THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

The Fifty-Seventh Annual Meeting Carries Thousands to Boston -N. A. R. D. Delegates Recognized for the First Time-— Pharmacists Active in the Section on Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

(Editorial Correspondence.)

Boston, June 7, 1906.-The Fifty-seventh annual meeting of the American Medical Association which is just drawing to a close in this city brought together the largest number of physicians ever assembled at one place in America, and probably in the world. The assemblage embraced many practitioners of distinction from abroad, as well as the majority of the leaders of the medical profession in the United States. The foreign visitors included Baron Takaki, surgeon general of the Imperial Japanese Navy; Prof. Frederick Trendelnburg, of Leipsig; Prof. Alfonse von Rosthorn, of Heidelberg; Prof. Alfred Duhrssen, of Berlin; Prof. Max von Frey, of Wurtzburg; Prof. Krehl, of Strassburg; Prof. Wesley A. Mills, of McGill University, and Dr. Richard A. Reeve, of Toronto, president of the British Medical Association.

The interests of pharmacy naturally centered in the attack on proprietary medicines which has been made by the association and in which the aid of the pharmacists has been invoked through the Council on Chemistry and Pharmacy, and through the Section on Pharmacology and Therapeutics, to which section the American Pharmaceutical Association sends delegates.

The matter of proprietary remedies was referred to frequently in the course of the proceedings of the House of Delegates, the governing body of the general association, and also came up in the Section on Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

The bitter feelings engendered by the aggressive attitude of the Journal of the Association found vent in the meetings of the House of Delegates, where at one time the air was full of protest. But as point after point of the criticisms offered was taken up and answered seriatim, the critics were silenced-if not convinced-and in the end resolutions were adopted fully endorsing the work of the administration. In one instance only-that of the severe criticisms of the action of Dr. Vaughan, of Ann Arbor, which had appeared in the Journal of the Association did the administration show any tendency to make concessions. In that case apologies were extended from both sides and the breach healed.

AS TO PROPRIETARY REMEDIES.

In regard to the question of proprietary remedies the House of Delegates adopted the resolutions, fully endorsing the work of the Council on Chemistry and Pharmacy. PACKING HOUSE METHODS CONDEMNED-THE PURE FOOD BILL

COMMENDED.

In the House of Delegates the packing house disclosures were referred to in connection with the Pure Food bill in the following preamble and resolutions, which were adopted without opposition:

Whereas, The revolting methods recently revealed by both private and Governmental inquiry to exist in connection with the selection and preparation of meat for the American and foreign markets are a serious menace to the public health; and

Whereas, The impurities demonstrated by Government experts and by the Bureau of Chemistry and Pharmacy of the American Medical Association to exist in numerous other food products, in nostrums pur veyed to the public and in remedies prescribed for the sick comprise even more serious menaces to the public welfare: therefore, be it

Resolved, That the American Medical Association, with an affiliated membership of more than 60,000 physicians, and representing the organized medical profession in 2.400 of the 2.830 counties of the United States, views with satisfaction the efforts of the Administration and of Congress to protect the American public against adulterated foods and impure drugs, and to purge our commerce, domestic and foreign, of fraudulent products:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives be and is hereby earnestly petitioned to place the pending pure food and drug bill on its passage during the present week.

The special interests of pharmacists centered in the

SECTION ON PHARMACOLOGY AND THERAPEUTICS.

The first meeting of the section was called to order in the lecture room of Tufts Medical College by the chair, Dr. Thomas F. Reilly, of New York, on Tuesday afternoon, June 5. The secretary, Dr. C. S. N. Hallberg, read a latter from the President of the American Pharmaceutical Association, naming the following delegates :

Henry P. Hynson, Baltimore; Thomas P. Cook, New York; C. S. N. Hallberg, Chicago; John F. Hancock, Baltimore; Chas. F. Nixon, Boston; Elic H. La Pierre, Boston, and S. P. Sadtler, Philadelphia. The delegates were extended the courtesy of

the floor.

