A™anuaryPi907.m"}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  49 
the  traffic  in  drugs,  the  standards  that  have  been  adopted,  and  also 
calls  attention  to  some  of  the  more  interesting  questions  that  have 
arisen  in  connection  with  the  provisions  of  this  act. 
The  paper  also  refers  to  the  fact  that,  even  under  the  provisions 
of  this  new  law,  the  manufacturers  of  nostrums  and  the  irregular 
practitioners  of  medicine,  or  quacks,  are  not  materially  interfered 
with  and  that  the  unspeakable  abuses  connected  with  the  exploita- 
tion of  secret  remedies  will  continue  practically  unchanged.  It 
appears  that  the  best  that  may  be  expected  from  a  conscientious 
enforcement  of  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act  is  a  distinct  improvement 
in  the  drugs  used  in  the  legitimate  practice  of  medicine  and  a  grad- 
ual elimination  of  false  and  misleading  statements  from  the  labels 
and  some  of  the  literature  sent  out  with  nostrums. 
Mr.  Mahlon  N.  Kline,  of  Philadelphia,  in  speaking  of  the  "  Prac- 
tical Experience  with  the  Federal  Pure  Food  and  Drugs  Law," 
referred  to  some  of  the  previous  attempts  at  Federal  legislation 
along  the  same  lines,  and  incidentally  called  attention  to  some  of 
the  more  irksome  and  apparently  objectionable  features  of  the  present 
law.  Despite  the  various  shortcomings  of  the  present  act  practically 
every  reputable  manufacturer  and  dealer  will  willingly  submit  to 
the  extra  work  and  expense  involved,  feeling  that  ultimately  not 
alone  the  public  but  he  himself  will  be  well  recompensed  by  the 
change. 
Mr.  Kline  called  attention  to  a  number  of  questions  that  had 
arisen  in  connection  with  the  law  itself,  and  with  the  various  pro- 
visions enumerated  in  the  rules  and  regulations  that  have  been 
adopted.  He  also  cited  a  number  of  additional  opinions  that  had 
been  obtained  from  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  and  also  from  the 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry. 
This  paper  was  followed  by  an  animated  discussion,  consisting 
mainly  of  a  cross-fire  of  questions  relating  to  minor  details  but  illus- 
trating that  the  average  pharmacist  is  taking  cognizance  of  what  is 
going  on,  and  that  at  least  many  of  them  are  willing  and  even 
anxious  to  compel  manufacturers  and  wholesale  dealers  to  live  up 
to  and  to  comply  with  the  several  provisions  of  the  Pure  Food  and 
Drugs  Act. 
Mr.  Caswell  A.  Mayo,  of  New  York,  read  a  paper  entitled  "The 
Retailer  and  the  Drugs  Act,"  in  which  he  called  attention  to  the 
effect  that  the  law  will  have  on  the  public  and  more  directly  on  the 
