838  Stems  in  Belladonna  Herb.        { Am^e°cur\g^8arm' 
sirable  as  it  may  seem  in  some  extreme  instances.  Economic  factors 
would  be  ignored,  State  laws  would  need  to  be  changed,  boards  of 
pharmacy  would  have  to  cast  aside  the  traditions  and  practices  of  a 
generation.  Dr.  Beal  has  truly  said  "  Compromise  is  the  price  of 
progress,"  and  with  this  thought  in  mind,  we  should  take  pains  to 
see  that  legal  restrictions  and  educational  qualifications  should  be  co- 
ordinated and  drawn  closer  together,  not  forced  apart. 
Looking  back,  therefore,  at  the  whole  subject,  it  is  clear  to  my 
mind  that  any  educational  institution  should  be  proud  of  the  oppor- 
tunity of  training  both  pharmacists  and  druggists,  if  by  druggists  is 
meant  the  large  number  of  self-sacrificing  individuals  who,  during 
the  recent  influenza  epidemic,  closed  everything  but  their  prescrip- 
tion departments  so  as  to  devote  their  entire  attention  to  the  phar- 
maceutical needs  of  the  communities  in  which  they  practiced. 
The  object  of  an  education  is  that  a  man  may  learn  to  benefit 
himself  by  serving  others,  one  who  exemplifies  the  words  applied 
by  our  own  Dean  Remington  to  a  noble  deceased  pharmacist : 
"  A  man  whose  soul  is  pure  and  strong, 
Whose  sword  is  bright  and  keen ; 
Who  knows  the  splendor  of  the  fight 
And  what  its  issues  mean." 
THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  STEMS  IN  BELLADONNA  HERB 
AND  ITS  EFFECT  ON  THE  QUALITY  OF 
THE  HERB. 
By  Arthur  F.  Sievers. 
The  Ninth  Decennial  Revision  of  the  United  States  Pharma- 
copoeia describes  Belladonna  Folia  as  follows :  "  The  dried  leaves 
and  tops  of  Atropa  Belladonna  Linne  (Fam.  Solanacese),  without 
the  presence  or  admixture  of  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  its  stems  or 
other  foreign  matter,  and  yielding  not  less  than  0.3  per  cent,  of  the 
total  alkaloids  of  Belladonna  Leaves." 
Previous  to  the  ninth  revision  the  stems  were  not  allowed  to  be 
present.  The  change  was  brought  about  for  two  reasons.  First,  in- 
vestigations had  shown  that  belladonna  stems  not  exceeding  a  rea- 
sonable size  contain  a  considerable  percentage  of  alkaloids ;  and  sec- 
ond, the  expense  of  harvesting  the  crop  in  this  country  is  greatly 
