Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
February,  1911.  / 
Abstracts  of  Papers. 
77 
papers  of  Pennsylvania.  It  is  true  that  it  may  be  said  that  these 
laws  will  be  a  little  burdensome  for  the  pharmacists  ;  but  they  should 
remember  that  the  laws  are  for  the  protection  of  their  brother  man 
and  that  they  should  be  willing  to  bear  part  of  the  burden,  for  if 
the  pharmaceutical  profession  should  not  be  willing  to  assume  its 
share  and  assist  in  the  passage  of  some  practical  law,  it  is  more 
than  likely  that  some  others,  not  accjuainted  with  the  pharmaceutical 
profession,  might  attempt  to  draw  and  pass  impractical  and  oppres- 
sive laws ;  for  it  can  be  said  with  certainty  that  the  sale  and  consump- 
tion of  habit-forming  drugs  will  be  controlled  in  this  great  country 
of  ours. 
ABSTRACTS  OF  SOME  OF  THE  PAPERS  PRESENTED  TO 
THE  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  NEW  JERSEY  STATE 
PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 
By  John  K.  Thum,  Ph.G., 
Pharmacist  at  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
Unguentum  Resorcini  Compositum. — By  William  Dulin, 
Penn.  Pharm.  Assoc. 
After  some  experimentation  with  this  ointment  the  author  arrives 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  water  in  the  hydrous  wool- fat  is  the  cause 
of  the  discoloration  which  manifests  itself  after  the  ointment  has 
been  made  some  time ;  the  water  dissolving  the  resorcin,  which  in 
turn  exerts  some  action  on  the  oil  of  cade.  To  overcome  this  ten- 
dency he  recommends  that  the  hydrous  wool-fat  be  replaced  by  the 
anhydrous. 
AsAFETiDA. — By  W.  H.  Pearson,  Penn.  Pharm.  Assoc. 
When  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act  first  went  into  effect  there  was 
considerable  improvement  in  the  quality  of  asafetida  imported  to  this 
country,  but  after  a  few  lots  of  inferior  quality  failed  to  be  deported 
European  merchants  declared  that  the  best  grades  were  unobtainable 
in  sufficient  quantity.  The  author  states  that  the  motive  underlying 
this  plea  was  to  influence  the  Revision  Committee  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia to  adopt  lower  standards. 
He  also  states  that  it  is  difficult  to  get  representitive  samples 
of  this  gum  and  illustrates  as  follows :  A  sample  consisting  of  sev- 
eral lumps  was  pounded  in  an  iron  mortar  till  fairly  uniform  and  the 
