Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
October,  1899.  J 
Pharmaceutical  Research. 
477 
merited  upon,  the  lives  of  a  few  animals  being  jeopardized  in  place 
of  so  many  patients.  We  can  never  analyze  the  action  of  a  drug 
on  the  various  organs  of  the  human  body  with  such  precision  as  we 
can  on  the  lower  animals,  but  clinical  knowledge  obtained  after  we 
have  a  right  conception  of  the  physiologic  action  of  the  agent  used 
is  of  very  great  importance  in  determining  the  value  of  a  given 
remedy."    {Jour.  Am.  Med.  Assoc.,  April  3,  1897.) 
Until  recently  most  of  the  work  in  experimental  pharmacology 
has  been  carried  out  in  Europe.  A  few  of  the  better  universities 
of  America  have  equipped  laboratories  for  the  investigation  of  the 
physiologic  action  of  drugs  and  for  purposes  of  instruction.  No 
American  or  foreign  educational  institution,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
has  given  attention  to  the  qualitative  or  quantitative  assay  of  drugs 
by  physiologic  methods,  notwithstanding  the  vast  amount  of  valuable 
research  work  they  have  accomplished. 
It  seemed  to  me,  five  years  ago,  when  considering  the  advisability 
of  establishing  a  pharmacologic  laboratory  in  connection  with  a 
manufacturing  plant,  that  an  extremely  important  field  of  work  was 
being  neglected,  and  that  by  careful  and  painstaking  study  methods 
could  be  devised  whereby  the  danger  of  prescribing  powerful 
remedies  unamenable  to  chemical  assay  could  be  avoided.  Such 
work  requires  much  time  and  ample  laboratory  facilities,  but  suc- 
cess can  be  accomplished,  as  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  all  the 
diphtheria  antitoxin  on  the  market  is  standardized  by  experiments 
on  animals.    Other  illustrations  might  be  cited  if  time  permitted. 
In  conclusion,  I  believe  that  advances  may  be  made  in  pharmacy 
by  the  application  of  physiologic  methods,  since  such  methods, 
when  employed  in  connection  with  chemical  manipulations,  enable 
us  to  standardize  potent  drugs  not  amenable  to  chemical  assay,  im- 
prove processes  of  pharmaceutical  manufacture,  aid  in  the  isolation 
of  active  constituents,  help  to  a  clearer  knowledge  of  the  action  of 
drugs  long  employed  in  practice,  and  promote  the  advancement  of 
medical  science,  by  furnishing  exact  knowledge  as  to  the  action 
of  new  substances  before  they  are  employed  clinically,  and  thereby 
serve  the  cause  of  humanity. 
Carbolic  Acid  Poisoning. — J.  C.  Bucher  attributes  the  recovery  of  a  young 
man,  aged  18,  who  swallowed  two  ounces  of  carbolic  acid  to  the  full  stomach 
of  the  young  man  and  the  use  of  the  tube  and  nitro-glycerin  hypodermically. — 
Phila.  Med.  Jour. 
