Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1921. 
Drug  'Research 
717 
pure  the  crystals  were  dissolved  in  alcohol  and  recrystallized  as  out- 
lined above. 
The  acetone  was  evaporated  from  the  mother  liquor,  and  the 
alcoholic  solution  of  atropine  sulphate  poured  into  a  large  volume  of 
water.  From  this  the  alkaloid  was  extracted  with  ether,  and  if  not 
of  sufficient  purity  the  process  already  outlined  was  repeated. 
DRUG  RESEARCH.* 
Declaring  that  all  humanity  would  be  benefited  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  $10,000,000  national  institute  of  drug  research  in  the 
country,  Edwin  E.  Slosson,  editor  of  the  Science  Service  of  the 
National  Research  Council,  in  a  recent  address  before  the  American, 
Drug  Manufacturers'  Association  in  Washington,  D.  C,  stated  that 
the  making  of  drugs  was  developing  along  the  lines  of  discovery  and 
cultivation  of  new  medicinal  plants  and  in  the  invention  of  synthetic 
remedies.    He  said  in  part: 
"The  day  of  the  shotgun  dose  has  gone  by.  The  modern  doctor 
uses  a  rifle.  In  former  times  it  often  happened  that  the  antiseptic 
aimed  at  a  bacillus  and  killed  a  phagocyte.  Before  the  era  of  re- 
cent research  the  best  of  antiseptics  was  carbolic  acid.  Yet  carbolic 
acid  applied  to  a  wound  killed  off  the  invaders  and  defenders  of  the 
bodily  citadel  with  almost  equal  impartiality.  This  is  as  if  the 
United  States  entering  a  war  in  defence  of  France,  had  showered 
poison  gas  all  along  the  front  and  wiped  out  both  the  German  and 
French  armies. 
"The  Bible  recommends  us  to  beat  our  swords  into  plowshares, 
but  the  chemist  has  gone  farther  in  turning  a  poison  gas  into  a 
perfume.  The  war  delivered  into  our  hands  a  chemical  industry  for 
which  we  were  not  fully  prepared  and  by  which  we  have  not  fully 
profited.  We  are  now  producing  more  tons  of  dyestuffs  than  we 
formerly  imported,  but  some  of  the  most  important  dyes  are  not 
yet  made  in  America.  In  the  field  of  pharmaceutical  research  I  am 
told  that  we  are  not  even  keeping  up  with  the  procession,  to  say 
nothing  of  leading  it.  The  plan  proposed  by  the  American  Chemical 
Society  for  a  national  institute  of  drug  research  with  an  endowment 
of  $10,000,000  ought  to  be  carried  out,  for  it  would  benefit  not  only 
our  own  country  but  all  humanity. 
Through  the  Canadian  Pharm.  Joum. 
