128 
Progress  in  Pharmacy* 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     March,  1914. 
posed,  unless  specific  and  valid  objections  could  be  offered,  to  adopt 
for  inclusion  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  the  descrip- 
tion of  mercuric  chloride  pastilles  included  in  the  German  Pharma- 
copoeia. This  latter  Pharmacopoeia  provides  that  pastilles  of  mer- 
curic chloride  consist  of  equal  parts  of  corrosive  mercuric  chloride 
and  sodium  chloride,  and  requires  that  the  pastilles  be  colored  bright 
red  with  aniline  dye,  have  a  cylindrical  shape,  and  be  twice  as  long 
as  thick.  These  tablets  or  pastilles  must  be  wrapped  individually  in 
black  paper,  bearing  the  German  equivalent  of  the  word  poison  in 
white  letters.  The  weight  of  a  tablet  must  be  stated,  and  the 
wrapped  tablet  is  to  be  dispensed  only  in  suitable  glass  bottles  or 
tubes. 
As  an  argument  for  including  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United 
States  an  official  tablet  of  corrosive  mercuric  chloride,  rather  than 
enacting  legislation  to  compel  uniformity  in  the  shape,  size,  color, 
and  odor  of  all  tablets  containing  corrosive  mercuric  chloride,  it  has 
been  pointed  out  that  inclusion  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  would  not  in 
any  way  interfere  with  the  legitimately  established  trade  of  manu- 
facturers, but  would  tend  to  discourage  the  sale  and  use  of  such 
preparations  and  bring  about  the  gradual  popularization  of  the 
official  tablet.  If,  in  addition  to  this,  it  were  practicable  to  induce 
manufacturers  properly  to  label  all  of  their  preparations  so  as  to 
indicate  the  presence  of  any  highly  toxic  substance,  and  then  to  sug- 
gest to  purchasers  of  tablets  of  this  kind  the  need  for  keeping  them 
apart  or  in  such  a  way  that  they  could  not  readily  be  mistaken  for 
other  nontoxic  preparations,  little  or  no  additional  legislation  would 
be  necessary,  unless  it  were  to  restrict  newspapers  from  publishing 
unnecessary  details  in  regard  to  the  nature  and  kind  of  poison  used 
in  cases  of  accidental  or  intentional  poisoning. 
PROGRESS  IN  PHARMACY. 
A  Quarterly  Review  of  Some  of  the  More  Interesting  Litera- 
ture Relating  to  Pharmacy  and  Materia  Medica. 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Washington,  D.  C. 
An  unusual  amount  of  activity  is  being  reflected  in  current 
pharmaceutical  and  drug  journals.  While  much  of  this  activity  is 
more  or  less  closely  related  to  renewed  interest  in  the  revision  of 
the  Pharmacopoeia,  awakened  by  the  publication  of  the  first  instal- 
