Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1902. 
Progress  of  Pharmacy. 
291 
No  very  valuable  additions  to  pharmaceutical  literature  are  to  be 
recorded  of  the  German  commentaries  in  course  of  publication. 
Hager's  Handbuch  der  Pharmaceutisclien  Praxis  has  been  completed 
and  very  favorably  commented  on  in  the  German  journals. 
During  the  past  three  months  there  have  been  a  number  of  arti- 
cles of  more  or  less  practical  value  commenting  on  the  manufacture 
and  use  of  compressed  pills.  The  direct  cause  of  these  articles, 
especially  those  that  have  appeared  in  the  German  pharmaceutical 
journals,  was  a  small  book  on  the  subject  by  F.  Utz,  Julius 
Springer  (Berlin,  1901).  In  this  book  there  are  upwards  of  a  hun- 
dred formulas  for  the  manufacture  of  various  pills,  and,  as  was  to  be 
expected,  many  of  them  are  not  as  practical  or  as  desirable  as  they 
might  or  should  have  been.  The  discussion  on  these  lines  has, 
however,  been  broadened  out  considerably  and  has  included  the 
consideration  of  possible  abuses  arising  from  the  use  of  preparations 
of  this  kind.  The  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  London,  has  also  printed 
a  series  of  articles,  dealing  largely  with  the  manufacture  of  this 
particular  class  of  galenical  preparations;  many  of  the  formulas  given 
in  this  series  of  articles  are  also  rather  unpractical,  and  should  be 
avoided.  It  would  appear  that,  despite  the  popularity  of  this  par. 
ticular  class  of  preparations,  comparatively  little  attention  has  been 
paid  to  their  manufacture  from  a  pharmaceutical  point  of  view,  or  to 
their  efficiency  or  use  on  the  part  ot  the  medical  practitioners. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  us  in  this  country,  where  this  class  of  com- 
pressed pills,  no  doubt,  originated,  and  where  their  manufacture  has 
been  and  is  practically  in  the  hands  of  the  manufacturing  pharma- 
cists. 
An  interesting  complication  has  arisen  in  Germany  in  connection 
with  the  admission  of  various  synthetic  chemicals  into  the  last  edi- 
tion of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  under  a  non-trade-marked  name  or  title, 
and  giving  the  trade  name  as  a  synonym.  It  appears  that  several 
German  pharmacists  have  been  under  the  impression  that  this 
matter  of  synonyms  worked  both  ways,  and  have,  as  a  consequence, 
run  into  trouble  with  the  manufacturers,  or,  rather,  patentees.  For 
instance,  a  German  pharmacist  may  dispense  antipyrine  for  pyraza- 
lon,  but  he  cannot  dispense  pyrazalon  on  a  prescription  that  calls 
for  antipyrine.  This,  of  course,  involves  a  principle  of  common  law, 
and  would  hold  good  in  this  country  as  well ;  so  that  if  anything  is 
to  come  from  the  oft-repeated  suggestions  of  admitting  these  pat- 
