i62  Formula  for  Magma  Magnesia.        j^"-  {Ja^ch^^lTJo: 
of  the  more  recent  uses  of  charcoal  as  an  adsorbent.  Charcoal  was 
used  very  extensively  in  the  war  as  an  adsorbent  in  the  gas-mask. 
It  was  also  used  in  the  treatment  of  severe  enteric  infections  such 
as  cholera,  dysentery,  and  typhoid.  The  results  were  very  gratifying, 
for  it  not  only  acts  as  an  adsorbent  of  toxins  produced  by  the  in- 
fectious agent,  but  by  adsorbing  the  bacteria  themselves.  Charcoal 
in  large  doses  has  yielded  good  results  in  hyperchlorhydria  and  fer- 
mentation. Lichtwitz  overcomes  obesity  by  administering  charcoal 
in  such  amounts  to  satisfy  the  pangs  of  hunger,  and  at  the  same  time 
it  removes  the  acids  and  enzymes  from  the  system,  and  diets  the 
patient.  Sterile  charcoal  has  been  used  in  purulent  and  dissection 
wounds  as  well  as  in  exuberant  carcinomata. 
A  good  effect  was  obtained  by  administering  charcoal  impregnated 
with  iodine  and  thymol  in  the  treatment  of  typhoid.  A  preparation 
of  charcoal  impregnated  with  sulphur  is  used  as  a  mild  laxative, 
which  at  the  same  time  relieves  flatulence  by  adsorption  of  putre- 
factive material  and  bacteria. 
A  MODIFIED  FORMULA  FOR  MAGMA  MAGNESIA. 
By  Bertha  Mueller, 
assistant  pharmacist  at  the  lankenau  hospital,  philadelphia,  pa. 
At  the  present  time,  pharmacists  are  being  invited  to  give  help- 
ful suggestions  for  the  coming  pharmacopoeia,  in  order  to  make  the 
book  even  more  successful  than  its  predecessors  have  been.  It 
might  be  pertinent,  therefore,  to  point  out  that  one  of  the  greatest 
factors  contributing  toward  such  success  must  perforce  be  simplicity 
in  technic  of  working-formulas. 
The  manufacture  of  pharmaceutical  preparations  constitutes  a 
most  interesting  piece  of  work,  and  it  cannot  be  reiterated  too  often 
that  pharmacists  ought  to  do  as  much  of  their  own  manufacturing" 
as  possible,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  of  pleasant  diversion  from 
dull  routine.  And  pharmacists,  no  doubt,  would  do  more  of  their 
own  manufacturing  if  it  did  not  in  many  instances  involve  an  undue 
amount  of  time  and  labor  to  make  a  comparatively  simple  prepara- 
tion. Hence,  it  has  ever  been  the  ambition  of  the  writer  to  try  to 
simplify  the  technic  in  complicated  working-formulas  wherever  it 
