586 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
{  Am.  Jour.  Pharm„ 
\  December,  1904. 
page  698)  in  calling  attention  to  the  need  of  generally  acceptable 
non-trade-marked  names  for  new  drugs,  speaks  of  the  confusion  ex- 
isting in  connection  with  the  active  principle  of  the  suprarenal  gland. 
"  In  the  case  of  this  substance,  indeed,  we  are  badly  off,  as  the  most 
appropriate  name,  1  Epinephrin/  which  was  given  by  Abel  to  this 
substance  before  any  one  had  either  isolated  it  or  obtained  it  in  any 
reasonable  degree  of  purity,  would  not  be  recognized  by  the  pharma- 
cist to  whom  a  prescription  would  be  taken  as  applying  to  any  of 
the  products  placed  at  his  disposal  by  manufacturers,  for  each  house 
has  its  own  name,  and  claims  superiority  for  the  substance  or  com- 
bination ot  substances  it  designates  by  this  name.  It  is  not  only 
possible,  but  probable,  that  there  may  be  differences  in  these  pro. 
ducts — some  essential,  some  non-essential.  If  so,  there  is  all  the 
more  reason  why  some  disinterested  scientific  body  should  deter- 
mine and  make  known  wherein  such  differences  consist,  and  their 
chemic,  physiologic  and  therapeutic  importance.  If  the  physician 
is  to  use  pharmaceutic  products  usefully  and  skilfully,  he  must  have 
definite  and  exact  information  concerning  them ;  he  must  be  sure 
that  his  patient  gets  what  he  prescribes,  and  he  must  not  be  led 
astray  by  unfounded  similarities  or  differences  in  the  naming  of  the 
agents  he  uses." 
Camphor  production  in  the  far-away  island  of  Formosa  is  not  with- 
out its  attending  risks  and  dangers.  The  Chemist  and  Druggist 
(September,  1904,  page  433),  quoting  from  a  paper  by  Sir  John 
Keane,  in  Blackwood 's  Magazine  for  August,  says:  "  The  trees  are 
felled  and  the  camphor  distilled  from  them  chiefly  by  the  Hakkas, 
who  are  civilized  natives.  But  living  in  those  mountains  are  many 
tribes  of  irreconcilable  aborigines,  who  resent  and,  to  the  best  of 
their  power,  resist  the  advance  of  their  uninvited  civilizers.  For 
centuries  it  has  been  the  custom  of  these  savages  to  adorn  their 
homes  with  the  heads  of  their  enemies,  and  when  they  have  fixed 
on  a  head  they  want,  they  will  lie  in  wait  for  its  owner  for  days 
until  they  catch  him.  The  camphor  workers,  who  live  in  isolated 
parties,  are  well  armed,  but  in  the  district  visited  by  Sir  John  Keane 
forty  heads  had  been  lost  in  the  previous  nine  months." 
Green  Cardamoms  are  simply  the  ordinary  cardamoms  dried  in  the 
air  instead  of  being  stove  dried  and  sulphur  bleached,  in  the  usual 
method.  The  principal  virtue  of  the  green  cardamom  is  said  to  be 
that  it  is  much  sweeter  and  stronger  in  flavor  than  the  bleached 