Henry P. Hynson, of Baltimore, speaking as chairman of the delegation from the American Pharmaceutical Association, called attention to the vast field of usefulness in co-operation between the physician and pharmacist and instanced the results of the joint meetings of the Chicago Branch of the American Pharmaceutical Association with the physicians of that city, at which the following propositions were set forth: 1st. "That an effort should be made to clearly define the limitations and respective functions of the practice of medicine and the practice of pharmacy; differentiating as to the rights and privileges to be accorded each, with special reference to dispensing by physicians and prescribing by pharmacists

2nd. "That the popular demand for medicines should be met with preparations of the United States Pharmacopoeia and National Formulary in preference to proprietary medicines "3rd."That the physician and pharmacist should have joint

control of the prescription and that, when the prescriber orders the prescription not to be refilled, such instructions should be observed by the pharmacist ". 4th. "That physicians should discriminate, as far as possible, in favor of reputable pharmacists and against drug stores which make use of cut rate methods for imposing on the public."

Mr. Hynson reviewed the history of the agitation against abuses in medicine and pharmacy, quoting liberally from the proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical Association to show that that organization had always been active in its efforts to improve the status of pharmacy and to place on a higher plane the relations between the pharmacists and the physicians.

The chairman of the section announced that, in accordance with custom, he would appoint the executive committee of the section to act as a committee on nominations, the committee named being composed of Dr. S. S. Cohen, of Philadelphia, Dr. O. T. Osborne, of New Haven, and Dr. Heinrich Stern, of New York.

A REVIEW OF RECENT THERAPEUTICS.

Dr. O. T. Osborne, of New Haven, taking the chair, Dr. Reilly, the chairman of the section, presented his address, which comprised a succinct review of the therapeutic advances and tendencies developed during the past year. He said that very few new remedies had been launched during the past year, the flood of synthetics which has deluged medicine during the past decade having had a slight recession. Ethylchloride anæsthesia has grown in popularity during the year. Scopol amine morphine anesthesia-from which so much had been expected, had fallen flat. Hypodermic injection of soluble mercury for the treatment of syphilis had come to be accepted as a routine treatment, and was rapidly growing in popularity. Therapeutic nihilism in the treatment of pneumonia still prevailed. The tendency toward the utilization of substance of animal origin still continued.

A warning was sounded by Dr. Reilly against indiscriminate use of the suprarenal glands. The field of usefulness for the x-ray was becoming more limited and more clearly defined. Antitoxin was being administered in larger doses.

Dr. Reilly urged that the curative action of indigenous drugs be studied, as he believed that double the result could be obtained for one half the effort expended on the production of new synthetic products.

He said that medical men were paying more attention to the Pharmacopoeia than ever before, and suggested that the association should take a more active interest in its revision than it has heretofore.

Dr. Reilly said that there was a legitimate field for some proprietary remedies, and that some will stay, but that others must and will go. The address was referred for consideration

to a committee composed of Dr. Heinrich Stern, of New York, Dr. H. C. Wood, Jr., of Philadelphia, and Dr. Reilly himself. The secretary, Dr. Hallberg, of Chicago, made a brief oral report pending the arrival of his report, which had been left in Chicago.

SCIENTIFIC PAPERS.

Dr. O. T. Osborne, of New Haven, read a paper on the Therapeutics of Thyroid Preparations, and Dr. Robert A. Hatcher, of New York, followed with a Study of the Pharmacology of Digitalis. Both papers were discussed at some length, as was also a raper on the Pharmacolgy of Veratrum, by H. C. Wood, Jr., of Philadelphia, when the section adjourned to meet on Wednesday morning.

The morning of the second day's session of the Section on Pharmacology and Therapeutics was devoted to papers which had no pharmaceutical interest. The afternoon's proceedings were opened by a paper by William F. Waugh, of Chicago, on solanine, in which he took occasion to commend the use of this drug in the treatment of epilepsy of all kinds. In discussing this raper Dr. Thresh, of Philadelphia, stated that he had his attention first called to solanine in a purely empirical manner, having observed that the negroes of West Virginia secured very favorable results in the treatment of epileptic convulsions by the administration of the alcoholic infusion of a certain plant which, upon investigation, turned out to be solanum carolinense. Dr. Max Einhorn, of New York, read a paper on the dietetic treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Martin I. Wilbert, of Philadelphia, presented a paper on the Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia, in which he made a plea for the more active co-operation of the medical profession in the work of revision. He reviewed briefly the history of pharmacopoeial revision, showing how the interest of the medical profession in the work of revision had gradually died out, and how as the interest of physicians had abated, the number of preparations included in the work had increased, antil now something like 1,000 articles were listed. He urged that steps be taken by the Section to ensure a more active cooperation of the medical profession in the work of revision.

