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EDITORIAL. 
are  manufactured  in  the  laboratory,  or  put  up  in  packages  for  surgeon's  use  ; 
and  being  located  adjacent  to  the  greatest  drug  mart  of  the  country,  the 
director  is  enabled  to  lay  in  the  crude  supplies  on  favorable  terms  and  with 
the  least  delay. 
The  laboratory  building  is  a  substantial  structure,  in  shape  a  parallelo- 
gram, and  three  stories  high.  The  laboratory,  properly  speaking,  is  in  the 
basement,  one  half  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  operating  room  for  furnace 
operations,  solutions,  distillations,  evaporations,  etc.  "We  observed  very 
complete  arrangements  for  heating  by  steam  and  by  gas,  and  percolating 
apparatus  on  a  large  scale  worked  with  a  nicety  not  noticed  before.  Ad- 
jacent to  the  steam  engine  is  the  powdering  room,  where  drugs  are  subjected 
to  the  various  degrees  of  comminution  requisite  for  usq perse,  or  extraction. 
It  is  the  custom  to  garble  them  carefully,  which,  as  it  is  carried  out  without 
fear  of  "  injuring  the  profits/7  adds  very  materially  to  the  efficacy  of  the  re- 
sulting powders.  In  a  smaller  apartment  above,  and  beyond  the  influence 
of  the  vapor  of  the  laboratory  room,  the  assistant  director  has  his  private 
operating  room,  conveniently  furnished  with  balances  gas  furnace,  blow-pipes, 
etc.,  etc.,  for  performing  the  numerous  analyses  and  testings  required  of  him 
as  well  in  pursuance  of  his  legitimate  duties  as  for  other  branches  of  the 
naval  service.  In  the  second  story  is  the  "  store  room,"  where  medicines  are 
kept  ready  for  distribution  at  a  short  notice,  put  up  in  bottles  and  canisters 
of  a  uniform  size  and  shape,  made  expressly  for  naval  use  and  adapted  to 
the  chests,  which,  all  emanating  from  this  establishment,  they  fit  in  without 
loss  of  space.  This  systematizing  applies  not  merely  to  the  packing  of 
medicines,  but  to  the  surgical  instruments,  splints,  and  other  articles,  which, 
heretofore  obtained  from  various  sources,  present  the  most  unlike  shapes, 
sizes,  and  qualities,  though  intended  for  the  same  purposes  ;  and  often 
without  any  adaptation  for  packing  in  a  small  compass.  Now,  the  chests  of 
instruments  are  compact,  uniform  and  well  selected,  contrasting  favorably 
with  the  collection  of  obsolete  appliances  and  instruments  which,  we  ob- 
served, have  accumulated  as  useless  in  one  of  the  apartments. 
The  scope  of  the  laboratory  embraces  all  the  preparations  of  the  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia,  with  the  single  exception  of  sulphate  of  quinia,  and 
some  that  are  not  there  included,  and  is  governed  by  that  authority  in  re- 
gard to  standards  of  strength  and  quality ;  but  in  reference  to  the  processes 
used,  they  are,  as  in  ordinary  manufacturing  laboratories,  the  result  in  a 
great  degree,  of  its  own  experience,  especially  as  regards  mechanical  con- 
trivances. Should  this  laboratory  go  on  increasing  in  experience  and 
scope,  so  as  to  include  both  the  army  and  navy  in  its  supplies,  and  be  con- 
ducted on  the  plan  it  is  at  present,  it  will  be  highly  creditable  to  the  general 
government,  and  prove  of  incalculable  advantage  to  both  branches  of  the 
service  in  case  of  war  calling  for  increased  supplies.  The  laboratory  at 
present  furnishes  the  medical  stores  for  about  8000  men  and  two  thousand 
officers  in  the  navy,  besides  keeping  up  a  supply  at  several  depots,  to  meet 
any  sudden  demand ;  and  has  been  established  sufficiently  long  to  prove 
itself  to  be  a  measure  of  absolute  economy  in  expenditure. 
