476 
Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1918. 
value,  attended  necessarily  by  debility  and  the  individual  becomes 
more  liable  to  disease  because  of  the  diminished  power  of  resist- 
ance. At  present,  our  knowledge  is  sufficient,  at  least,  to  justify  the 
opinion  that  the  vitamines  play  an  important  role  in  sustaining  nor- 
mal functions  of  the  human  organs  and  in  enabling  these  to  ward 
off  disease.  To  their  absence  in  the  food,  or  presence  in  insufficient 
amount  is  attributed  some  well-recognized  maladies. 
The  discovery  of  the  fact  that  the  antiscorbutic  vitamine  is  gen- 
erated in  the  living  cells  of  germinating  legumes,  not  only  foretells 
the  possibility  for  advances  in  the  methods  of  treatment  of  this  af- 
fection but  also  predicts  the  line  of  investigation  necessary  in  order 
to  differentiate  between  the  actions  of  the  various  sitacoids  and  their 
ultimate  isolation  and  study.  Probably  one  of  the  most  important 
lines  for  these  investigations  to  follow  will  be  the  distinguishing  be- 
tween those  vitamines  which  stimulate  the  development  of  pathologic 
bacteria  and  those  which  are  benign  to  human  welfare. 
The  collection  of  data  and  the  information  already  available  and 
the  character  of  the  investigators  engaged  in  this  special  field  of 
study,  presages  the  development  of  a  knowledge  that  will  be  of  the 
utmost  value  and  service  in  solving  many  problems  of  health  and  of 
food  values  which,  at  the  present  time  especially,  are  of  paramount 
importance. 
*  G.  M.  B. 
THE  DRUG  TRADE  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  RECONSTRUCTION, 
AND  THE  REHABILITATION  OF  THE  WAR 
VETERAN. 
The  drug  trade  interests  of  the  country  have  doubtless  felt  the 
demoralizing  effects  of  the  world  war  quite  as  much  as  most  of  the 
other  industries  of  the  country  and  after  the  termination  of  this 
titanic  struggle,  these  interests  will  have  their  special  problems  of 
readjustment  and  reconstruction  to  contend  with.  It  is  none  too 
early  for  the  loyal  citizens  and  business  men  of  the  United  States  to 
give  earnest  thought  to  the  various  national  problems  which  we  know 
will  arise  as  a  result  of  this  war  and  the  general  policies  which 
must  be  adopted  in  commercial  circles.  In  these  general  problems 
of  the  post-bellum  period  of  reconstruction,  the  drug  and  chemical 
trades  will  undoubtedly  be  an  important  factor  and  we  can  predict 
that  they  will  assume  their  full  share  of  the  national  responsibility 
