584 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
<  Am.  Jour.  Pharra^ 
•    December,  1905. 
sion  be  obligatory  to  every  pharmacist."  The  permanent  revision 
committee  of  the  Royal  Academy  is  composed  of  medical  as  well 
as  pharmaceutical  members,  and  this  latest  edition  of  the  official 
Pharmacopoeia  is  said  to  be  far  in  advance  of  the  previous  book. 
{Brit,  and  Col.  Drug.,  August  25,  1905.) 
Swiss  Pharmacopoeia. — The  Commission  having  the  revision  of 
the  present  Pharmacopoeia  of  Switzerland  in  charge  has  made  it  a 
practice  to  publish,  from  time  to  time,  bulletins  announcing  the 
progress  that  is  being  made  and  the  more  important  changes  that 
are  proposed  or  accepted.  The  latest  of  these  bulletins  {Schweiz. 
Woch.  Schr.f;  Chem.  u.  Phar.y  1905,  page  531)  announces  the  pro- 
posed strengths  of  a  number  of  galenical  preparations,  by  assay. 
Extract  of  belladonna  is  to  contain  no  less  than  1-5  per  cent,  of 
alkaloids  when  assayed  according  to  the  method  adopted  for  inter- 
national standards.  The  recently  published  U.S. P.  requires  that 
extract  of  belladonna  contain  14  per  cent,  of  mydriatic  alkaloids. 
The  fluid  extract  of  coca  is  to  contain  0-7  per  cent,  of  alkaloid ; 
the  U.S. P.  directs  0.5  per  cent. 
Fluid  extract  of  hydrastis  of  the  Swiss  Pharmacopoeia  is  to  con- 
tain the  same  amount  of  alkaloid  prescribed  by  the  recently  issued 
U.S.P. — 2  per  cent.  The  Swiss  fluid  extract  of  ipecacuanha  is  to 
contain  2  per  cent,  of  alkaloids,  while  our  own  fluid  extract  of  ipecac 
is  required  to  contain  1.65  per  cent. 
Nostrums  and  Patent  Medicines. — Never  before  has  the  nostrum 
traffic  attracted  the  attention  that  is  being  given  it  at  the  present 
time,  both  in  medical  and  lay  journals.  The  work  that  is  being 
done  by  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  of  the  American 
Medical  Association  has  been  commended  by  medical  men  and 
medical  societies  in  all  parts  of  this  country  and  has  also  attracted 
considerable  attention  abroad,  particularly  in  Great  Britain,  where 
the  use  of  semi-secret  or  proprietary  remedies  by  physicians  has  been 
increasing.  While  the  work  that  has  been  outlined  for  the  Council 
on  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  may  be  said  to  have  just  been  begun, 
it  is  pleasing  to  note  that  the  use  and  sale  of  a  number  of  the  more 
objectionable  "ethical"  nostrums  have  been  materially  reduced. 
Much  of  the  credit  for  this  professional  reawakening  is  no  doubt 
due  to  the  articles  that  have  been  published  in  lay  journals,  descrip- 
tive of  the  methods  employed  by  manufacturers  of  so-called  patent 
medicines  to  advertise  and  sell  their  goods. 
