Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
December,  1904.  j 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
585 
the  fact  that  at  low  temperatures  pure  tin  has  the  property  of  being 
changed  to  a  peculiar  modification  of  the  metal — a  dull  gray  powder. 
This  change  may  also  take  place  at  ordinary  temperatures  if  the  tin 
has  been  brought  in  contact,  infected  as  it  were,  with  some  of  this 
powder.    {Phar.  Zeit.,  1904,  page  814.) 
Ihe  German  Association  for  the  Abolition  of  Quackery  held  an  ex- 
hibition in  connection  with  the  meeting  of  the  German  naturalists 
and  physicians  that  was  intended  to  demonstrate  how  widespread 
and  general  the  illegal  practice  of  medicine  is  even  in  paternal 
Germany.  This  exhibition  demonstrated,  primarily,  how  difficult 
it  will  be  to  abolish,  or  even  to  prevent,  the  spread  of  quackery 
among  the  general  public.    {Phar.  Zeit.,  1904^  page  828.) 
The  prevailing  tendency  to  overvalue  the  new  and  strange  at  the 
expense  of  the  old  and  tried  was  the  subject  of  an  address  by 
Sir  Dyce  Duckworth  before  the  British  Medical  Association,  who 
particularly  deprecates  the  reckless  administration  of  new  drugs  in 
place  of  well-tried  and  generally  recognized  standard  remedies. 
{Jour.  Am.  Med.  Assoc.,  1904,  page  268.) 
Proposed  Reform  in  the  Nomenclature  of  Synthetic  Chemicals. — 
Golaz-Vevey  {Schweiz.  Woch.  f.  Chem.  u.  Phar.,  1904,  page  566) 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  pharmacists  are  frequently  directed 
to  dispense  preparations  about  which  they  know  absolutely  nothing 
more  than  the  fanciful  name  ending  in  al,  en,  ic,  in  or  ol.  These 
names  usually  consist  of  (1)  some  arbitrary  abbreviation  of  the  de- 
scriptive chemical  title ;  (2)  some  real  or  imaginary  reference  to  the 
possible  therapeutic  uses  of  the  remedy ;  or  (3)  some  fanciful  and 
usually  far-fetched  discovery  of  the  manufacturer. 
To  reduce,  to  some  degree  at  least,  the  abuses  that  must  neces- 
sarily arise,  it  is  proposed  that  pharmaceutical  and  medical  societies 
demand  that  manufacturers  furnish  information  on  [a)  the  com- 
mercial as  well  as  the  exact  chemical  constitution  of  the  preparation  ; 
(b)  reliable  tests  for  identity ;  {c)  melting  and  boiling  points ;  (d) 
solubility;  (e)  special  incompatibility;  (/)  dose  and  therapeutic 
action ;  {g)  necessary  precautions  that  are  to  be  observed  in  keep- 
ing the  preparation. 
If  this  really  necessary  information  were  forthcoming  in  all  cases, 
new  preparations  might  be  dispensed  and  used  with  some  prospect 
of  a  more  rational  advance  in  therapeutics. 
Pharmaceutical  Nomenclature. — American  Medicine  (October,  1904, 
