AseFtembrerPi9iT" }  Progress  in  Pharmacy.  419 
Prescriptions.  (Taylor,  George  B.) — A  rep'ort  on  carelessness 
in  the  filling  of  simple  prescriptions  in  the  State  of  Louisiana.  In 
December,  191 3,  a  prescription  calling  for  2  gm.  of  boric  acid  and  2 
ounces  of  distilled  water  was  filled  by  68  New  Orleans  druggists. 
Of  these,  22,  or  32.3  per  cent.,  were  correct  both  as  to  distilled  water 
and  to  weight  (some  allowance  is  given  in  weight)  ;  17,  or  25  per 
cent.,  were  correct  as  to  weight  but  not  as  to  the  use  of  distilled 
water;  14,  or  20.6  per  cent.,  were  correct  as  to  distilled  water  but 
incorrect  in  weight;  and  15,  or  22.1  per  cent.,  were  incorrect  both 
as  to  use  of  distilled  water  and  as  to  weight. — Rep.  Louisiana  Bd. 
H.,  1912,  1913,  pp.  176-187. 
Weights  and  Measures. — In  an  address  before  the  National  Con- 
ference on  Weight  and  Measures  of  Washington,  D.  C,  Mr.  F.  P. 
Downing,  chief  inspector  of  weights  and  measures  for  the  State  of 
Wisconsin,  referred  to  alleged  inaccuracies  in  the  delicate  weighing 
apparatus  in  drug  stores,  jewelry  stores,  and  the  like.  Coin  weights 
used  on  such  scales  were  stated  by  him  to  be  often  10  to  30  per  cent, 
light.  In  a  recent  inspection  of  drug  stores  in  Milwaukee  22.1  per 
cent,  of  the  dispensing  scales  and  43.6  per  cent,  of  the  dispensing 
weights  in  use  were  found  in  error. — Pharm.  J.,  1914,  vol.  92,  p.  905. 
Food  and  Drugs  Law. — An  important  interpretation  of  the  pure 
food  and  drugs  act  was  handed  down  on  June  13,  by  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  at  Cincinnati  in  the  case  of  the 
United  States  vs.  Forty  Barrels  and  Twenty  Kegs  of  coca  cola, 
which  reads  in  part  as  follows :  The  general  purpose  and  intent  must 
be  deemed  to  be  the  prevention  of  fraud  and  deception,  so  that  the 
purchaser  can  get  the  thing  he  has  a  right  to  suppose  he  is  getting, 
rather  than  the  protection  of  the  public  health  to  the  extent  of  pre- 
venting the  purchaser  from  deliberately  and  intentionally  buying  a 
particular  food  which  is  what  it  purports  to  be,  even  though  a  jury 
might  think  it  "  deleterious. " — Druggists'  Circular,  1914,  vol.  58, 
p.  487. 
The  Patent  Medicine  Business.  (News  Note.) — Dr.  S.  S.  Gold- 
water,  commissioner  of  health  of  New  York  City,  has  announced 
that  a  systematic  investigation  of  the  patent  medicine  business  would 
be  begun  at  once.  It  is  proposed  to  insist  that  the  manufacturer  of 
a  patent  medicine  name  the  ingredients  in  the  mixture  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that  public  opinion  is  sufficiently  enlightened  to  support  this 
movement. — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc.,  1914,  vol.  63,  p.  411.  See  also  Drug- 
gists' Circular,  191 4,  vol.  58,  p.  481. 
