A^cSber,Pi897!m'}         Powdered  Vegetable  Drugs.  527 
stituents  and  structural  characteristics  must  be  considered.  The  author 
is  at  present  engaged  in  a  work  having  for  its  object  the  identifi- 
cation of  a  powder  and  quality  of  it,  and  hopes  to  have  it  completed 
during  the  coming  year. 
(4)  Furthermore,  it  is  necessary  for  all  those  who  have  to  do  with 
the  training  of  the  apprentice,  and  buying  and  selling  of  powdered 
drugs,  to  engage  in  the  study  of  the  same  until  the  most  satisfactory 
methods  for  determining  the  identification  and  quality  be  ascertained. 
In  our  educational  institutions  there  is  little  or  nothing  being  done, 
apparently,  in  this  direction.  It  seems  that  the  time  is  ripe  for 
some  time  to  be  given  to  the  study  of  powdered  drugs  in  connection 
with  that  of  crude  drugs.  This  will  undoubtedly  be  of  the  most 
practical  benefit,  as  powdered  drugs  are  already  handled  by  most 
pharmacists  to  some  extent  at  least. 
This  subject  of  the  investigation  of  powdered  drugs  is  one  of  great 
importance  to-day.  The  older  method  of  teaching  pharmacognosy 
in  this  country  must  be  supplanted  by  the  new,  having  for  its  object 
the  study  of  the  powdered  commercial  drugs.  This  knowledge 
ought  to  be  demanded  by  our  State  boards  of  pharmacy.  It  is  in 
keeping,  too,  with  the  desires  of  the  professional  pharmacist,  as  it 
will  tend  to  keep  out  the  competing  "merchant"  and  "grocer."  Our 
"  pure  food  laws  "  will  require  the  pharmacist  to  know  the  value 
of  the  drugs  and  foods  he  sells.  This  may  be  required  also  of  the 
grocer,  but  he  can  buy  and  sell  in  original  packages.  The  pharma- 
cist is  hardly  in  the  same  position,  as  he  cannot  always  dispense  in 
original  packages,  and  he  is  responsible  for  the  purity  of  the  goods 
that  he  possesses  and  sells.  The  conscientious  pharmacist  wants 
this  knowledge,  desires  stringent  examinations  and  just  laws,  and 
will  in  his  everyday  dealings  live  up  to  what  he  knows.  He  has 
nothing  to  lose ;  it  is  only  the  incompetent  or  dishonest  dealer  in 
drugs  and  foods  who  will  suffer. 
QUANTITATIVE  EXAMINATION. 
In  a  paper  presented  to  the  A.Ph.A.  in  1894,  a  preliminary  notice 
of  a  method  for  securing  approximate  quantitative  results  of  the 
examination  of  a  powder  by  means  of  the  microscope  was  given.  After 
a  few  years  of  deliberation  and  some  practice  the  principles  of  the 
process  are  somewhat  more  satisfactorily  developed  and  the  results 
will  be  given.    Since  1894  the  results  of  several  workers — Day 
