Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
March,  1918.  ' 
Advances  in  Pharmacy. 
this  so-called  synergistic  action  of  drugs.  It  has  been  observed  by 
many  physicians  that  two  or  more  purgatives  prescribed  together 
very  often  act  more  efficiently  than  one  of  them  given  in  quantity 
equal  to  all  of  them.  Cushny  says  it  is  impossible  to  explain  this 
except  by  assuming  that,  although  all  are  alike  in  their  chief  fea- 
tures, they  differ  in  the  details  of  their  reactions,  so  that  parts  of 
the  alimentary  canal  which  might  escape  one  are  affected  by  another, 
and  the  mixture  thus  acts  more  universally  than  any  one  of  the 
components. 
It  will  be  of  interest  to  those  in  America  who  are  acquainted  with 
Prof.  Henry  George  Greenish,  of  Great  Britain,  and  his  work  in 
scientific  pharmacy,  to  learn  that  he  has  been  awarded  the  Hanbury 
Medal.  To  an  American  pharmacist  mention  of  the  words  "  Han- 
bury Medal "  always  brings  to  mind  the  first  and  only  American 
pharmacist  to  have  received  this  award,  our  dear  and  distinguished 
friend,  the  late  Prof.  John  M.  Maisch,  the  one-time  professor  of 
materia  medica  and  botany  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
The  bestowal  of  this  medal  is  undoubtedly  the  highest  recog- 
nition that  a  pharmacist  can  receive  for  achievement  in  the  domain 
of  scientific  pharmacy  and,  judging  from  a  perusal  of  a  brief  biog- 
raphy of  Prof.  Greenish  appearing  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal 
for  October  6,  191 7,  the  latest  recipient  of  this  signal  honor  is  emi- 
nently worthy  to  take  rank  in  pharmaceutical  history  with  those 
eminent  scientific  men  who  preceded  him  in  attaining  this  honor. 
Anent  the  scarcity  and  high  cost  of  glycerin  and  sugar  the  Brit- 
ish Pharmacopceial  Committee  very  sensibly  reports  that,  in  the 
national  interest,  the  temporary  withdrawal  from  the  pharmacopoeia 
of  the  official  directions  for  the  use  of  glycerin  and  sugar  in  the 
compounding  of  preparations  is  permitted.  If  the  present  condi- 
tions obtain  for  any  length  of  time  in  this  country,  or  get  worse, 
which  is  more  than  likely,  the  revision  committee  of  the  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia  should  take  similar  action.  The  revision 
committee  of  the  National  Formulary  should  do  likewise.  The  fact 
that  the  British  government  has  specifically  asked  medical  practi- 
tioners to  refrain  from  prescribing  these  two  substances  is  most 
impressive  and  should  serve  as  a  warning  to  us.  The  necessity  for 
conservation  is  upon  the  whole  world  as  never  before. 
The  London  Board  of  Trade  has  been  instrumental  in  placing 
before  Parliament  for  enactment  into  law  a  Patents  and  Designs 
Bill  and  a  Trade-marks  Bill,  which  seem  to  have  been  very  carefully 
