Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
March,  1914.  f 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
Drug  Store  Strike. — The  advantages  of  efficient  organization 
and  co-operation  are  well  emphasized  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Phar- 
mazeutische  Post  (December  24,  1913,  v.  46,  pp.  1109-1112),  which 
publishes  an  illustrated  description  of  a  successful  drug  store  strike 
in  Argentine  brought  about  by  a  proposal  to  increase  the  stamp  tax 
on  specialties  and  perfumery,  and  to  impose  a  complicated  method 
of  control  which  the  druggists  of  Argentine  considered  impracticable. 
The  strike  was  general,  every  drug  store  in  Argentine  closing  on  a 
given  date  and  the  concerted  action  promptly  resulted  in  the  law 
being  set  aside  for  the  time  being  and  subsequently  revised. 
Useful  Drugs. — An  editorial  designates  the  recently  published 
volume  on  Useful  Drugs  as  a  book  with  a  purpose  that  will  mark 
an  era  in  American  medicine  and  will  likewise  have  a  distinct  effect 
upon  American  pharmacy.  The  editor  criticizes  the  inclusion  of 
syrup  of  sarsaparilla  on  the  mistaken  supposition  that  its  use  is 
recommended  as  a  vehicle  but  concludes  that  even  this  is  a  minor 
matter  and  Useful  Drugs  has  a  purpose  and  also  has  a  future. — 
Drug.  Circ,  1914,  v.  58,  p.  66. 
In  a  book  review,  p.  98,  the  same  journal  adds :  "  Useful  Drugs 
can  therefore  be  described  as  the  ideal  epitome,  and  the  pharmacist 
interested  in  his  prescription  department  will  do  well  to  aid  in  the 
circulation  of  the  work  by  distributing  it  among  physicians  of  his 
own  neighborhood." 
Digest  of  Comments  on  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United 
States  of  America. — A  book  review  of  Hyg.  Lab.  Bull.,  No.  87,  says 
in  part :  "  In  the  period  covered  by  this,  the  seventh  in  the  series  of 
'  Digests,'  the  critical  character  of  the  comments  on  the  German  Phar- 
macopoeia might  be  taken  to  indicate  that  the  makers  of  pharmaco- 
poeias must  in  the  future  cater  to  a  more  and  more  discriminating 
constituency.  This  attitude  on  the  part  of  users  of  pharmacopoeias  is 
still  further  emphasized  by  the  growing  demand  for  a  limited  materia 
medica  and,  by  inference,  the  limitation  of  the  scope  of  the  pharma- 
copoeia to  substances  of  recognized  therapeutic  efficacy  and  sub- 
stances which,  to  some  degree  at  least,  lend  themselves  to  adequate 
standardization,  whether  chemical  or  physiologic. — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc., 
v.  61,  p.  2005. 
Japanese  Pharmacopoeia. — A  new  revision  of  the  monographs 
of  the  Ph.  Japon  III  is  announced  as  taking  effect  December  27,  1913. 
The  changes  involve  acetylsalicylic  acid,  lanolin  and  oil  of  sandal- 
wood.— Chem.  and  Drug.,  1914,  v.  84,  p.  167. 
