Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
July,  1913.  J 
Current  Literature. 
329 
"  The  mere  presence  of  digestive  enzymes  like  pepsin,  trypsin, 
amylopsin,  etc.,  is  not  sufficient. 
"  Stimulation,  inhibition  and  activation  are  intimately  bound 
up  in  the  cycle  of  digestion  and  are  responsible  for  its  proper  de- 
velopment and  course." 
After  suggesting  that  after  all  it  does  not  matter  much  whether 
enzymes  are  present  or  not  we  read  further : 
"  And  the  most  vital  and  most  important  fact  in  regard  to 
Lactopeptine  is  that  it  is  a  combination,  acts  as  a  combination  and 
secures  results  only  to  be  gotten  from  such  a  combination." 
Then,  of  course,  it  is  suggested  that  only  the  Lactopeptine  people 
can  make  this  combination.  Finally  to  cap  the  climax  the  suggestion 
is  made  that  if  the  medicine  does  not  do  what  is  expected  of  it  the 
druggist  has  practiced  substitution.  Thus  the  last  word  in  the 
above-named  advertising  sheet  is : 
"  Failure  to  get  results  usually  means  substitution. 
"Therefore,  write  it  thus:  Lactopeptine  (Genuine)  and  send 
your  patient  to  an  honest  pharmacist." 
We  extend  our  sympathy  to  the  poor  druggist  who  so  often 
is  made  the  "  goat  "  by  proprietary  medicine  concerns.  Let  us  hope, 
however,  that  this  reflection  on  the  druggist  will  not  only  be  the 
cause  of  further  discrediting  Lactopeptine  but  also  the  equally 
discreditable  substitute,  Pulvis  Pepsini  Compositus,  which  the  drug- 
gists have  officialized  in  their  National  Formulary — this  despite  the 
fact  that  in  1907  the  then  president  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association  (the  late  Mr.  Leo  Eliel  of  South  Bend,  Ind.)  called  the 
attention  of  the  medical  profession  (Jour.  A.  M.  A.,  April  6,  1907, 
p.  1 198)  to  the  fact  that  the  pharmacists  had  since  1876  been  aware 
of  the  worthlessness  of  Lactopeptine. — Editorial  in  Jour.  Indiana 
State  M.  A.,  May  15,  1913,  p.  219. 
THE  "  HUMAN  AQUARIUM." 
Sternberg  describes  his  examination  of  a  circus  freak  who  is 
able  to  drink  up  to  seven  quarts  of  water  at  a  time  and  expel  it 
through  his  mouth  at  will  without  any  evidence  of  nausea.  He 
also  swallows  live  frogs  and  fishes  and  expels  them  in  the  same 
way.  His  father  and  grandfather  had  this  same  faculty  of  being 
able  to  ingest  and  expel  large  quantities  of  fluid  at  will.  Stern- 
berg noticed  that  the  young  man  swallowed  the  ten  frogs  first  and 
