Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
December,  1913.  J 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
571 
no  tuberculin  manufacturer  can  guarantee  that  his  product  is  of  the 
same  strength  twice.  There  is  no  means  of  testing  the  strength 
of  any  given  tuberculin  save  by  experiments  on  the  body  of  the 
patient  whom  it  is  proposed  to  treat.  Considering  the  dangerous 
nature  of  this  remedy  it  is  a  very  serious  matter.  The  situation 
is  rendered  still  more  difficult  by  the  bewildering  series  of  tuberculins 
issued  by  the  various  makers.  The  following  list  of  initials  are  only 
a  few  that  might  be  quoted :  T.  O.,  T.  R.,  T.  B.  E.,  V.  T.,  P.  T.  O., 
P.  T.  R.,  P.  B.  E.,  P.  V.  T.,  B.  F.,  P.  B.  F,,  I.  K.,  besides  fat-free, 
water-extract,  suspensions  of  various  kinds,  and  modifications  advo- 
cated with  a  wealth  of  literary  embroidery  by  Dr.  A.,  Dr.  B.,  and  so 
on  ad  infinitum. — Chcm.  &  Drug.,  1913,  v.  83,  pp.  362-363. 
Vaccine  Therapy. — Richards,  John  H. :  Reviews  the  recent  lit- 
erature relating  to  vaccine  therapy  and  concludes  that  vaccines  are 
for  one  purpose  only,  that  is,  to  produce  prophylactic  immunity  and 
to  increase  the  resistance  of  an  individual  by  active  immunization, 
and  they  should  never  be  used  to  the  exclusion  of  other  methods  of 
treatment  that  tend  to  limit  the  extent  of  an  infection. — /.  Am.  M. 
Assoc.,  1913,  v.  61,  pp.  845-S47. 
Volatile  Oils. — Book  Review:  Calls  attention  to  the  second  vol- 
ume of  "  Die  iEtherische  CEle,"  by  Gildemeister  and  Hoffmann. 
The  matter  which  occupies  this  second  section  of  the  work  is  the 
detailed  description  of  the  known  oils,  arranged  systematically 
according  to  the  natural  orders  of  the  plants  from  which  they  are 
derived :  the  present  volume  includes  cryptogams,  gymnosperms, 
monocotyledons,  and  a  considerable  number  of  dicotyledons.  The 
work  of  Gildemeister  and  Hoffmann  is  certainly  the  most  up-to-date, 
as  it  is  also  the  most  comprehensive  on  the  subject,  and  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  no  chemist  who  is  concerned  with  volatile  oils  can  afford 
to  be  without  it. — Pharm.  J .,  1913,  v.  91,  p.  438. 
The  Bad  Taste  in  Hypochlorite-treated  Water-supplies. — Edito- 
rial :  There  has  been  frequent  and  often  bitter  complaint  about  the 
taste  of  water  treated  with  hypochlorite  solution,  and  while  it  is 
recognized  that  the  danger  from  water-borne  diseases  is  greatly 
reduced  by  the  hypochlorite  treatment,  the  necessity  of  having  to 
bear  the  burden  of  daily  complaint  and  to  meet  the  indignant  protests 
of  thousands  of  aggrieved  water-drinkers,  has  no  doubt  been  a  factor 
in  preventing  the  efficient  use  of  hypochlorite.  Lederer  (Proc.  111. 
Water  Supply  Assn.,  191 3,  p.  235)  has  confirmed  the  advantage  of 
