•24  Gleanings. 
important  features  that  might  be  embraced  in  such  a  report,  that  will 
readily  suggest  themselves  to  the  intelligent  physician,  that  might  prove 
of  incalculable  advantage  and  importance  to  the  Committee  of  Re- 
vision, and  greatly  aid  them  in  their  laborious  and  important  task. 
The  next  meeting  of  the  National  Convention  will  take  place  in  May, 
1880,  less  than  six  years  from  this  time,  and  there  should  be  some  in- 
itiatory steps  taken  to  either  carry  out  the  plan  herein  suggested,  or  some 
other  similar  one  that  may  be  more  practical,  and  which  will  insure  a 
more  careful  and  more  thorough  revision  of  our  Pharmacopoeia  than 
we  have  yet  had. 
How  the  plan  herein  proposed  of  offering  prizes  can  be  put  into 
operation  and  be  carried  out,  I  will  leave  to  those  who  have,  for  years, 
had  to  do  with  the  business  of  revision,  and  who  are  familiar  with  its 
workings.  Who  would  be  the  parties  possessed  of  the  power  or 
authority  to  act  in  the  matter,  I  do  not  know.  Whether  the  medical 
and  pharmaceutical  bodies  mterested  in  the  work  of  revision,  or  whether 
it  would  be  the  business  of  the  National  Convention,  I  should  sup- 
pose, however,  that  the  whole  matter  could  be  arranged  by  a  committee 
formed  of  one  or  more  members  from  each  of  the  medical  and  phar- 
maceutical bodies  authorized  to  send  delegates  to  the  National  Con- 
vention. This  committee  should  be  vested  with  authority  to  devise  and 
perfect  measures  by  which  the  plan  may  be  rendered  feasible  and  may 
be  successfully  carried  out,  and  also  to  raise  the  necessary  funds  for 
the  purpose. 
The  suggestions  herein  offered  are  simply  the  crude  conceptions  of 
one  inexperienced  in  the  business  of  revision  of  our  Pharmacopcjeia,  and 
are  offered  with  the  hope  of  awakening  the  attention  of  the  profession 
in  the  matter,  and  of  provoking  discussion  and  eliciting  the  opinion  of 
the  profession  on  the  subject.  For  certainly  some  better  plan  than 
that  heretofore  adopted  seems  to  be  necessary  to  insure  a  more  thorough 
and  complete  revision  of  our  national  standard. 
Philadelphia  J  December,  1874. 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  EUROPEAN  JOURNALS. 
BY  THE  EDITOR. 
Preparation  ef  Crystalli%able  Formic  Acid. — Berthelot  places  com- 
pletely dessicated  formiate  of  lead  into  a  U  tube,  one  end  of  which  is 
drawn  out  and  bent  downward  ;  it  is  placed  in  an  oil  bath  kept  at  a 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
1  Jan.,iS75. 
