292 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
[  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    June,  1909. 
with  the  contents  of  this  bulletin,  which  may  be  obtained  at  a 
minimum  price  from  the  Superintendent  of  Documents,  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office.  Washington,  D.  C. 
Digitalis  Preparations. — A  general  article  on  digitalis  prepara- 
tions has  been  accepted  for  "  New  and  Non-official  Remedies " 
and  should  do  much  to  bring  about  a  better  understanding  of  the 
several  commercial  preparations  that  are  being  marketed  as  active 
principles  of  digitalis.  The  chemistry  of  digitalis  is  far  from  being 
satisfactorily  worked  out,  and  the  term  digitalin  is  applied  indis- 
criminately to  various  active  substances  that  have  been  isolated  from 
digitalis.  In  the  article  for  N.  N.  R.  they  are  classified  as  Digitalin 
True,  Digitalin  "  French,"  and  Digitalin  German.  In  addition  to 
the  three  digitalins  the  article  also  describes  Digitonin  and  Digitoxin. 
— /.  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  1909,  v.  52,  p.  1498. 
Pharmacologic  Fetishisms. — In  an  interesting  and  readable 
article  Wilfred  M.  Barton  calls  attention  to  the  development  of 
pharmacology  as  a  recognized  study  in  the  science  of  medicine 
and  enumerates  a  number  of  still  existing  and  wide-spread  misbeliefs 
that  he  is  pleased  to  term  "  pharmacologic  fetishisms."  Among 
the  misleading  or  at  least  doubtful  practices  he  includes  the  belief 
that:  olive  oil  cures  cholelithiasis;  valerian  cures  hysteria;  tannic 
acid  cures  internal  hemorrhage ;  colchicum  cures  gout ;  potassium 
iodide  cures  neurasthenia,  and  that  lithium  salts  are  a  never  failing 
remedy  in  uric  acid  diathesis. — /.  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  1909,  v.  52, 
PP-  1 557-1 560. 
The  Bracers. — An  abstract  from  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  Social  Betterment  contains  a  partial  list  of  the  "  patent  medi- 
cines "  which  have  been  classed  as  "  compound  liquors,"  by  the 
Internal  Revenue  Department  and  which  the  druggist  is  not  per- 
mitted to  sell  unless  he  has  paid  the  special  tax  as  a  retail  liquor 
dealer. — /.  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  1909,  v.  52,  p.  1272. 
Proposed  National  Bureau  of  Public  Health. — President  Taft 
has  requested  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Public  Health  and  Marine 
Hospital  Service  to  present  a  plan  for  the  organization  of  a  National 
Bureau  of  Public  Health.  This  step  is  considered  as  being  a 
business-like  initiative  that  indicates  the  general  belief  that  the 
proposed  public  health  bureau  should  be  an  evolution  and  not  a 
de  novo  creation. — /.  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  1909,  v.  52,  p.  1186. 
What  is  Whiskey? — At  the  request  of  a  number  of  distillers 
and  importers  of  spirits  and  whiskey  President  Taft  has  arranged 
