4i8 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\  September,  1914. 
indications  both  of  these  meetings  will  be  interesting,  profitable 
and  well  attended. 
The  American  Chemical  Society's  summer  or  fall  meeting,  which 
was  to  have  been  held  in  the  city  of  Montreal,  Canada,  September 
15th  to  1 8th,  has  been  indefinitely  postponed  because  of  the  European 
war  and  the  present  outlook  is  that  the  next  meeting  of  the  American 
Chemical  Society  will  be  held  in  New  Orleans,  April  ist  to  3d,  191 5. 
U.  S.  P.  Revision. — The  fourth  and  fifth  instalments  of  abstracts  - 
of  proposed  changes  with  new  standards  and  descriptions  for  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  ninth  revision,  have  been  published. 
The  first  includes  proposed  proximate  assays  of  crude  drugs  and 
galenical  preparations  and  the  latter  embraces  most  of  the  biological 
products  and  volatile  oils.  The  material  so  far  published  should 
prove  a  fruitful  source  for  discussion  at  the  Detroit  meeting  of  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
Official  Assay  Processes. — Dichgans,  H.,  in  concluding  a  com- 
parative examination  of  pharmacopceial  methods  for  the  assay  of 
potent  drugs  and  medicinal  preparations,  states  that  his  results  in- 
dicate that  the  directions  for  alkaloidal  assay  included  in  many  of 
the  pharmacopoeias  are  not  at  all  suited  to  the  purpose.  The  results 
obtained  are  in  many  instances  variable,  while  in  others  the  methods 
are  so  complicated  that  they  are  unsuited  for  general  practice.  The 
different  methods  when  applied  to  the  same  material  give  widely 
variable  results,  indicating  that  uniformity  in  the  content  of  potent 
drugs  can  be  secured  only  when  the  method  of  assay  adopted  is 
uniform. 
Total  Extractive  as  a  Factor  in  Fluid  Extract  Manufacture. 
(Maines  and  Gardner.) — The  determination  of  total  extractive  is 
an  important  factor  in  the  manufacture  of  fluid  extracts,  especially 
those  of  the  known  alkaloidal  drugs.  A  table  of  the  total  extractive 
determinations  is  given  which  represents  estimations  covering  many 
years  of  work,  and  the  products  of  several  of  the  large  manufactures. 
— /.  Am.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1914,  vol.  3,  pp.  997-1000. 
Useful  Drugs.  (Report  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.) — The  work 
of  the  committee  on  a  selected  list  of  drugs  has  resulted  in  the  publica- 
tion of  the  book  called  "  Useful  Drugs."  This  has  already  been 
adopted  as  a  text-book  by  a  number  of  our  best  schools ;  its  adoption 
has  been  considered  by  the  State  licensing  boards,  one  already  having 
adopted  it,  and  there  is  every  indication  that  this  enterprise  will  have 
a  most  beneficial  effect. — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc.,  1914,  vol.  63,  p.  75. 
