Am.  Jour.  Phaim. 
Dec.  1875. 
Editorial. 
573 
Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Paris. —  Mr.  Planchon  presided  at  the  meeting 
held  October  6th,  at  which  Mr.  Stan.  Martin  presented  a  variety  of  green  maize, 
known  under  the  names  of  giant y  Nicaragua,  etc.,  the  fructification  of  which  is  not 
accom'plished  in  France.  Prof,  Soubeiran  remarked  that  fruit  could  be  obtained,  if 
the  maize  was  started,  at  the  proper  time,  in  the  warm  or  hot-house,  and  the  plants 
transferred  to  the  open  air  after  all  danger  of  frost  was  over.  Mr.  Latour  had  raised 
this  variety,  in  a  favorable  location,  in  the  military  hospital  of  Saint-Martin  5  the 
grains,  however,  were  attacked  with  rust. 
Mr.  Petit  gave  an  account  of  his  investigations  of  the  action  of  diastase  upon 
starch,  which  is  thereby  split  into  two  sugars  5  one  of  these,  forming  two-thirds  of  the 
entire  product,  is  fermentable  and  reduces  Fehling's  solution  ;  the  other,  which  has 
not  yet  been  sufficiently  studied,  forms  one-third  of  the  product,  is  fermentable,  and 
does  not  reduce  the  copper-soda  solution. 
Mr,  Mehu  presented  crystallized  sulphide  of  mercury,  which  was  formed  in  a 
very  alkaline  solution  of  sulphide  of  mercury  in  sulphide  of  sodium. 
Mr.  Petit  reported  on  the  continuance  of  his  researches  concerning  the  changes 
occurring  in  fruits  while  ripening  j  he  observed  that  in  the  melon,  the  grape-sugar  is 
transformed  into  crystallizable  cane-sugar.  Mr.  Latour  remarked  that,  some  years 
ago,  in  Algiers,  the  maturation  of  the  sorghum  was  uniformly  accompanied  by  the 
transformation  of  the  grape-sugar  into  crystallizable  sugar. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
The  Vending  of  Nostrums. — Ever  since  we  have  been  initiated  into  the  mys- 
teries of  the  art  and  science  of  pharmacy,  we  have  flattered  ourselves  that  we 
belonged  to  those  who  have  imbibed  from  their  preceptors  an  aversion  towards  all 
kinds  of  medicinal  preparations  that  have  about  them  the  odor  of  secrecy,  no  matter 
whether  they  are  popularly  known  by  the  name  of  patent  medicines,  or  whether  they 
go  by  the  cognomination  of  medicinal  specialties.  In  this  it  appears  we  have  been 
seriously  mistaken,  and,  what  is  worse,  American  pharmacy  may  possibly  be  the 
sufferer  from  opinions  entertained  by  us.  At  least,  we  have  been  informed  by  the 
New  York  "Medical  Record"  of  October  9th,  a  copy  of  which  has  been  kindly 
sent  to  us  by  a  friend,  that  *'the  confession  embodied  in  the  remarks  of  the  Perma- 
nent Secretary  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  check  the  sale  ot  patent  medicines,  even  by  respectable 
druggists,  because  the  public  insisted  on  purchasing  them,  is  an  illustration  in  point 
on  which  to  base  a  belief  that  over-sensitiveness  of  the  pocket  nerve,  which  is  so 
marked  a  characteristic  of  human  nature,  may  possibly  keep  pharmacy  in  the  list  of 
commercial,  rather  than  of  professional  pursuits." 
Now,  it  happens  that  the  Permanent  Secretary  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association  never  said  what  the  "  Record"  attributes  to  him  ;  what  he  did  say  was, 
that,  "as  long  as  patent  medicines  are  called  for  by  the  public,  pharmacists  will  be 
compelled  to  keep  them,  and  that  their  efforts  will  amount  to  nothing  until  the  pub- 
