408  Formulary  and  Proprietary  Remedies.  { ^pi^/^T* 
A  SIMPLE  AND  CONVENIENT  DEVICE  FOR  HANDLING 
HOT  EVAPORATING  DISHES.1 
By  Charles  H.  La  Wall. 
The  lifting,  holding  or  transferring  a  hot  evaporating  dish  is 
frequently  very  inconvenient.  The  crucible  tongs,  although  some- 
times used,  are  not  well  adapted  for  the  purpose  of  handling  any 
but  the  smaller  dishes.  For  handling  dishes  yarying  from  six  inches 
in  diameter  upward  They  are  very  risky  to  use. 
Test  tube  holders  are  even  less  well  adapted  than  crucible  tongs 
and  the  method  which  is  frequently,  or,  one  might  say,  generally 
employed,  that  of  using  a  towel  or  a  piece  of  cloth,  is  decidedly 
unsatisfactory  and  unprofessional. 
A  satisfactory  device  which  may  be  made  in  a  few  minutes  by 
anybody  who  has  a  large  cork  and  a  sharp  penknife  has  been  in 
use  by  me  for  a  long  time  with  great  success. 
Take  a  No.  10  or  12  cork  and,  beginning  at  the  small  end,  cut  a 
slit  in  it  slightly  wider  than  the  thickness  of  the  dish  and  run- 
ning back  about  three-fourths  the  length  of  the  cork.  When  com- 
pleted this  makes  a  springy  handle  "which  can  be  slipped  over  the 
side  of  the  dish  and  firmly  grasped  with  the  fingers  without  danger 
either  of  burning  them  or  contaminating  the  contents  of  the  dish. 
For  large  or  heavy  dishes,  two  of  the  improvised  handles  may  be 
used,  one  being  slipped  over  each  side  of  the  dish  when  it  is  to  be 
moved. 
THE  NATIONAL  FORMULARY  AND  PROPRIETARY 
REMEDIES.1 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Washington,  D.  C. 
It  has  been  repeatedly  asserted  that  the  National  Formulary  is 
designed  to  be  of  value  primarily  to  those  who  would  make  prepa- 
rations in  imitation  of  popular  proprietary  remedies  and  individuals 
who  are  more  or  less  directly  interested  in  the  exploitation  and 
sale  of  nostrums  have  dilated  on  the  wrongfulness  of  this  practice 
to  such  an  extent  that  many  otherwise  well  informed  physicians 
1  Read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, June,  1913. 
