290 
Pro  ogress  in  PJiarmacy. 
Aiu.  Jour.  Pharin. 
June,  1911. 
procedure  suggested  for  adoption  by  medical  practitioners  and 
presents  the  following  recommendations : 
1.  That  the  teaching  both  theoretical  and  practical  in  pharma- 
cology and  materia  medica  should  henceforth  be  according  to  the 
metric  system. 
2.  That  medical  practitioners  should  now  write  their  prescrip- 
tions in  metric  form,  and  that,  tO'  facilitate  this,  mixtures  should  be 
ordered  in  sixteen-dose  bulk,  and  pills  or  powders  should  be  ordered 
in  tens. 
3.  That  dispensers  should  be  instructed  that  every  prescription 
written  without  symbols  is  to  be  dispensed  in  metric  measures. 
4.  That  the  divisions  should  take  the  matter  into  consideration, 
and,  if  they  think  desirable,  confer  with  the  pharmacists  in  their 
area. 
Pharmaceutical  Preparations. — The  chemical  laboratory  of 
the  American  Medical  Association  {/.  Am.  M.  Ass.,  1911,  v.  56, 
p.  1344)  presents  an  additional  contribution  on  commercial  tablets 
of  bismuth,  opium,  and  phenol,  and  graphically  illustrates  the  com- 
position of  these  tablets  as  claimed  by  various  manufacturers  and 
the  composition  actually  found  in  the  laboratory. 
An  editorial  in  the  same  Journal  (pp.  1 334-1 335)  points  out 
that  for  some  years  past  pharmaceutical  houses  have  put  out  in 
tablet  form  an  enormous  number  of  combinations  of  drugs  of  real 
or  fancied  value.  In  many  instances  the  combinations  are  not 
suited  to  the  tablet  form  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  many  of 
these  tablets  do  not  conform  to  the  composition  that  is  claimed  for 
them.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  manufacturers  willfully 
put  up  products  that  are  false  to  label,  but  rather  that  many  of 
the  combinations  are  pharmaceutical  impossibilities.  That  is  to  say, 
it  is  pharmaceutically  impossible — or  at  least  commercially  imprac- 
ticable— to  manufacture,  in  tablet  form  some  of  the  combinations 
that  are  listed  in  the  manufacturers'  catalogues. 
Doses. — An  editorial  (/.  Am.  M.  Ass.,  1911,  v.  56,  p.  11 14) 
discusses  the  determination  of  the  proper  dose  of  medicine  and 
quotes  from  Manquat's  "  Principles  of  Therapeutics  "  his  opinion  re- 
garding the  fallacy  of  undue  dependence  on  medication.  The  edi- 
torial concludes  that  the  principles  as  stated  are  correct.  The  drug 
is  to  be  regarded  only  as  a  staff  to  assist  lightly  over  the  difficult 
places,  and  not  as  a  strong  crutch  to  bear' the  whole  burden.  First, 
throw  away  the  pack  and  the  other  impediments ;    give  entire 
