Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.  1876. 
Editorial. 
93 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Paris. — The  pharmaceutical  meeting,  held 
November  3,  was  mainly  occupied  by  the  report  by  M.  Ferd.  Vigier  on  the  theses 
presented  in  competition  for  the  prize,  which  was  awarded  to  M  Giraud  for  his  "  Com- 
parative studies  on  the  gums  and  mucilages,"  the  "  Researches  and  extraction  of 
the  alkaloids,  and  Discovery  of  pterocarpina,"  of  Mr.  Cazeneuve,  heing  honor- 
ably mentioned. 
At  the  session  held  December  1st,  a  letter  by  M.  George  was  read,  asking,  in  the 
name  of  the  pharmacists  of  Airne,  to  have  the  composition  of  certain  preparations 
determined,  which  have  been  introduced  into  medical  use  since  the  publication  of 
the  Codex.    The  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  six. 
A  paper  by  Messrs.  Bretet  and  Cornillon  on  "  The  action  of  alkalies  upon  the 
formation  of  urinary  sugar  "  was  read.  The  authors  are  led  to  the  following  con- 
clusions : 
1.  Alkaline  medicines  act  upon  the  production  of  glucose  in  urine,  by  diminish- 
ing the  saccharifying  power  of  the  diastatic  liquids,  and  consequently  by  preventing 
the  introduction  of  an  excess  of  sugar  into  the  blood. 
2.  Bicarbonate  of  sodium  acts  not  only  upon  the  salivary  diastase,  but  also  upon 
the  pancreatic  liquor. 
3.  Its  action  is  much  more  observable  upon  the  pancreas  of  the  omnivora  than 
upon  that  of  herbivorous  animals. 
Mr.  Magnes-Lahens  read  an  essay  on  "  Tar,"  in  which  he  stated  that  water  would 
take  up  a  larger  amount  of  soluble  matter  from  tar,  which  had  been  rendered  pul- 
verulent by  mixing  it  intimately  with  twice  its  weight  of  saw-dust.  From  9  grams 
of  such  pulverulent  tar  (equal  to  3  grams  of  tar)  1  litre  of  water  takes  up,  at  the 
ordinary  temperature,  1  gram  of  extract  in  four  hours;  at  6o°  C.  (140  F),  2  grams 
will  be  taken  up  in  five  minutes,  and  from  27  grams  of  pulverulent  tar  it  will  re- 
tain 6  grams  of  extract,  which  is  a  saturated  solution.  He  also  exhibited  a  new 
inhaler,  constructed  by  himself. 
M.  Guichard  spoke  of  pharmaceutical  labels,  and  exhibited  an  apparatus  for 
printing  them. 
After  hearing  reports  on  the  transactions  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  So- 
ciety adjourned. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
Medical  Statistics  of  Prussia. — A  very  interesting  report  on  this  subject  is 
before  us,  and  we  propose  to  give  in  the  following  a  very  brief  resume  of  the 
same : 
At  the  close  of  1873,  there  were  in  the  kingdom  of  Prussia  7,923  licensed  physi- 
cians, 319  surgeons,  245  dental  surgeons,  2,344  apothecaries  (proprietors),  and  16,- 
673  midwives.  Calculated  for  the  entire  population,  there  was  one  physician  for 
every  3,105  inhabitants,  one  surgeon  or  dentist  for  43,623,  one  apothecary  for  10,- 
496  inhabitants,  and  one  midwife  for  373  females  born  between  the  years  1857  and 
1824.  However,  neither  these  figures,  nor  the  figures  indicating  the  number  of  each 
class  of  persons  residing  in  each  province  give  a  correct  idea  of  their  distribution 
This  may  be  arrived  at  by  ascertaining  the  geometrical  mean,  which  is  obtained  by 