In discussing the paper of Mr. Wilbert, Dr. Oliver T. Osborne, of New Haven, said that while the Pharmacopoeia might be all that could be desired from a purely scientific standpoint it was certainly a flat failure from the standpoint of the medical teacher. He believed that the criticism of Mr. Wilbert as to the undue expansion of the pharmacopoeial list was well grounded, and moved that a committee be appointed to study the whole situation and to propose some means of remedying the evils set forth by Mr. Wilbert, a suggestion which was approved by the Section, the chairman appointing Dr. Osborne, Dr. W. J. Robinson, and Dr. H. E. Lewis, of New York, as such a committee.

Dr. Reid Hunt, of the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, pointed out that in this discussion the members of the Section had overlooked one of the important functions of the Pharmacopoeia, namely, its use as a legal standard. It would be impossible to materially decrease the volume of matter in the Pharmacopoeia without seriously affecting its value in this direction, a fact which physicians should by no means overlook, as there was a constantly growing tendency to depend more and more upon the Pharmacopoeia for the determination of legal points.

Prof. C. Lewis Diehl, of Louisville, presented a raper on the attitude of the National Formulary to pharmaceutical proprietaries, a subject upon which he was eminently fitted to discuss, since his work as editor of the Formulary entitled him to speak with authority. He said that the committee were not inclined to question proprietary rights based upon real discoveries, or to do anything which might tend to diminish the value of such rights, but that where claims of proprietorship were set up as to medicines or preparations which were already well known, the committee did not feel bound to accept any such claims as valid, and for that reason felt at liberty to make and publish formulas regardless of any such proprietary claims.

He referred to a class of preparations which seemed to kave, in fact, been called into being by the inroads made by

the National Formulary on their successful exploitation, saying: "Leaving out of consideration the modern synthetics, which are a host in themselves, and which are taken care of by the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association, there is a large number of preparations, exploited under brief, fanciful titles, which consist of simple drugs or chemicals, such as are on the shelves of every pharmacy and uniformly obtainable in a condition of acceptable purity in the form of pills, capsules, tablets or powder; others that are simply solutions of one or more salts, for which exceptional purity is claimed, and all of these are claimed to be products resulting from the application of prolonged investigation, diligent study or unusual facilities and skill. Then, again, under similarly coined titles, the attention of physicians is invited to pharmaceutical compounds of a more intricate nature, compounded from drugs of rare quality' or representing the 'essential principles of this, that and the other drug-quantities (if given) pertaining to the drug, but not to the essential principle involved-the development of which have required years of study or which are the outcome of vast experience, not to speak of occult divination, and so on, ad nauseam. All these claims are, of course, subservient to the pharmacological import of the article exploited, which is rarely just as good,' but always superior, in one direction or the other, to other medicaments that have stood the test of time in similar cases, the literature accompanying these trade-named pharmaceutical proprietaries teeming with fulsome and extravagant claims, so preposterous as to leave it doubtful what is the more amazing. the unparalleled effrontery of the exploiter or his confidence in the gullibility of the physician.

