Am.  Jour,  i'nai'ni.  » 
September,  1911.  J 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
451 
of  this  committee  will  no  doubt  be  in  position  to  submit  a  satis- 
factory report  to  Congress  at  its  next  meeting. 
To  Dr.  Wiley  and  his  friends  the  unanimity  with  which  the 
various  periodicals  and  organizations  have  espoused  his  side  of  the 
controversy  is  indeed  gratifying,  and  presages  the  appreciation  that 
many  thinking  persons  have  of  his  work. 
Pure  Drugs  and  Medicines. — Virgil  Coblentz  dis'cusses  the 
general  results  of  the  analysis  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  prescrip- 
tions made  by  him  for  the  New  York  World,  and  concludes  that, 
if  druggists  would  buy  only  from  reliable  firms  and  employ  com- 
petent, conscientious  assistants,  they  would  be  in  position  to  render 
such  service  as  the  public  has  a  right  to  expect. — /.  Ind.  and  Eng. 
Cheni.,  191 1,  V.  3,  pp.  540-542- 
Pharmaceutical  Specialties. — An  editorial  points  out  that 
American  pharmaceutical  houses  are  apparently  content  to  devote 
their  energies  to  the  devising  of  "  pharmaceutical  specialties,"  mere 
mixtures  of  well-known  medicaments,  that  are  designed  to  be 
attractive  to  both  the  eye  ^nd  the  palate,  and  are  usually  provided 
with  names  that  are  meaningless  or,  more  often,  therapeutically 
suggestive.  The  editorial  concludes  with  the  assertion  that  the 
credit  accruing  to  our  pharmaceutical  manufacturers  is  discourag- 
ingly  small;  in  fact,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  average 
American  "  pharmaceutical  specialty  "  is  not  only  of  no  benefit  to 
medicine  or  pharmacy,  but  is  a  distinct  handicap  and  detriment  to 
both  professions. — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc.,  191 1,  v.  57,  p.  576. 
Nomenclature. — A  recent  editorial  in  the  American  Druggist  and 
Pharmaceuitical  Record  (July  10,  191 1),  on  similarity  in  pharma- 
ceutical nomenclature,  has  been  reprinted  in  the  Pharmaceutical 
Journal  (London,  July  29,  191 1,  p.  133)  and  is  being  freely  com- 
mented on  by  pharmacists.  The  proposition  to  have  an  international 
committee  which  would  take  into  consideration  the  whole  question 
of  pharmacopoeial  and  pharmaceutical  nomenclature  is  an  eminently 
laudable  one,  and  should  receive  the  endorsement  of  every  active 
pharmacist. 
Acidol. — This  is  described  by  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and 
Chemistry  as  betaine  hydrochloride,  C-.H^^NOoHCl,  occurring  as 
colorless  crystals  freely  soluble  in  water.  It  contains  23.8  per  cent, 
of  absolute  hydrochloric  acid. — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc.,  191  t,  v.  57,  p.  396. 
Angelica  Oil. — Holcker  and  Plahn,  by  a  series  of  fractional  dis- 
tillations of  essential  oil  of  angelica,  have  succeeded  in  isolating  a 
