578 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  December,  1906. 
features  of  this  celebration  was  a  dinner,  on  the  evening  of  October 
6th,  presided  over  by  Prof.  Charles  F.  Chandler,  at  which  upwards 
of  400  chemists  and  teachers  were  present. 
Proprietary  Remedies  in  Austria. — The  pharmacists  in  Vienna,  ac- 
cording to  the  Pharmaceutische  Post,  page  514,  1906,  are  taking  an 
active  interest  in  combating  the  popularization  of  proprietary  reme- 
dies, that  are  being  exploited  there  at  the  present  time,  by  offering 
a  line  of  desirable  substitutes  made  by  the  pharmacists  themselves. 
The  formulae  for  these  preparations  were  devised  by  a  local  com- 
mission of  pharmacists  and  an  effort  is  now  being  made  to  interest 
other  of  the  Austrian  pharmaceutical  societies  in  the  plan. 
Among  the  arguments  that  are  being  used  to  physicians  to  favor 
the  new  preparations  is  that  they  would  be  more  economical  to  the 
patient,  would  prevent  self-medication,  and  would  avoid  misleading 
advertising  of  other  preparations  direct  to  the  public. 
It  is  also  pointed  out  how  physicians  could  more  readily  control 
the  purity  and  the  composition  of  these  open  formula  remedies,  and, 
further,  knowing  the  exact  composition  of  the  remedies,  how  they 
could  be  modified  in  appearance  and  taste  to  suit  the  idiosyncrasy 
of  individual  patients  and  thus  retain  their  confidence  and  respect. 
Another  feature  of  the  same  work  that  has  been  taken  up  by  Aus- 
trian pharmacists  is  to  point  out  to  physicians  how  much  more 
desirable  it  would  be  to  have  active  medicaments  dispensed  in  cap- 
sules or  in  cachets  in  preference  to  prescribing  the  commercial  com- 
pressed tablets  the  activity  of  which  is  at  best  problematical. 
German  Pharmacopoeia. — A  new  edition  of  the  German  Pharma- 
copoeia is  in  course  of  preparation  and  invitations  have  been  ex- 
tended, by  the  commission  having  the  revision  in  charge,  for  additions 
and  corrections. 
From  the  suggestions  that  have  been  made  it  would  appear  that 
there  is  little  or  no  desire  to  have  the  style  of  the  German  Pharma- 
copoeia changed  in  any  way.  There  appears,  however,  to  be  a  rather 
widespread  feeling  that  the  book  should  include  official  descriptions 
of  a  greater  number  of  newer  remedies. 
A  Proposed  Imperial  Phatmacoposia. — Donald  McAllister,  M.D., 
at  the  meeting  of  the  British  Medical  Association,  in  Toronto,  in 
1906,  in  speaking  of  the  lack  of  harmony  in  the  various  national 
pharmacopoeias,  suggested  that  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  should  be 
broadened  in  scope  so  as  to  be  adapted  to  the  needs  of  all  of  the 
