Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Aug.  1, 1872.  j 
Editorial. 
381 
ably  go  there  by  way  of  Niagara  Falls,  where  it  has  been  proposed  to  spe 
Sunday,  September  1st.    Full  delegations  are  expected  from  the  different  col- 
leges and  local  societies,  and  several  new  organizations  will  most  likely  be  rep- 
resented. 
The  headquarters  of  the  Association  during  the  meeting  will  be  at  the  Ken- 
nard  House,  where  ample  accommodations  and  a  reduction  from  the  regular 
charges  have  been  provided. 
Blank  forms  of  application  for  membership  may  be  obtained  from  the  perma- 
nent or  local  secretary,  the  officers  of  the  Association  and  from  the  members 
of  the  Executive  Committee  ;  all  applications  should,  if  possible,  reach  the 
proper  officers  previous  to  the  meeting. 
Unreliable  Elixirs. — Mr.  Scheffer's  interesting  paper,  published  on  page 
346  of  the  present  number,  shows  conclusively  how  unreliable  some  of  these 
preparations  are.  To  use  pepsin  in  a  mixture  is  no  proof  that  this  delicate 
agent  retains  its  virtues  unaltered — an  important  lesson  to  the  pharmacist, 
but  of  greater  importance  even  to  the  physician. 
How  reliable  the  numerous  other  elixirs  are,  with  which  the  market  is  flood- 
ed by  manufacturers  in  all  parts  of  the  couutry,  we  are  unable  to  say  ;  but  of 
some,  at  least,  we  entertain  well  founded  doubts  regarding  their  pretended 
composition  and  efficacy,  which  not  unfrequently  may  be  due  to  the  stimulating 
effects  of  the  aromatics  and  alcohol,  of  which  they  are  made  up. 
The  subject,  it  appears  to  us,  is  receiving  by  far  too  little  attention  on  the 
part  of  the  medical  and  pharmaceutical  professions.  Physicians  are  apt  to 
place  their  reliance — as  Mr.  Scheffer  correctly  remarks — in  the  firm  by  whom 
the  preparation  is  made,  and  in  the  name  by  which  it  is  designated,  while  phar- 
macists frequently  submit  too  readily  to  the  clamor  for  pleasant  medicines, 
without  endeavoring  to  disabuse  the  physician's  mind  in  regard  to  the  preten- 
sions of  many  of  these  quasi  nostrums.  The  Newark  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion and  the  Maryland  and  Louisville  Colleges  of  Pharmacy,  have  taken  a  de- 
cided position  towards  this  class  of  proprietary  medicines,  and  if  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  at  the  approaching  meeting,  would  act  in  the 
matter  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  suggested  last  year  by  Mr.  E.  Walton  Rus- 
sel,*  the  benefit  conferred  thereby  upon  two  kindred  professions  and  upon  the 
sick  would  be  incalculable.  The  end  in  view  would  certainly  justify  the  labor 
necessary  to  accomplish  it. 
Pulvis  Gly CYRRHiZiE  compositus  has  been  recommended  by  the  "  Practi- 
tioner" as  a  mild  and  efficient  aperient,  and  the  formula,  taken  from  the  sixth 
edition  of  the  Prussian  pharmacopoeia  has  been  republished  in  many  medical 
journals  in  this  country.  On  page  292  of  our  last  number  we  have  given  the 
formula  as  contained  in  the  seventh  edition  of  the  pharmacopoeia  named,  and, 
through  a  strange  oversight,  said  that  it  differed  from  the  former;  the  two  for- 
mulas, however  are  identical,  and  differ  merely  in  the  quantities,  which  in  the 
one  are  given  in  definite  weights  (ounces),  and  in  the  other  in  'parts  by  weight. 
*See  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  ,  1871,  p.  381. 
