142  Editorial. 
tipon  several  other  important  and  interesting  points  connected  with  this  ques- 
tion. At  a  subsequent  session  the  Association  passed  the  following  resolution : 
Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  by  the  President,  to  take 
into  consideration  the  subject  of  elixirs  and  similar  unofficinal  preparations,  in 
all  its  bearings  upon  pharmacy,  and,  if  deemed  proper,  to  report*  suitable  for- 
mulas for  the  guidance  of  the  members  of  this  Association. 
And  the  President  appointed  the  following  committee  to  carry  out  the  objects 
of  the  resolution  :  Messrs.  John  F.  Hancock,  Baltimore  ;  James  Gr.  Steele,  San 
Francisco  ;  Hampden  Osborne,  Columbus,  Miss.  ;  .Robert  J.  Brown,  Leaven- 
worth, and  Ottmar  Eberbach,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 
We  regard  this  as  an  excellent  choice,  all  the  gentlemen  having  already  de- 
voted much  time  and  labor  on  the  subject,  and  among  them,  Mr.  Eberbach 
having  proven  analytically,  in  an  essay  on  the  alkaloids  contained  in  commer- 
cial elixirs,  which  was  read  at  the  Cleveland  meeting,*  that  most  of  the  elixirs 
examined  by  him  fell  more  or  less  short,  some  by  two-thirds  the  amount  of 
these  important  constituents  claimed  by  the  manufacturers. 
We  have  prepared  the  above  sketch  of  the  agitation  against  the  private 
•elixirs,  etc.,  in  consequence  of  the  replies  which  we  have  received  to  the  paper 
by  Mr.  J.  W.  Long,  entitled  "A  defense  of  elixirs,  etc.,"  which,  with  some 
editorial  remarks,  we  published  in  our  last  number.  Our  correspondents  will 
pardon  us  us  for  not  publishing  their  essays  in  extenso,  since  all  (five  have 
been  received  thus  far)  agree  in  the  main  in  their  arguments  against  these 
modern  species  of  nostrums,  and  advocate  the  adoption  by  the  American  Phar- 
maceutical Association  of  suitable  formulas  for  all  the  more  important  elixirs 
and  similar  preparations  which  of  late  years  have  gained  notoriety,  and  have 
been  more  or  less  extensively  prescribed  by  physicians.  Most  of  our  corres- 
pondents seem  to  have  overlooked  the  notice  that  the  Association  has  taken 
proper  steps  in  the  direction  indicated,  whichK\ve  published  on  page  444  of  our 
last  volume.  In  regard  to  the  appointment  of  a  similar  committee  by  the 
American  Medical  Association,  to  act  in  conjunction  with  that  of  the  Phar- 
maceutical Association — a  suggestion  made  in  two  or  three  of  the  papers  re- 
ceived— we  must  say  that  such  a  committee  might  materially  lighten  the  labors 
of  the  pharmacists  by  indicating  the  most  suitable  proportions  of  the  active 
ingredients  in  the  formulas  to  be  proposed  and  adopted  ;  we  suppose,  however, 
that  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  will  take  proper  steps  to  make 
the  medical  profession  of  the  country  acquainted  with  whatever  action  it  may 
take  in  this  matter,  so  as  to  secure  uniformity  in  these  preparations  in  all  locali- 
ties. 
A  suggestion  made  by  Mr.  William  B.  Addington,  of  Norfolk,  Ya.,  is  worthy 
of  consideration  by  all  interested,  namely,  that  "manufacturers  whose  elixirs, 
syrups,  etc.,  are  good,  might  show  a  little  public  spirit,  and  send  in  their  for- 
mulas to  this  Committee  for  examination  and  selection.  .  .  .  Give  to  him, 
whose  formulas  are  accepted,  the  credit  on  all  occasions  ;  and  he  who  feels  a 
pride  in  benefitting  and  elevating  his  profession,  and  not  merely  in  making  what 
pecuniary  gain  he  can  out  of  its  members,  will  consider  himself  amply  rewarded." 
Those  who  feel  inclined  to  adopt  this  course  can  readily  do  so  by  communicat- 
ing with  any  member  of  the  Committee  named  above. 
*  Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1872,  264 — 273.* 
