456 
Editorial. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
I  September,  1894. 
EDITORIAL. 
The  paper  in  this  issue  on  the  "Structure  of  Podophyllum,"  is  intended  to 
be  the  first  of  a  series  of  illustrated  articles  by  Professor  Bastin  on  our  indi- 
genous drugs.  We  hope  to  have  one  of  these  contributions  every  month,  but 
that  cannot  be  definitely  promised,  since  the  very  nature  of  the  work  pre- 
cludes absolute  regularity. 
While  illustrations  of  foreign  drugs  are  to  be  found  in  every  text-book  on 
the  subject,  the  medicinal  plants  of  our  own  country  have  not  been  so  exhaus- 
tively treated. 
We  trust  that  these  illustrations  and  descriptions  will  be  appreciated  by 
students  and  others  in  this  country,  as  we  are  sure  they  will  be  by  our  foreign 
readers. 
With  an  abundance  of  raw  material  at  his  disposal,  and  with  the  unusual 
facilities  which  he  possesses,  we  feel  that  no  one  is  better  adapted  to  take  up 
this  long-neglected  subject  than  Professor  Bastin  ;  and  we  anticipate  that  he 
will  give  us  a  vegetable  histology  of  our  own  country,  which  will  not  only  be  of 
present  interest,  but  will  at  the  same  time  be  of  permanent  value. 
THE)  BRITISH  PHARMACEUTICAL  CONFERENCE. 
The  recent  Conference  at  Oxford,  England,  appears  to  have  been  one  of 
unusual  interest. 
The  president,  N.  H.  Martin,  severely  criticized  the  pharmacists  for  giving 
too  much  weight  to  the  business  side  of  their  profession,  and  little  or  no  con- 
sideration to  those  scientific  matters  which  go  to  make  their  calling  a  profes- 
sion.   "  Pharmacy,"  he  declared,  "asa  trade  is  a  failure." 
As  a  remedy  he  advocated  more  severe  preliminary  examination  of  appren- 
tices, followed  by  a  longer  course  of  study  than  is  now  required. 
Leaving  the  pharmacist,  he  vigorously  denounced  the  medical  profession  for 
listening  to  the  advice  of  the  enterprising  manufacturers,  who  impose  on  the 
gullible  physician  such  imaginary  preparations  as  "  skinnaline,  containing  the 
active  principles  of  the  skin,"  and  "liq.  curaline  co.,"  which  will  cure  all 
ailments,  etc. 
Many  of  the  papers  presented  were  of  a  high  order  of  merit ;  almost  all  of 
them  bore  evidence  of  original  research  on  subjects  of  a  chemical  or  pharma- 
ceutical nature.  There  was  a  marked  absence  of  that  class  of  papers  frequently 
presented  in  the  American  Association,  which  are  often  merely  rambling  theo- 
ries about  the  profession  of  pharmacy,  pharmacy  laws,  boards  of  pharmacy, 
pharmaceutical  education,  etc. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
Companion  to  the  latest  edition  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia— Comparing 
the  strength  of  its  various  preparations  with  those  of  the  United  States  and 
other  foreign  Pharmacopoeias,  to  which  are  added  not  official  preparations,  and 
practical  hints  on  prescribing. 
By  Peter  Squire.  Sixteenth  edition.  Revised  by  Peter  Wyatt  Squire  and 
Alfred  Herbert  Squire.    London  :   J.  and  A.  Churchill,  1894.    Pp.  693. 
Since  the  publication  of  the  fifteenth  edition  in  1890,  the  authors,  with  a 