"It would be passing strange if among the many tradenamed pharmaceutical proprietaries' there were not some of intrinsic value as remedial agents, and certainly there are others which, whatever may be the estimate of their worth, are presented with sufficient frequency to call for representation in the National Formulary in a form in which such products may be intelligently tested. While, therefore, the first edition of the Formulary was comparatively free from formulas representing trade-named preparations, a number of such have been admitted into the revised editions that have since been made, without, however, referring in any way to the tradenamed title. In this respect the compilers of the work have the precept of the revisers of the Pharmacopoeia, who, in the recent edition (U. S. P., VIII, 1900), have included formulas for a number of preparations which have been heretofore, and still are being, exploited under fanciful names. Indeed, some of these have been appropriated either from the text of the National Formulary or from the text of the reports in which they were proposed for admission into that work. The Committee on National Formulary has been criticised in some quarters, probably by interested parties, for having constructed and included formulas for certain trade-named preparations. On the grounds indicated this committee will doubtless not be discouraged from so appropriating or constructing formulas for any preparation so long as the formula is not vested in private ownership by right of patent, if the frequency of its use shall justify such action."

Dr. C. S. N. Hallberg, of Chicago, presented his report as Secretary of the Section, in which he referred to the "muckrakers" of medicine, who had rendered most valuable service by their exposure of the evils involved in the indiscriminate use and sale of proprietary medicines. He said, however, that this was a subject of so delicate a character, involving so much special knowledge, that the lay publications which had engaged in this "debut der siecle reform" had overstepped the bounds of their usefulness and posed as sponsors for "formula" legislation which was harmful, as it produced a false and misleading sense of security. Dr. Hallberg said that "the formula on the label requirement is a delusion and a snare." He recommended the establishment of a National Department of Health as the only means for relief from the dangers surrounding the public in the matter of medication.

This recommendation was referred to the same committee to which the recommendations of Mr. Wilbert had been referred, to be reported on at the next annual convention.

L. F. Kebler, Chief of the Drug Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture, exhibited a number of nostrums which had been denied the use of the mails as a result of examinations made for the Post Office Department by the Drug Laboratory. He also referred the members to the exhibit of the Laboratory as shown in the buildings of the new Harvard Medical School, stating that the exhibits embrace some preparations of so disgusting a character that he hesitated to refer to them more specifically even before an audience composed of medical men.

THE LIMITS OF PROPRIETORSHIP IN MEDICINE.

Dr. Solomon Solis Cohen, of Philadelphia, then spoke at some length on the limit of proprietorship in materia medica. He entered a strong protest against proprietary rights based upon the "trademark" word, using phenacetin as an instance. He said that there was no objection whatever to exclusive proprietary rights based upon patents under existing laws, but that an effort to perpetuate those rights by the use of a copyrighted designation such as phenacetin was essentially wrong in principle, and that if the law permitted it, the law should be changed.

He said that the right to exclusive ownership was not an inherent right, but one based upon the permission of society. Not a great while ago it was considered eminently proper to recognize proprietary rights in human beings. Certain cranks, agitators and abolitionists took the matter up and as a consequence this right is no longer recognized. We still recognize individual rights, proprietary rights in land, but already there is a considerable body of reformers, cranks and single taxers who deny the right of the individual to exclusive ownership of land. So in medicine the time may come when any exclusive ownership will be denied, though that time has not yet arrived. Dr. Cohen believed, however, the time had arrived when the perpetual exclusive ownership through word trademarks should no longer be accorded. Individual rights of manufacturers should be amply protected, he said, by the legitimate trademark use of the manufacturer's name applied to the article, as phenacetine Bayer, or Squibb's ether. He insisted, however, that where a new article is brought into the world it needs a name; the name given to it by its producer and by which it is known generally in medical literature is practically the only name it has, even though it might have some systematic title, from a chemical standpoint.

He said that when the manufacturer made a mixture and honestly told the actual ingredients, only reserving information regarding the diluents and inactive adjuvants, he had no criticism to offer to that particular form and extent of secrecy, but unfortunately the temptation was very strong on the part of the manufacture to add some such corrective, as a small quantity of cocaine, omitting to mention this fact on the label. Such an omission constituted an essential fraud, and he felt that such evasion should not be too severely condemned.

As a matter of fact, the claims that the only secret rested in the flavor and water were rarely true, for there is very little money in merely water and flavor.

Dr. William J. Robinson, of New York, arose to set forth his claims to the credit for having inaugurated the present era of reform as regards patent medicines, and took occasion to criticise, the advertisements of Labordine, taken from a recent issue of American Medicine, in which, after warning the readers of the dangers of coal tar derivatives in general, and acetanilid in particular, the advertiser went on to state that Labordine itself contained 15 per cent. of acetanilid, but disguising the systematic name by an inversion of the syllables.

