Am Aprii^iS?™' }     Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.  203 
its  detection,  Professor  Kraemer  exhibited  forms  of  containers  used 
in  collecting  samples  of  sputum,  to  which  a  5  per  cent,  solution  of 
carbolic  acid  should  be  added. 
In  discussing  the  subject  of  disinfection,  Mr.  Beringer  also  spoke 
of  the  importance  of  the  presence  of  moisture,  and  said  that  in  the 
generation  of  formaldehyde  from  the  solution,  it  polymerizes  unless 
there  is  a  sufficient  supply  of  moisture.  Mr.  England  spoke  of  the 
opportuneness  of  the  demonstration,  and  referred  to  the  work  which 
is  being  carried  on  by  Dr.  Rosenberger,  of  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
for  the  detection  of  tubercle  bacilli  in  blood. 
A  discussion  on  formulas  for  medicines  which  may  be  dispensed 
by  pharmacists,  devised  according  to  the  plan  suggested  by  Dr. 
McCormack  and  Dr.  Wiley  (see  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  Feb.,  1909, 
p.  56),  was  opened  by  George  M.  Beringer,  who  said  that  the  propo- 
sition is  one  which  affects  every  pharmacist,  especially  those  having 
the  ethics  of  pharmacy  at  heart,  and  that  it  is  one  which  appeals  to 
the  pharmacist  from  the  ideal  point  of  view,  but  that  when  it  comes 
to  the  practical  consideration  of  it  a  number  of  difficulties  present 
themselves.  In  illustration,  he  presented  the  question  as  to  who 
will  decide  what  a  minor  ailment  is,  and  said  that  a  cold  may  be 
the  signal  of  pneumonia,  and  a  headache  the  forerunner  of  typhoid 
fever.  He,  moreover,  felt  that  druggists  should  not  have  this 
responsibility,  and  was  of  the  opinion  that  physicians  would  not  like 
to  have  druggists  assume  responsibility  in  the  early  stages  of  disease. 
In  this  connection  he  stated  that  druggists  already  answer  calls  for 
diarrhoea  mixtures,  cough  medicines,  and  similar  preparations.  Then, 
alluding  to  the  subject  of  patent  medicines,  he  said  that  druggists 
should  not  encourage  their  sale,  and  referred  to  a  suggestion  made 
by  him  in  a  paper  presented  to  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical 
Association  a  few  years  ago,  that  before  medicines  are  advertised 
in  the  papers  the  formulas  should  be  submitted  to  some  authority 
for  criticism. 
The  discussion  was  also  participated  in  by  the  following :  Warren 
H.  Poley,  Henry  C.  Blair,  W.  L.  Cliffe,  C.  B.  Lowe,  F.  M.  Apple, 
William  E.  Lee,  John  K.  Thum,  and  Henry  Kraemer,  and  the 
consensus  of  opinion  of  the  retail  druggists  was  that  the  plan  pro- 
posed did  not  appear  practicable  at  the  present  time.  It  was  brought 
out  that  the  custom  generally  approved  by  retail  druggists,  is  to 
supply  such  medicines  as  are  called  for,  except  in  cases  where  inquiry 
shows  that  their  use  would  be  inadvisable,  and  that  in  all  cases 
