names,  Dr.  Rice  divides  into  three  groups.  The 
first  group,  which  he  considers  unobjectionable,  comprises  prepara- 
tions the  origin  and  composition  of  which  are  not  kept  secret,  such 
as  ichthyol,  creolin,  Mellin's  food,  malted  milk,  etc.  The  second 
group,  which  he  thinks  to  be  of  doubtful  value,  includes  all  the 
preparations  of  the  class  that  do  not  belong  to  either  the  first  or 
the  third  group,  which  last,  by  far  the  largest,  consists  of  the  "  se- 
cret nostrums,"  such  as  "  soothing  syrups,"  "  female  regulators," 
"  blood  purifiers,"  etc. 
Incidentally,  Dr.  Rice  justly  complains  that  for  years  the  name  of 
Bellevue  Hospital  has  been  taken  in  vain  by  a  number  of  persons  and 
firms  without  any  authority  whatever.  It  is  a  common  occurrence, 
he  says,  for  samples  of  proprietary  medicines,  foods,mineral  waters, 
plasters,  etc.,  to  be  sent  to  the  hospital  or  to  members  of  the  house 
staff  for  "  trial,"  whereupon  the  subsequent  advertisements  of  the 
articles  in  question  often  assert  that  the  latter  are  "  used  in  Bellevue 
Hospital,"  leaving  the  impression  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  that 
the  article  or  articles  have  been  used  with  the  sanction  of  some 
member  of  the  medical  board.  It  is  probably  impossible,  says  Dr. 
Rice,  to  find  a  remedy  for  this  evil,  from  which  many  other  institu- 
tions of  repute  likewise  suffer.  To  publish  a  denial  of  such  false 
assertions,  he  thinks,  would  only  aggravate  the  evil.  The  utmost 
that  can  be  done  appears  to  be  to  caution  the  medical  staff  against 
any  entanglements  with  the  agents  of  the  interested  parties,  or  en- 
couragement of  them. 
The  existence  of  philippium  is  claimed  by  M.  Marc  Delafontaine,  in  the 
Chemical  News  for  May  14,  1897.  Its  chief  characters  are  described.  Its 
symbol  is  Pp.,  and  its  atomic  weight  80,  120  or  160,  according  to  whether  the 
oxide  is  PpO,  Pp203,  or  Pp02. 
Philippium  is  more  closely  allied  to  cerium  and  terbium  than  to  any  other 
of  the  yttrium  and  cerium  metals.  It  is  to  yttrium  what  cerium  is  to  lantha- 
num. 