He also criticised the Journal of the Association as still containing two or three preparations which should not be admitted to its columns. He particularly criticised the appearance of the advertisement of Buffalo Lithia Water, saying that the committee of which he was a member, in formulating a rule under which the advertising of mineral waters was permitted, had in mind only such advertisement as the ordinary table waters used, and not advertising to the public as is done by the Buffalo Lithia Water, in which advertising the most extravagant claims are made for its curative action in dangerous diseases.

M. I. Wilbert, of Philadelphia, said that he thought it was much more important to turn the attention of the Section to the future than it was to endeavor to set up claims for originating the movement now in progress, and he directed the attention of Dr. Robinson to the fact that as long ago as 1817, the President of the New York State Medical Society had taken up this question of the nostrum evil, and that two years later, in 1819, the New York County Medical Society had issued a pamphlet on the subject. He refered to other instances in which this evil had been condemned publicly by various pharmaceutical and medical organizations.

Dr. Robinson replied with some heat that the subject was even older than Mr. Wilbert intimated, as some 2,000 or more years ago it had been dealt with in Egypt, but that his claim referred only to the present movement, which he was firmly convinced had originated with his paper presented at New Orleans.

Dr. H. E. Lewis, of New York, said that he deprecated a certain over-critical and even dictatorial attitude on this matter on the part of pharmacists, and he even feared that the council on pharmacy and chemistry were too exclusively pharmaceutical. To be effective, he was convinced, this campaign must be educative and not coercive. The mere fact of proprietorship was of itself not offensive, he thought. The essential element was the honesty of the claims of the proprietor.

In closing the discussion Mr. Kebler said that Dr. Cohen had intimated that the physician had no interest in the low class of frauds which had been treated of by him, but he wished to point out the fact that the fraudulent dealers did not make their own preparations, but had them made by the eminently respectable manufacturers.

Dr. Cohen said that he was glad that Mr. Kebler had brought out this fact, for he felt it was incumbent upon the medical profession and the pharmacists as well to impress upon these manufacturers the fact that it was impossible for them to be dishonest on one side and honest on the other.

He said that honesty was, after all, the final test. He hoped that there would be a close affiliation, not only between ne individual pharmacist and the physician, but between the honest manufacturer and the physician, for he realized the debt which medicine owed even to commercial exploitation. In 1858 Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson published practically everything that we now know about the therapeutics of hydrogen dioxide, but this drug never came into general use until it was exploited commercially in 1880, and even then physicians did not recall the careful work done by Richardson, and it was not until many a bladder and an ear drum had been bust before its use was understood. "For bust," said he, "is the only word that expressed what happened when the ignorant physician filled the bladder with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of pus."

Appreciating, therefore, the debt of medicine to exploitation, he was not averse to giving the commercial manufacturer his just due.

This discussion closed the proceedings of the Section for Wednesday.

The first paper presented at the opening of the Section on Pharmacology and Therapeutics on Thursday morning was a rather lengthy one on Palatable Medication, by H. B. Sheffield, of New York. This was followed by a clear and concise summary of the Chemistry of the Organic Silver Compounds, by W. A. Puckner, of Chicago. The other papers presented at the morning session were of no particular pharmaceutical interest. At the afternoon session on Thursday the Committee on Resolutions, to which various matters had been referred for consideration, submitted the following report, which was adopted without discussion:

1. The Section of Pharmacology and Therapeutics of the American Medical Association welcomes every endeavor to advance the status of pharmacy as a learned profession, and expresses its full sympathy with the efforts of the American Pharmaceutical Association in this direction. The pharmacist, whether he be a dispenser or a manufacturer, must work hand in hand with the physician to consummate the results so urgently desired by both. We recognize that physicians as prescribers must rely upon the fidelity of the pharmacist and of the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Therefore it is highly desirable that more cordial relations and more thorough understanding should be fos

tered between both professions in order that the limits of legitimate pharmaceutical manufacturing may be more clearly defined.

