2o8 
Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
April,  1920. 
for  the  training  of  pharmacists  should  be  extended  to  at  least  three 
years  of  collegiate  education.  G.  M.  B. 
CALCREOSE  PROTECTED  BY  UNITED  STATES  PATENT. 
In  the  January  number  we  republished  from  The  Presenter  of 
December,  1919,  an  article  on  calcium-creosote.  In  this  reference 
was  made  to  Calcreose,  and  a  formula  for  the  preparation  of  a 
similar  compound  in  liquid  form  given  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal, 
was  republished. 
We  are  in  receipt  of  a  communication  from  the  Maltbie  Chemical 
Company,  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  in  which  we  are  advised  that  the 
process  for  making  Calcreose  is  patented,  and  that  no  one  can  make 
an  imitation  without  infringing  upon  their  patent. 
We  republished  this  paper  as  a  contribution  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  use  of  creosote  as  a  remedial  agent  and  the  fact  that  Calcreose 
was  protected  by  process  patents  entirely  escaped  our  consideration. 
It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  Amkrican  JournaIv  of  Pharmacy 
to  submit  to  our  readers  the  possibilities  of  imitating  a  patent-pro- 
tected commercial  article,  nor  have  we  intended  in  any  way  at  any 
time  to  condone  substitution  or  any  other  unfair  practice  in  dis- 
pensing. On  the  contrary,  the  Journal  has  always  maintained 
the  position  that  it  was  plainly  the  duty  of  the  pharmacist  to  dis- 
pense the  original  proprietary  or  patented  articles  in  all  cases  where 
such  are  prescribed,  and  the  manufacturers  of  Calcreose  have  our 
assurance  that  it  was  not  our  purpose  to  suggest  any  substitution 
for  Calcreose. 
We  have  not  read  the  patent  specifications  in  which  the  claim 
for  novelty  of  invention  or  discovery  is  set  forth,  and  we  are  not 
prepared  to  express  our  opinion  as  to  the  similarity  of  the  liquid 
preparation  yielded  by  the  formula  from  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal 
to  the  powdered  product  described  in  the  article  as  Calcreose. 
That  creosote  is  a  mixture  of  phenols  and  phenol  derivatives 
obtained  by  the  distillation  of  wood  tar  is  asserted  by  the  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia.  The  phenolic  character  of  guaiacol  and 
creosol,  the  chief  constituents  of  official  creosote,  is  well  established, 
and  it  has  long  been  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  phenols 
as  a  class  unite  with  basic  elements  such  as  potassium,  sodium  and 
calcium,  and  that  the  presence  of  water  facilitates  the  formation  of 
such  compounds.    Under  these  circumstances,  the  defense  of  such 
