viii 
Notes  and  News. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1900. 
and  found  the  irritant  material  which  excited  the  cough  came  from  the  pollen 
of  plane  trees.  The  editor  of  the  Nat.  Drug.  (1900,  p.  80)  records  finding  in 
discharges  from  the  nostrils  and  eyes  of  a  patient  suffering  with  hay  fever  the 
effloration  of  "box  tree."  Galen  and  Dioscorides  also  mention  the  irritating 
effects  of  pollen  of  plaue  tree. 
Boric  Acid  and  Formaein,  when  used  as  preservatives  of  milk  (and  prob- 
ably of  other  foods),  are  very  injurious  to  the  health  of  the  consumer  and  par- 
ticularly so  to  the  health  of  young  infants.— H.  K.  Annett,  in  The  Lancet, 
November  11,  1899;  Therap.  Gaz.,  1900,  p.  251. 
New  Microchemicae  Reaction  of  Paeeadium.—  If  a  solution  of  palladium 
chloride  and  potassium  nitrite  are  mixed,  and  immediately  afterwards  excess 
of  a  caustic  alkali  is  added,  beautiful  rhombohedral  yellowish  crystals  are 
formed,  being  a  double  nitrite  of  palladium  and  potassium. — Pozzi-Escot  and 
Congnet,  in  Compt.  rend.,  April  17,  1900 ;  Chem.  News,  1900,  p.  240. 
How  Patent  Medicine  Business  is  Worked. — "  These  manufacturers  of 
patent  medicine,  nine  out  of  ten,  live  solely  by  the  newspapers,  and  sometimes 
are  admirably  managed.  I  know  some  establishments  in  which  a  regular  staff 
is  employed  ;  I  know  something  about  them,  because  they  try  to  bribe  me  to 
certify  to  the  value  of  their  concoctions.  So  I  say  there  is  a  regular  staff. 
There  is  the  literary  man  who  writes  the  letters  giving  marvellous  accounts  of 
marvellous  cases.  There  is  the  artist  who  shows  the  patient  before  and  after 
taking  twenty-two  bottles  of  the  medicine  ;  there  is  the  poet,  who  composes 
poems  upon  the  subject ;  there  is  the  liar,  who  swears  to  what  he  knows  is  not 
true,  and  the  forger,  who  produces  testimonials  from  his  own  imagination. 
Without  exaggeration,  I  should  say  that  nine  out  of  ten  of  these  patent  medi- 
cines are  frauds,  pure  and  simple ;  the  real  business  is  advertising  for  dupes. 
The  medical  part  of  it  is  a  side  issue.  I  am  pretty  sure,  if  I  were  to  pound  up 
brick  bats  and  spend  $100,000  in  offering  it  at  $1  an  ounce,  as  a  sure  cure  for 
some  diseases  that  cannot  be  cured,  I  should  get  at  least  $110,000,  thus  giving 
me  $10,000  for  my  trouble.  Nine-tenths  of  the  medicines  sent  out  in  this 
fashion  have  no  more  curative  properties  than  brick-bat  dust. — Charles  F. 
Chandler,  in  Medical  Record." —  The  Retail  Druggist,  January,  1900. 
Adueterated  Foods. — "  We  see  in  The  New  York  Commonwealth  that  U. 
S.  Senator  Mason,  of  the  Senate  Committee,  which  has  been  gathering  evidence 
in  regard  to  our  adulterated  foods,  says  that  the  United  States  is  the  only  coun- 
try that  does  not  protect  the  consumers  of  food  products  and  that  the  amount 
of  adulteration  carried  on  in  this  country  is  simply  appalling. 
"It  seems  to  us  that  in  many  of  our  larger  towns  good  women  might  do  a 
profitable  business  in  preparing  for  sale  jellies,  jams  and  other  food  products 
in  regard  to  the  purity  and  healthfulness  of  which  there  could  be  no  doubt." — 
Our  Dumb  Animals,  1900,  p.  126. 
Losses  to  French  Science. — The  number  of  deaths  of  noted  French 
scientists  during  the  past  few  months  has  been  unusual.  The  Paris  School 
of  Pharmacy  has  lost  two  of  its  faculty  :  Professors  Beauregard  and  Plan- 
chon.  The  latter  was  one  of  the  foremost  workers  in  pharmacy,  and  was  the 
President  of  the  coming  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress. 
