^ptembefjm1'}    British  Pharmaceutical  Conference,  443 
there  is  no  reason  why  an  approach  to  making  a  practical  and  use- 
ful work  should  not  be  made,  and  that  a  gradual  growth  is  neces- 
sary lor  the  perfection  of  the  book. 
The  subject  of  commetcial  education  was  referred  to  in  a  rather 
forceful  and  beneficial  way.  Recognizing  that  it  is  next  to  impossi- 
ble for  the  pharmacist  to  divorce  his  business  from  his  profession, 
the  President  says : 
"  What  they  most  need  is  a  commercial  education,  instructing  them 
in  business  methods  and  modern  requirements.  This  has  not 
hitherto  formed  part  of  a  pharmacist's  education,  and  therefore  the 
importance  of  the  course  of  commercial  education  which  has  been 
started  in  some  of  our  universities,  and  already  forms  an  optional 
subject  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  cannot  be  over- 
estimated— at  all  events  for  those  chemists  and  druggists  who  have 
to  depend  chiefly  upon  the  sale  of  miscellaneous  chemical  and  other 
articles  rather  than  on  dispensing.  The  conditions  which  have 
hitherto  obtained  in  the  retail  trade  of  chemists  and  druggists  have 
not  during  the  last  fifty  years  been  favorable  for  acquiring  a  useful 
knowledge  of  business  methods." 
The  Chemistry  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia. 
By  Frederick  B.  Power. 
The  author  has,  on  experimental  work,  brought  together  a  num- 
ber of  observations  on  the  chemistry  of  the  B.P.,  and  has  brought 
forth  a  number  of  suggestions  which  are  none  other  than  of  a  con- 
structive character  for  this  and  other  Pharmacopoeias.  The 
chemicals  considered  are :  Acetanilide,  glacial  acetic  acid,  arsen- 
ious  acid,  benzoic  acid,  boric  acid,  citric  acid,  gallic  acid,  hydrobro- 
mic  acid,  phosphoric  acid,  salicylic  acid,  sulphuric  acid,  tannic  acid, 
aconitine,  amyl  nitrite,  atropine,  bismuth  carbonate,  bismuth  sali- 
cylate, borax,  caffeine,  caffeine  citrate,  calcium  hypophosphite,  ce- 
rium oxalate,  chloral  hydrate,  chloroform,  cocaine  hydrochloride, 
codeine,  cotton,  creosote,  saccharated  iron  carbonate,  iron  and  qui- 
nine citrate,  exsiccated  ferrous  sulphate,  reduced  iron,  tartrated 
iron,  lithium  carbonate,  lithium  citrate,  magnesium  carbonate,  men- 
thol,  morphine  hydrochloride,  expressed  oil  of  almond,  oil  of  cloves, 
oil  of  cinnamon,  oil  of  copaiba,  castor  oil,  physostigmine  sulphate, 
pilocarpine  nitrate,  potassium  tartrate,  acid  quinine  hydrochloride, 