We believe in regard to pharmaceutical preparations that secrecy concerning any substance possessing the slightest physiologic activity is improper and intolerable. The doctor has a right, and it is his duty, to insist upon the most complete and exact information obtainable concerning the active agents which exist in any preparation he uses. We deprecate fanciful and inaccurate trade names and titles, and recommend a more rational and scientific nomenclature in the naming of pharmaceutical preparations and products. We believe that by a system of process patenting a closer approach to ideal conditions can be reached and that it would obviate many of the present features of the pharmaceutical industry to which just objection has been taken. Such tangible protection as is necessary can be given in most instances by the addition of the manufacturer's name to the proper and intelligible title of the pharmaceutical product, thus insuring a recognized grade of accuracy and quality.

2. The Section believes that the Council of Pharmacy and Chemistry can do much to bring about this desirable state of affairs; and, to the end that its work may be broadened and the results become of as great benefit as possible to the medical profession whose interests it must primarily serve, the Section earnestly recommends that a larger representation be given to clinical therapeutics by the election annually from the working membership of this Section of two members of the Council to serve for one year.

3. The Section is heartily in favor of and strongly urges the establishment of a National Department of Health, with representation in the Cabinet.

4. The Section learns with regret that certain manufacturing pharmacists have practically placed the facilities of their plants at the disposal of venders of some of the worst and vilest nostrums by which the people of the United States have been defrauded. It is obvious that such practices cannot be too severely condemned, especially if the patronage and confidence of the medical profession is to be retained.

5. The Section strongly condemns the revolting evils which have been shown to exist in regard to foods and food supplies, especially the meat packing industry. In the fundamental interests of the people such evils must be controlled by appropriate and adequate legislation, which we strongly urge as a paramount duty of our National Congress. In connection with the question we wish to emphasize the fact that antiseptics and preservatives cannot mitigate in any degree the dangers from decayed or decaying meat. Antiseptics may destroy putrefactive organisms, but they cannot neutralize toxines or ptomaines. Any contention to the contrary is unsound, and meat that requires such treatment is totally unfit for food, inasmuch as it still contains poisons of virulent and dangerous character.

6. The Section notes with regret, in examining the commercial exhibit, that the degree of selection which the members of the association have a right to expect and demand has not been exercised. As a prevention of further abuse in this directin, at future meetings we would recommend that all pharmaceuticals be indiscriminately excluded from the commercial exhibit, or that provisions be made for a committee on exhibit from this Section, which committee shall be empowered to exercise full supervision in the matter and co-operate with the local comH. EDWIN LEWIS, New York. mittee.

S. SOLIS-COHEN, Philadelphia. HEINRICH STERN, New York. Committee.

Dr. Heinrich Stern, of New York, representative of the Section in the House of Delegates, said that he had come to the meeting inclined to assume a critical attitude toward the administration, but that what he had learned of the work of the general secretary in the reports submitted to the House of Delegates had convinced him that he was a master of detai!, and he proposed the passage of resolutions of thanks to Dr. Simmons by the Section, which proposal was agreed to.

OFFICERS ELECTED.

The following officers were elected by the Section to act for the ensuing year: Chairman, Dr. H. C. Wood, Jr., of Philadelphia; vice-chairman, Dr. Henry R. Slack, of Atlanta; secretary, Dr. C. S. N. Hallberg, of Chicago; representative in the House of Delegates, Dr. Solomon Solis-Cohen, of Philadelphia.

Dr. C. S. N. Hallberg, of Chicago, presented an oral abstract of a paper on the External Preparations of the United States Pharmacopœia. He explained that as chairman of the subcommittee on this particular portion of the Pharmacopoeial revision he had first gotten into touch with the leading dermatologists, both of Europe and America, and consulted them as to the objects which they desired to accomplish. The subcommittee had then undertaken an attempt to accomplish these objects. He referred to the several classes of preparations, giving a general outline of the processes used in preparing them. The plasters, he said, were made of a base composed of equal parts of rubber and petrolatum, this making a plaster which penetrated into but not through the skin, differing vastly in its effects from those rubber plasters which are made simply by the mechanical admixture of rubber with various gums and gum resins and for which he expressed the most severe condemnation.

