AmMlrcb(T9hclrm*}  Progress  in  Pharmacy.  131 
In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  preparations  that  are  designed 
for  toilet  use  may,  and  properly  should,  have  distinctive  characters. 
They  illustrate,  much  better  than  the  strictly  medicinal  preparations, 
the  best  efforts  of  the  pharmacist  for  elegance  and  neatness,  and 
they  constitute  a  legitimate  and  very  valuable  opportunity  for  him 
to  demonstrate  his  skill  and  ability. 
PROGRESS  IN  PHARMACY. 
A  QUARTERLY  REVIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING 
TO  PHARMACY  AND  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  M.  I.  WlXBERT, 
Apothecary  at  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
The  past  year  brought  us  more  than  the  usual  number  of  foreign 
visitors,  who  were  more  or  less  interested  in  chemistry,  pharmacy 
and  the  allied  sciences.  These  visitors  were  attracted  to  this  country 
largely  by  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition,  and  the  accompany- 
ing congresses.  Many  of  these  visitors,  on  their  return  to  their 
native  countries,  expressed  themselves  rather  freely  on  the  unsatis- 
factory conditions  existing  in  the  present-day  practice  of  pharmacy 
in  America.  Ignoring  entirely  the  unfavorable  opinions  expressed 
by  German  writers,  we  may  be  permitted  to  quote  from  a  few  of  our 
other  foreign  visitors,  who  appear  to  have  been  hardly  less  unfavorably 
impressed. 
.  A  recent  number  of  the  Chemist  and  Druggist  (London,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1904,  page  948)  quoces  from  an  address  by  Prof.  A.  V.  Pell, 
before  the  St.  Petersburg  Pharmaceutical  Society,  and  says :  "  Pro- 
fessor Pell  described  the  pharmacies  of  the  United  States  as  occupy- 
ing an  exceedingly  low  level.  They  are  not  pharmacies,  but  shops 
dealing  in  various  drinks,  such  as  soda-water,  milk,  whisky,  etc., 
among  which  could  be  found  some  medicinal  substances  of  an  alto- 
gether suspicious  nature ;  and  the  medicines,  quite  unequal  to  the 
pretensions,  are  sold  at  fabulous  prices,  being  two  or  three  times 
as  dear  as  in  Russia.  The  dealers  generally  have  no  special  knowl- 
edge, which  the  Government  on  its  part  does  not  exact.  The 
American  only  troubles  about  business  requiring  large  capital  and 
yielding  large  profits." 
This  statement,  from  the  eminent  Russian,  is  possibly  too  general 
in  its  tone  to  be  taken  very  seriously.    The  following,  taken  from  a 
