Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
September,  1900.  J 
Editorial. 
439 
ation  would  be  considering  some  of  the  vital  principles  connected 
with  its  life.  Fortunately,  too,  there  are  men  ready  and  able  to  do 
this  work,  and  it  would  pay  the  Association  to  consider  the  outlay 
of  a  little  money,  if  necessary,  to  concentrate  its  energies  along  these 
lines. 
While  the  N.A.R.D.  promises  much  as  a  trade  organization,  it 
cannot  do  that  work  which  will  result  in  the  ultimate  good  to  phar- 
macy that  should  and  must  emanate  from  an  organization  like  the 
A.Ph.A.  The  N.A.R.D.  is  working  rather  for  temporary  relief. 
The  regulation  of  prices  on  proprietary  and  other  popular  prepara- 
tions is  of  some  moment,  it  is  true,  but  the  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  proprietary  medicines  will  play  a  very  subsidiary  part  in  the 
equipment  and  revenue  of  the  pharmacist.  There  are  far  more 
important  questions  which  lie  at  the  heart  and  core  of  pharmacy 
than  those  considered  by  the  N.A.R.D.  at  present.  It  is  oppor- 
tune indeed  that  the  Association  now  put  the  proper  men  in  har- 
ness and  keep  them  there  (and  pay  them  if  necessary)  to  ascertain 
and  understand  the  needs  of  the  apothecary  at  this  time.  It  is  a 
matter  of  education  and  not  trade  only.  It  is  rather  an  adjustment 
to  conditions  and  not  the  consideration  of  prices  merely.  In  short, 
what  is  needed  is  liberty,  first,  to  secure  the  proper  and  necessary 
education  as  an  apprentice,  and  second,  freedom  to  exhibit  the 
strength  of  character  that  becomes  the  professional  man.  It  is 
not  only  the  regulation  of  charges  that  is  needed.  This  will 
expedite  business,  but  the  profession  must  be  there  or  there  can  be 
no  solution  to  these  momentous  questions.  Let  the  members  of 
the  Association  not  be  deceived  as  to  questions  of  economy  and  let 
them  remember  that  the  retail  pharmacist  cannot  be  inspired  by  an 
exhibition  merely  of  some  one  else's  products  and  inventions. 
What  he  needs  is  to  be  shown  at  college  and  at  associations  some  of 
the  real  difficulties  in  pharmacy  and  how  they  can  be  overcome. 
He  must  be  organized  and  led  in  the  path  of  confidence  by  men  of 
character — the  strong  leaders  of  this  great  Association. 
Pilocarpus  Racemosus  of  the  French  Antilles  is  given  by  Rocher  as  a  new 
source  of  jaborandi.  The  leaves  contain  o-6  per  cent,  of  pilocarpine  and  0*4 
per  cent,  of  jaborine.  According  to  H.  A.  D.  Jowett,  the  following  alkaloids 
are  present  in  jaborandi :  pilocarpine,  iso-pilocarpine  (pilocarpidine  of  Petit 
and  Polonowski),  pilocarpidine  (Harnack  and  Merck). 
