280 
Advances  in  Pharmacy. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<-      June,  19 1 7. 
Pharmacists  'have  been  trained,  not  only  in  the  science  and  art 
of  pharmacy,  but  also  have  had  elementary  instruction  in  some  of 
the  medical  sciences,  and  with  but  little  extra  training  could  be  made 
useful  "  medical  assistants  "  in  the  field  in  the  matter  of  surgical 
anesthesia,  surgical  dressing,  etc.,  thus  supplementing  and  helping 
the  medical  service. 
We  are  informed  by  the  Dean  of  a  medical  school  in  Philadel- 
phia that  14,000  physicians  will  be  required  for  an  army  of  a  mil- 
lion, that  there  are  less  than  7,000  physicians  with  ages  of  less  than 
31,  and  that,  of  these,  probably  one-half  are  physically  unfit  for 
service. 
If  this  is  correct,  then  only  one  fourth  of  the  necessary  medical 
material  is  available.  In  view  of  such  a  possibility,  it  seems  to  us 
that  pharmacists  could  be  made,  with  extra  training,  most  valuable 
"  medical  assistants  "  in  the  field,  while  in  the  hospitals  they  could 
be  given  charge  of  the  medical  supplies  of  the  hospitals,  and  render 
pharmaceutical  and  chemical  service  in  the  compounding  and  dis- 
pensing of  drugs  and  in  the  chemical  and  bacteriological  examina- 
tion of  excrements,  foods,  water,  milk,  etc. 
Again  urging  the  establishment  of  a  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  the 
Army  as  most  essential  for  proper  pharmaceutical  service,  we  re- 
main 
Yours  respectfully, 
(Sgd.)  John  Fergusson, 
President. 
(Sgd.)  J.  W.  England, 
Secretary. 
QUARTERLY  REVIEW  ON  THE  ADVANCES  IN 
PHARMACY. 
By  John  K.  Thum,  Ph.G.,  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Potash. — According  to  Commerce  Reports,  a  company  making 
Portland  cement  at  Durham,  Ont.,  is  now  turning  out  as  a  by-product 
from  the  feldspar  used,  from  twelve  to  sixteen  tons  of  potash  daily. 
Chlorides  and  caustic  products  are  produced,  the  former  being  said 
to  be  an  almost  pure  product.    It  is  said  that  even  the  dust  and 
