348 
Editorial. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
\    Julyl,  1874. 
committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with  the  delegation  as  to  the  views  on  the 
various  points  of  discussion  which  they  should  advocate  at  the  Congress. 
The  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference  will  hold  its  eleventh  annual  meet 
ing,  at  the  City  of  London,  on  August  6th  and  7th  next. 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Paris. — Vice-President  Planchon  presided  at 
the  meeting  held  May  6th.  M.  Wurtz  was  added  to  the  Committee  at  present 
•engaged  in  preparing  the  material  for  an  international  pharmacopoeia. 
M.  Guichard  reported  the  results  of  some  experiments  made  by  him  with 
sulphide  of  carbon  upon  benzoin  and  other  resinous  products.  The  acids 
obtained  from  tolu  in  the  preparation  of  syrup  were  treated  with  carbon  sul- 
phide, and  obtained  in  large  crystals,  supposed  to  be  benzoic  acid.*  Several 
resins  soluble  in  this  menstruum  may  be  conveniently  and  economically  purified 
by  its  use;  and  purified  gum  resins  may  be  obtained  by  treating  the  commer- 
cial articles  successively  with  carbon  bisulphide  and  water;  resin,  gum  and  a 
saccharine  matter  reacting  with  Fehling's  solution,  is  thereby  obtained.  It 
was  then  stated  by  several  members  that  the  acid  of  tolu  balsam  had  been 
recognized  by  M.  Carlesf  as  cinnamic  acid,  and  that  a  German  chemist  had 
previously  arrived  at  the  same  result. 
After  some  remarks  on  the  probable  identity  of  thapsia  and  silphion,  a  report 
on  toxicological  researches  on  phosphorus  was  presented  by  M.  Lefort. 
(f bitovtal  Department 
"  On  Patent  Medicines,  their  Evils  and  the  Remedy"  is  the  title  of  an 
ossay  written  by  Dr.  R.  W.  Murphy  and  read  before  the  Sacramento  Society 
for  Medical  Improvement.  The  paper,  as  published  in  the  Pacific  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal  for  May,  contains  some  information  of  general  interest ;  a  few 
of  the  most  important  points  we  desire  to  lay  before  our  readers. 
After  referring  to  the  various  means  resorted  to  by  the  manufacturers  of 
quack  nostrums  to  introduce  their  all-healing  combinations,  and  to  the  danger- 
ous properties  of  such  preparations,  like  "  Mrs.  Winslow's  Soothing  Syrup," 
"  Vinegar  Bitters,"  and  "Ayer's  Cherry  Pectoral,"  the  author  states  that  a 
copy  of  the  Patent  Medicine  Records  of  the  Patent  Office  would  cost  about 
$250.  Dr.  Thos.  C.  Smith,  of  Washington,  however,  has  furnished  the  follow- 
ing information  : 
"The  first  patent  granted  in  the  United  States,  where  the  use  of  the  medicine 
is  indicated,  was  on  the  3d  of  May,  1797.  to  Benjamin  Duvall,  of  Virginia,  for 
anti  bilious  pills.  The  next  was  June  17th,  180L,  to  Jesse  Wheaton,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, for  a  jaundice  bitters.  On  the  9th  of  June,  1809,  a  patent  was 
granted  to  Wm.  Stoy,  of  Lebanon  Pennsylvania,  for  a  medicine  to  cure 
hydrophobia.    (What  a  pity  it  was  a  failure!)    But  the  ingredients  of  these 
*  They  were  subsequently  proven  to  be  cinnamic  acid. 
fSee  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1874,  p.  235. 