The suppositories of the Pharmacopoeia are made with cacao butter as a base where they are to be used for rectal administration; where they are to be used for urethral or vaginal administration a glycero-gelatin base is substituted, owing to the acidity of the secretions met with. Since only a small quantity of ollic acid is required to make the oleates of the alkaloid, the oleates are first made and then diluted with

an equal quantity of olive oil, with the exception of the oleate of quinine, which is not so diluted.

In the selection of a base for ointments a careful study of the relative absorbability of the various ointment bases led finally to the adoption of a mixture of lanolin and petrolatum, as presenting a base which was of about the same degree of absorbability as lard, but had the great advantage of stability. This was shown by the stability of the various mercurial ointments, which when made according to previous Pharmacopoeia were speedily decomposed. The only exception made to the use of this base was in the preparation of the ointment of nitrate of mercury, in which, in deference to the conservatism of some of the Eastern members who still clung to the belief in the increased efficacy of the ointment due to the presence of elaidin, lard was retained in this particular preparation.

He explained that the forthcoming National Formulary contained several general formulas which would be found useful.

46

Dr. Wm. J. Robinson, of New York, at the conclusion of this paper and its discussion, asked, Where are the fakirs? It was generally reported that they were going to be on hand at this meeting and would do up Dr. Hallberg, swab up Simmons and lay me out, but they seem not to have materialized at all."

THE TREATMENT OF INOPERABLE CANCER.

Abraliam Jacobi, of New York, made a brief verbal report on the treatment of inoperable cancer by the internal administration of methyl thimion hydrochloride or methylene. He gives it in doses of from 2 up to 6 grains daily, adding 4 of a grain of belladonna extract to the daily dose. He sometimes found it advisable to add from 1-40th to 1-20th of a grain of arsenic trioxide.and sometimes combined with this an equal quantity of strychnine. This was given usually divided into four doses, one before each meal and one at bed-time. He said that while he had been pursuing this course of treatment, for a period of some 14 years, he had never published anything on it for fear that the results might prove disappointing. He had himself not effected any cures with it, but through this means he had frequently prolonged the life of patients for several years, and he thought that it should be adopted as a routine treatment, not only in inoperable cancers, but after operations in which there was great probability of the recurrence of the cancer, such, for instance, as cancer of the breast and of the uterus. He further said that quite recently he had had his attention drawn to the possible influence of fluorescence as a curative factor in the use of this drug, and since that time had been exposing the patients to sunlight, but was unable to make any report as to results of this particular modification of the treatment. He cautioned his hearers as to the appearance of the color in the urine and said the patient should always be informed of this lest they should be unduly alarmed.

Dr. William James Morton, of New York, made some remarks on the subject of the therapeutics of fluorescent material, apropos of the reference to fluorescence by Dr. Jacobi.

The session closed with a series of papers on the therapeutic uses of the Roentgen Rays, all the authors taking occasion to caution the profession as to the need for accurate knowledge of the technique in doses. This closed the work of the Section.

THE GENERAL OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. Atlantic City was selected as the next place of meeting of the association, and the following general officers of the association were elected by the House of Delegates:

President, Dr. Joseph D. Bryant, New York.

Vice-presidents, Dr. Herbert L. Burrell, Boston; Dr. Andrew C. Smith, Portland, Ore.; Dr. E. S. Fairchild, Des Moines, Ia.; Dr. W. S. Foster, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Treasurer, Dr. Frank Billings, Chicago, Ill.
Secretary, Dr. George H. Simmons, Chicago, Ill.
Resident trustee, Dr. M. L. Harris, Chicago, Ill.

Trustees, Dr. W. H. Welch, Baltimore, Md.; Dr. Miles M. Porter, Fort Wayne, Ind.

The meeting place for the next annual session is Atlantic City, N. J.

Atlantic City, June 8.-The instructions to the Legislative Committee to have a law framed regulating the sale of habitforming drugs and present it to the next session of the State Legislature was the most important matter accomplished at the thirty-sixth annual meeting of the New Jersey Pharmaceutical Association, held at the Hotel Chelsea, Atlantic City, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, June 6, 7 and 8.

