376  65th  Annual  Session  of  A.  M.  A.     {AmxUguD8t"  wm™1" 
"  Whereas,  The  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  of  America 
should  be,  above  all,  a  book  designed  to  protect  the  public  health 
and  prevent  the  exploitation  of  the  sick  and  afflicted  for  profit ;  now, 
therefore,  be  it 
"Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  Section  on  Pharmacology 
and  Therapeutics  of  the  American  Medical  Association  request  the 
House  of  Delegates  to  urge  upon  the  Revision  Committee  to  make 
official  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  'corrosive  mer- 
curic chloride  pastilles,'  so  that  physicians  may  not  be  compelled 
to  prescribe  this  remedy  under  a  proprietary  name.   Be  it  further 
"Resolved,  That  this  section  endorse  the  form  and  description 
of  corrosive  mercuric  chloride  pastilles  as  described  in  the  German 
Pharmacopoeia,  namely,  of  cylindrical  shape,  twice  as  long  as  thick, 
wrapped  individually  in  paper  bearing  the  name  of  the  medicament, 
'  corrosive  mercuric  chloride  pastilles,'  and  the  word  '  poison  '  in 
suitable  and  striking  letters.    Be  it  further 
"Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  forwarded  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  American  Medical  Association  to  the  President 
and  to  each  of  the  officers  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopceial  Con- 
vention, and  also  to  the  Chairman  and  to  each  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States." 
Of  the  many  papers  presented  in  the  Section  on  Pharmacology 
and  Therapeutics,  the  following  contributions  were  of  more  imme- 
diate interest  to  pharmacy : 
Dr.  John  F.  Anderson,  the  chairman  of  the  Section  on  Pharma- 
cology and  Therapeutics,  in  his  address  discussed  some  unhealthy 
tendencies  in  therapeutics  and  referred  more  particularly  to  the  ill- 
advised  use  of  certain  biologic  products,  such  as  the  Friedmann  vac- 
cine for  tuberculosis  and  crotalin  in  the  treatment  of  epilepsy.  In 
summing  up  this  paper  he  suggested  that,  while  advances  in  therapeu- 
tics are  necessary  and  clinical  trials  must  be  made,  these  trials  should 
be  with  adequate  controls  of  otherwise  treated  cases  and  under  cir- 
cumstances in  which  every  stage  can  be  watched  and  the  various  clini- 
cal and  laboratory  observations  be  made  a  matter  of  unbiased  record, 
and  the  best  interests  of  the  patients  thus  safeguarded.  It  is  difficult 
to  secure  these  conditions  outside  of  a  well-equipped  hospital.  Until 
a  new  method  of  treatment  has  received  abundant  confirmation  of  this 
sort  it  is  unjust — to  use  no  stronger  word — to  apply  it  promiscuously 
to  patients  who  are  not  under  constant  observation  and  are  not 
amenable  to  instant  emergency  relief. 
