Asepimbe^i9ro6ra'}  Progress  in  Pharmacy.  435 
standardization  is  only  of  real  value  when  the  botanical  source  of 
the  seeds  is  fully  known. 
Flora  of  the  Lickey  Hills. — This  paper,  by  Mr.  John  Humphreys, 
includes  an  interesting  account  of  the  geological  features  as  well 
as  the  flora  of  the  Lickey  Hills  and  represents  a  contribution  on 
the  local  flora  that  has  come  to  be  an  annual  feature  of  the  B.P.C. 
This,  it  may  be  added,  is  a  feature  that  might  well  be  introduced 
into  our  own  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association. 
Another  feature  that  appears  to  be  well  worth  imitating  is  to  be 
found  in  the  very  full  and  complete  abstracts  of  the  papers  that  are 
published  in  all  of  the  British  pharmaceutical  journals  within  a  day 
or  two  after  the  close  of  the  Conference  meetings. 
Mr.  Thomas  Tyrer  was  elected  to  preside  over  the  Conference  at 
its  next  meeting,  and  Manchester  was  unanimously  selected  as  being 
the  most  desirable  place  of  meeting. 
The  National  Formulary. — The  third  edition,  second  decennial 
revision,  of  this  well-known  and  now  legally  recognized  formulary, 
has  just  been  issued,  and  the  first  edition  of  5,000  copies  is  said  to 
have  been  sold  before  publication.  The  recognition  that  has  been 
accorded  the  National  Formulary  in  the  recently  enacted  "  Pure 
Food  Law  "  gives  to  this  book  an  entirely  new  aspect  and  will  make 
its  possession  practically  compulsory,  not  alone  to  wholesale  dealers 
and  manufacturers  but  also  to  the  retail  pharmacist.  Fortunately 
the  price  at  which  the  volume  is  being  sold,  $1.00,  cannot  be  said 
to  be  exorbitant,  and  there  is  really  no  excuse  on  the  part  of  the 
pharmacist  why  the  Formulary  should  not  be  consulted  at  first  hand. 
The  book  itself,  while  it  contains  many  excellent  formulas  that 
are  practically  above  reproach,  will  undoubtedly  meet  with  consider- 
able, just  as  well  as  unjust,  criticisms,  all  of  which  will  tend  to 
make  future  revisions  of  the  book  even  more  desirable  and  more 
perfect. 
Probably  the  most  striking  of  the  new  features  of  the  book  is  to 
be  found  in  the  duplicate  weights  and  measures.  This  inclusion  of 
both  the  metric  and  apothecaries  weights  and  measures  detracts 
considerably  from  the  appearance  and  the  true  usefulness  of  the 
book  in  that  it  is  distracting  ;  the  formulas  themselves  losing  much 
of  the  simple  form  and  concise  character  that  served  to  dignify  and 
to  enhance  the  working  value  of  earlier  editions  of  the  Formulary. 
