234  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {AmMay?i907frm* 
are  on  the  market,  and  other  interesting  data  which  have  been  col- 
lated. This  book  will  go  a  great  way  towards  interesting  the  physi- 
cian in  the  substances  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  cause  him  to  be 
more  deeply  concerned  in  subsequent  revisions.  Surely  it  is  the 
physician's  province  to  determine  what  therapeutic  agents  ought  to 
go  into  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  it  is  the  province  of  the  pharmacist 
to  provide  the  tests  and  make  the  galenicals  which  are  to  be  pre- 
sented. With  this  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  two  professions 
the  practice  of  medicine  must  become  more  accurate  and  at  the 
same  time  more  valuable  to  the  people. 
This  work  of  Thatcher  and  Wilbert  is  not  merely  worthy  the 
attention  of  physicians,  but  is  also  deserving  of  perusal  by  pharma- 
cists, as  there  is  much  in  it  which  shows  the  necessity  of  having  the 
line  separating  the  practices  of  the  two  professions  strictly  defined. 
It  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  people  generally  would  be  better  off 
financially  and  otherwise  if  medicines  were  only  taken  under  the 
advice  of  physicians,  and  it  is  not  too  Utopian  to  believe  that  both 
pharmacists  and  the  public  will  awaken  to  the  danger  of  not  only 
patent  medicines  but  self-prescribing,  and  see  that  in  the  use  of 
medicines  we  are  dealing  with  poisons  which  require  the  expert 
direction  of  the  physician. 
THE  PHILADELPHIA  BRANCH  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION. 
The  regular  stated  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  for  April,  was  held  in  the 
Hall  of  the  College  of  Physicians  on  the  evening  of  Tuesday,  April 
3,  1907. 
The  interest  that  is  generally  manifested  in  the  propaganda  for 
popularizing  U.S. P.  and  N.F.  preparations  was  well  illustrated  by 
the  large  number  of  members  and  visitors  who  were  present  to  hear 
or  to  take  part  in  the  discussion  of  ways  and  means  for  bringing 
about  this  particular  reform. 
In  a  paper  entitled  "  Simplicity  in  Medication  and  the  Evident 
Duty  of  the  Pharmacist,"  Dr.  M.  H.  Fussell  pointed  out  that  it 
was  the  evident  duty  of  the  physician  to  study  the  condition  of  his 
patient  and  to  treat  him  accordingly.  The  use  of  ready-made  or 
proprietary  remedies  he  believed  to  be  an  indication  of  either  indo- 
