Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1913. 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
267 
passed  upon  588  articles.  Just  when  the  book  will  be  issued  from 
the  press  the  chairman  is  unable  to  state. 
Propaganda  for  Reform. — The  question  of  the  regulation  and 
sale  of  nostrums  and  proprietary  medicine  has  recently  been  dis- 
cussed in  the  Italian  Parliament.  In  the  course  of  the  discussion 
some  of  the  representatives  called  the  attention  of  the  government 
to  the  danger  to  health  from  the  use  of  proprietaries  without 
the  sanction  of  medical  advice.  Various  methods  for  controlling 
the  sale  of  these  preparations  were  suggested.  It  was  also  urged 
that  strong  effort  should  be  made  to  awaken  the  "  hygienic  con- 
science "  of  the  public.  The  United  States  was  mentioned  as  the 
first  country  to  awaken  the  public  against  the  evils  and  dangers  to 
public  health  of  nostrums  and  fraudulent  labels.  {Jour.  A.  M.  A., 
May  10,  1913.) 
Proposed  Pharmaceutical  Legislation. — The  Arkansas  leg- 
islature is  considering  a  bill  which  prohibits  the  sale  of  any  patent 
or  proprietary  medicine  that  does  not  bear  on  the  label  a  complete 
schedule  of  all  the  ingredients  contained  therein ;  it  also  prohibits 
the  distribution  of  samples  of  medicines.  This  is  legislation  that 
is  desirable  from  every  view-point.  In  Missouri  an  amendment  to 
the  state  food  and  drugs  act  is  proposed  requiring  a  statement  on 
the  label  not  only  of  the  drugs  named  in  the  federal  act,  but  of 
"  any  other  drug."  Another  amendment  prohibits  the  sale  of  coca, 
opium  and  their  preparations  except  on  a  physician's  prescription. 
Nebraska  legislature  has  a  bill  before  it  which  forbids  false  or 
fraudulent  therapeutic  claims.  Another  bill  prohibits  the  sale  of 
patent  or  proprietary  medicines  containing  poisons  unless  the  poison- 
ous ingredient  is  declared  on  the  label ;  another  requires  the  use 
of  English  in  writing  prescriptions  and  forbids  the  use  of  any  other 
language.  The  New  Hampshire  legislature  also  has  an  elaborate 
anti-narcotic  law  under  consideration.  Kansas  is  discussing  a  rather 
comprehensive  bill  which  remodels  the  pharmacy  act,  defines  the 
qualifications  for  registration,  offers  a  poison  schedule  and  pro- 
vides that  the  medicines  dispensed  by  physicians  shall  be  subject  to 
inspection  and  must  also  comply  with  the  standards  provided.  In 
Iowa  a  therapeutic  amendment  to  the  food  and  drugs  act;  also  a 
bill  which  prohibits  the  compounding  and  manufacture  of  any  prep- 
aration containing  narcotic  drugs  except  by  registered  pharmacists 
or  assistant  registered  pharmacist  under  the  supervision  of  a  reg- 
istered pharmacist ;  also  a  bill  prohibiting  the  publication  or  dis- 
tribution in  any  form  of  fraudulent  advertising ;  Idaho  contem- 
