Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
March,  1915.  / 
Current  Literature. 
141 
occasional  manifestation  of  undue  activity,  but  it  is  probable  that 
idiosyncrasy,  so  called,  is  in  reality  due  to  the  synergistic  action  of 
several  compounds  taken  at  the  same  time  or  to  the  combined  action 
of  products  formed  in  the  human  body  with  a  compound  taken  as 
medicine. 
In  connection  with  some  drugs,  the  use  of  which  is  long  continued, 
the  body  may  develop  a  tolerance  or  diminished  sensitiveness  to  their 
action.  This  appears  to  be  particularly  true  of  narcotics  and  of 
many  of  the  cathartic  drugs.  These  lead  to  the  habitual  consumption 
of  drugs,  and  their  use  once  commenced  is  fraught  with  many 
difficulties.  That  the  use  of  the  so-called  laxative  drugs  is  not  an 
entirely  negligible  factor  is  well  shown  by  the  table  presented  above, 
which  enumerates  the  quantities  of  a  few  of  the  drugs  of  this  type 
that  are  consumed  annually  in  this  country. 
The  amount  of  money  expended  annually  for  drugs  and  medicines 
in  this  country  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  real  need  or  requirements 
of  the  people,  and  to  this  extent  at  least  the  unnecessary  use  of 
medicines  may  be  considered  an  economic  waste. 
Enough  has  been  said  to  demonstrate  that  medicines  if  at  all 
deserving  of  the  name  must  of  necessity  be  harmful  when  misapplied 
or  when  used  for  any  considerable  length  of  time  without  a  due 
appreciation  of  their  possible  secondary  influences  and  the  chronic 
derangements  that  may  follow  in  their  wake. 
The  rapid  increase  in  mortality  from  degenerative  diseases  and  the 
fact  that  this  increase  is  greatest  in  persons  who  should  be  in  the 
prime  of  life  would  warrant  making  a  careful  study  of  the  problems 
involved  with  the  view  of  directing  attention  to  the  causative  factors 
of  the  degenerative  processes. 
CURRENT  LITERATURE. 
The  Druggist  as  Seen  by  the  Governor  of  Minnesota. 
In  the  address  of  Governor  W.  S.  Hammond,  of  Minnesota, 
before  the  Thirty-first  Annual  Convention  of  the  Minnesota  State 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  February  9,  in  St.  Paul,  he  said : 
"  The  pharmacist  is  a  great  deal  more  than  the  apothecary  of  old 
or  the  druggist  o*f  even  more  recent  days.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  apothecary  shop,  the  drug  store — either — was  a  sort  of  gather- 
as-you-please  to  gossip  over  the  events  of  the  day  and  incidentally 
and  between  times  compound  various  medicinal  preparations.  The 
work  of  the  apothecary  was  a  particular  and  technical  kind  of  work, 
