AmMay?i9(x»arm'}       Editorial  Notes  and  Comments.  235 
was  a  time  when  there  were  so  many  points  of  view  (scientific, 
medicinal  and  commercial)  from  which  to  consider  the  Pharmaco- 
poeia and  so  many  criticisms  and  suggestions  put  forth.  The  occa- 
sion is  a  peculiar  and  momentous  one,  and  yet  there  never  was  a 
time,  probably,  when  all  concerned  had  greater  respect  and  confi- 
dence in  the  ability  of  the  Chairman,  who  will  doubtless  be  re-elected. 
His  own  words  on  the  exigencies  of  the  work  of  revision  are  stronger 
than  those  of  any  other  writer  on  this  subject.  He  says :  "  If  the 
Pharmacopoeia  is  to  be  gradually  purged  of  old  and  useless  drugs 
and  preparations,  and  not  to  be  brought  up  to  date  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  newer  drugs  of  recognized  value  used  universally  by 
the  medical  profession,  it  might  just  as  well  remain  unrevised  and 
go  out  of  existence."1 
We  may  look,  therefore,  for  changes  to  be  made  that  are  in  accord 
with  the  advances  of  the  sciences  and  the  commerce  of  the  past  ten 
years,  and  that  will  be  of  a  character  fitting  the  first  revision  of  the 
twentieth  century.  We  will  give  our  readers  as  full  and  careful  an 
account  as  possible  of  the  work  of  the  Convention  in  the  June  issue 
of  this  Journal. 
EDITORIAL  NOTES  AND  COMMENTS. 
THE  DAILY  NEWSPAPER  AND  NOSTRUMS. 
However  the  people  of  this  country  may  look  upon  the  attempts 
of  a  minister  of  the  gospel  to  run  a  daily  newspaper  as  Christ  would 
have  managed  it,  we  must  acknowledge  that  like  the  editor  of 
Pediatrics:  "  We  should  be  interested  to  know,  incidentally,  what 
character  of  advertisements  of  patent  medicines,  nostrums  and 
'  catarrh  cures  '  (with  a  string  of  clergymen's  testimonials)  the  new 
editor  deems  fit  to  be  published  in  a  '  Christian  '  daily  newspaper." 
Indeed,  we  think  the  editor's  pencil  might  perhaps  find  freer  course 
among  the  advertisements  of  the  daily  paper  than  anywhere  else. 
THE  USE  OF  PREPARATIONS  OF  CRUDE  DRUGS  AND  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLES. 
In  reply  to  a  letter  to  a  well-known  firm  of  manufacturing  chem- 
ists, Messrs.  Billings,  Clapp  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  relative  to  the  com- 
parative use  of  the  active  principles  of  drugs  and  the  preparations 
1  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1899,  P*  561. 
