Amjune"'i9Polarm"}  Progress  in  Pharmacy.  285 
The  Immunity  Unit  for  Standardizing  Diphtheria  Antitoxin  is  the 
title  of  Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  21,  April,  1905.  This 
bulletin,  by  Dr,  M.  J.  Rosenau,  the  director  of  the  laboratory, 
describes  the  principles  that  are  involved  and  the  methods  that  are 
employed  for  obtaining  the  immunity  unit  for  measuring  the 
strength  of  diphtheria  antitoxin. 
The  pamphlet  contains  a  readily  understood  description  of 
Ehrlich's  side-chain  theory  of  immunity,  and  for  this  reason  alone 
should  be  carefully  studied  by  all  who  are  in  any  way  interested  in 
the  production,  sale  or  use  of  diphtheria  antitoxin. 
This  bulletin  also  contains  the  official  text  of  the  description  of 
anti-diphtheritic  serum,  to  be  included  in  the  forthcoming  edition  of 
the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia.  This  description  is  interesting, 
as,  in  addition  to  indicating  the  general  lines  that  will  probably  be 
followed  in  other  descriptions,  it  constitutes  practically  the  first 
official  announcement  that  anti-diphtheritic  serum  is  to  be  included 
among  the  official  medicaments. 
The  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  igoo. — According  to  a  prelimi- 
nary announcement  in  Medical  Book  News  for  April,  the  forth- 
coming edition  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  will  contain  many  changes  and 
improvements.  Assays  have  been  introduced  for  alkaloidal  drugs. 
The  strengths  of  tinctures  have  been  amended  so  as  to  reduce  them 
practically  to  two  classes — 10  per  cent,  for  the  more  powerful 
preparations  and  20  per  cent,  for  the  others.  Purity  rubrics  have 
been  inserted,  which  will  tend  to  define  the  limits  of  innocuous 
foreign  substances.  Many  obsolete  drugs  and  preparations  have 
been  omitted.  Reliable  new  synthetics  have  been  introduced,  and 
also  average  doses  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  pharmacopceial 
revision  in  America. 
Morphine  Centenary. — The  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  dis- 
covery of  morphine  by  Sertlirner  was  celebrated  on  March  20,  1905, 
by  the  unveiling  of  a  memorial  tablet  on  the  "  Hochzeitshaus  "  in 
Hameln,  in  which  the  "  Raths  Apotheke,"  at  one  time  owned  by 
Sertiirner,  was  formerly  located.  The  discovery  of  morphine  itself 
was  probably  made  in  the  Adler  Apotheke,  in  Paderborn,  where 
Sertlirner  had  served  as  an  apprentice,  and  where,  at  the  time  of  his 
discovery,  he  was  employed  as  an  assistant. 
Friedrich  Wilhelm  Adam  Sertiirner  was  born  July  19,  1783,  at 
Neuhaus,  near  Paderborn,  where  he  was  also  educated.    From  1799 
