638 
Editorial. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<-     October,  1919. 
gestion  emanating  from  Dr.  F.  R.  Eldred  of  Eli  Lilly  &  Co.,  the 
American  Drug  Manufacturers'  Association  will  take  a  notable  place 
in  the  field  of  fundamental  pharmaceutical  research.  Dr.  Eldred 
proposed  that  the  Association  retain  the  services  from  time  to  time 
of  eminent  research  workers  to  conduct  exhaustive  researches  on 
certain  drugs  of  which  comparatively  little  is  known  and  to  publish 
the  results  of  their  work  for  the  benefit  of  all.  It  was  thought  that 
a  place  might  be  found  for  the  work  in  the  Mellon  Institute  and  it 
was  remarked  that  an  investigator  would  progress  at  an  immeas- 
urably faster  rate  than  if  working  alone  since  he  would  have  the 
benefit  of  the  facilities  and  experience  of  the  laboratories  of  almost 
all  the  pharmaceutical  manufacturers  of  the  country.  The  "  Con- 
stituents of  Digitalis  "  was  suggested  as  the  subject  of  the  first  of 
these  treatises  for,  while  the  literature  of  digitalis  is  voluminous, 
the  subject  is  left  in  a  most  unsatisfactory  condition.  The  section 
recommended  careful  consideration  of  Dr.  Eldred's  proposal  by 
the  Association's  Executive  Committee." 
This  is  another  welcome  evidence  of  the  increasing  interest  that 
is  being  manifested  on  the  subject  of  pharmaceutical  research.  The 
pharmaceutical  manufacturers  who  are  associated  in  this  organiza- 
tion are  in  a  most  favorable  position  to  learn  not  only  of  the  neces- 
sities for  scientific  investigations  and  for  the  broadening  of  the  scope 
of  pharmaceutical  research  but,  likewise,  to  render  valuable  assist- 
ance in  such  studies. 
Since  the  development  of  the  industry  of  manufacturing  phar- 
maceuticals, many  valuable  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  drugs, 
their  actions,  constituents,  methods  of  standardizing,  and  the  best 
forms  for  exhibition  as  remedial  agents,  have  emanated  from  the 
laboratories  of  these  manufacturers.  Many  of  these  resulted  from 
investigations  of  the  problems  that  arose  in  the  manufacture  or 
marketing  of  commercial  products  and  so  had  more  or  less  bearing 
upon  the  business  with  which  the  investigators  were  connected. 
Nevertheless,  with  the  true  scientific  spirit  the  information  gleaned 
has  been  broadly  disseminated  with  only  an  occasional  attempt  at 
reservation  for  personal  advantage.  It  is  especially  pleasing  to  note 
that  an  organization  such  as  the  American  Drug  Manufacturers' 
Association,  composed  of  representatives  of  firms  and  corporations 
that  are  vitaly  interested  in  commercial  porblems,  has  assumed  such 
a  broad  philanthropic  attitude  and  that  it  is  proposed  that  the  re- 
search work  carried  on  under  its  auspices  or  by  its  grants  shall  not 
