Am.  Jour,  Pharm.l 
Feb.  1875.  ]■ 
Editorial. 
91 
ties  of  cane-sugar,  reaching  occasionally  three-fourths  of  the  total  quantity,  which 
varies  between  20  and  25  grams  per  kilogram  of  leaves.  Earlier  experiments  in- 
duce M.  Petit  to  the  conclusion  that,  at  the  period  of  maturation,  the  reducing 
sugar  of  the  melon  is  converted  into  the  non-reducing  kind,  the  same  transformation 
taking  place  if  the  melon  is  detached  before  it  is  ripe. 
M.  Buignet  called  attention  to  his  old  researches  on  bananas,  in  the  sugar  of 
which  considerable  difference  exists,  depending  upon  its  production  under  the  action 
of  the  vegetative  forces,  or  removed  from  their  influence;  in  the  latter  case,  cane- 
sugar  is  not  formed  in  bananas,  but  in  its  place  invert  sugar  appears. 
M.  F.  Boudet  read  an  abstract  of  his  report  made  to  the  Board  of  Health,  October 
23d,  1874,  relating  to  the  alteration  of  the  Seine  water  caused  by  the  drainage  of 
Paris,  and  to  the  purification  of  the  latter. 
The  Society  voted  a  contribution  of  250  francs,  for  the  proposed  monument  to 
Scheele. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
The  Philadelphia  Pharmacy  Law,  as  we  informed  our  readers  in  our  last 
issue,  we  expected  to  be  destined  to  be  contested  in  regard  to  its  constitutionality 
and  its  supposed  oppressive  provisions.  A  second  meeting  of  the  opponents  was 
called,  through  the  daily  papers,  for  January  5th,  at  No.  349  N.  Fourth  street.  At 
this  meeting  we  had  hoped  to  hear  of  the  promised  resolutions,  explaining  all  the 
shortcomings  of  the  Pharmacy  Act,  and  to  learn  the  steps  to  be  taken  to  sweep  this 
obnoxious  law  from  the  statute  book.  We  are  sorry  to  say,  however,  that  for  some 
time  after  the  appointed  hour,  as  we  are  informed  by  the  "  Public  Record,"  only 
three  persons  responded.  It  seems,  then,  that  the  first  meeting  must  have  been 
largely  composed  of  persons  who  went  there  out  of  curiosity,  or  that  the  malcon- 
tents must  have  come  to  different  conclusions  from  the  prominent  speakers. 
The  number  of  the  derelict  pharmacists  fined  by  Alderman  Beitler,  December 
8th,  was  three ;  the  attendants  at  this  second  opposition  meeting  was  exactly  three, 
including  the  malcontent  physicians.  How  many  of  the  latter  were  included  in  the 
former  three  > 
We  are  sorry  that  these  gentlemen  will  apparently  be  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of 
vindicating  their  supposed  rights  ;  we  believe  that  the  law  contains  certain  pro<visions 
which  are  not  as  good  as  they  might  be.  But  the  fault,  as  we  see  it,  is  not  in  its 
intentions,  but  simply  in  its  expressions,  which,  to  some,  appear  to  be  not  definite 
enough.  If  that  is  what  the  opponents  object  to,  we  desire  to  say  that  we  agree 
with  them  entirely,  and  are  ready  to  join  in  any  movement  which  promises  to  result 
in  unmistakable  clearness,  greater  stringency,  and  hence  greater  benefit  and  security 
to  the  people. 
The  Stamp  Tax  on  Medicines. — During  the  last  seventeen  months  we  have 
endeavored  to  keep  our  readers  informed  on  the  steps  taken  to  secure  a  modification 
of  the  Internal  Revenue  Law,  with  the  view  of  preventing  a  recurrence  of  conflict- 
ing decisions  in  regard  to  what  medicines  require  to  be  stamped.    On  page  351  we 