Several hundred delegates, together with their wives and families, arrived in Atlantic City on Wednesday and tendered President William M. Davis, of East Orange, a reception in the parlors of the headquarters hotel in the evening. On the following morning the assembly gathered in the auditorium at 10 o'clock for the first business session.

The meeting was opened with an invocation by the Rev. Edward E. Tyson, of Atlantic City. This was followed by an entertaining address of welcome by Mayor Franklin P. Stoy. President Davis then read his annual address. In part he said:

"Many things of interest to our profession have happened since our last meeting. The new Pharmacopoeia has been issued and has caused a deal of discussion. The N. A. R. D., in which we are all interested, has been busy working for the betterment of the trade. Like all great movements instituted for the improvement of man's condition it has been obliged to fight for justice and fair play. Bills have been introduced in our State Legislature which, if they had become laws, would have crippled the business not a little.

"Pure food bills are now before Congress that are of vital importance to the pharmacist. The Denatured Alcohol Bill has passed both houses of Congress, despite the fact that we were told that corporation interests would defeat it.

"There have been several hearings on the Mann bill. It will not be the fault of the association if the bill does not become a law, as it has been ably advocated by some of our brightest and most earnest representatives.

"The Pure Food Bill, now being considered by the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, has provisions affecting pharmacy, one of which, as an example, would punish for misbranding, if it be an imitation of or offered for sale under the name of another article. This provision might involve serious complications."

During the course of his address President Davis recommended the appointment of a Publicity Committee, the duties of which should be to correctly inform the pharmaceutical press regarding matters of interest to the trade and happenings therein. He also recommended the forming of a Committee of Necrology, composed of one delegate from the north, one from the south, and one from the middle of the State, the duties of which should be to record the deaths during the year and have notices of such properly appear in the report of the proceedings.

Secretary Frank C. Stutzlen's report for the year showed that the large increase in the membership of the association had necessitated an increase in the number of copies of proceedings. There had been an issue of 672 copies. The membership was averaged in the report as follows: Total net membership last year, 458; joined at 1905 meeting, 155; loss by dropping out and by death, 42; balance, net active members 1905, 571, associate members, 45; honorary members, 12; grand total, 628, being an increase of 158 over the last report.

Treasurer James C. Field, of Somerville, stated in his report that up to June 7, 1906, the receipts of the association were $3,196.72, the balance on hand $1,551.81, and the balance in the Monmouth Trust Company $947.70.

The report submitted by Treasurer G. W. Parisen, of the Board of Pharmacy, showed that the receipts of the secretary

and fines during the past year had been $3,738.90; expenditures, $3,433.43; by check to State Treasurer, $305.47.

After the reports of the various committees delegates were received and reported from the Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kings County and Essex County associations. Dr. Fred. P. Tuthill and Charles Heimerzheim, who represented the Kings County Pharmaceutical Society, both expressed the hope that pharmacy would be generally uplifted by organized effort and reported that students now applying for membership to colleges in New York are of higher quality than ever before. The delegate from the Maryland Association said that there was need of reform in the pharmaceutical profession all through, and that a more practicable pharmacy law would only be obtained through a recognition of the commercial status of the trade and a steering clear of the radical view.

The secretary of the Board of Pharmacy reported that several violations of the pharmacy laws had been noted during the year, mostly arising from the neglect of employees to register and be properly licensed. "During the year ahead," he concluded, we will make a systematic canvass of the State and try to see that the laws are enforced."

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Charles Holzhauer, of Newark, objected to the report on the grounds that it suggested no reform for present violations. "Very few assistants are registered," he said, "and pharmacists are experiencing much difficulty in getting clerks. It is my idea that no man should be allowed to apply for registration as pharmacist until he has served for a certain length of time as an assistant. And another thing, I think the danger of suicide would be reduced if carbolic acid and other poisons were sold in a diluted form-say one-quarter the original strength."

But Mr. Holzhauer's objections were overruled on the ground that they had to do more with the Legislative Committee, the report of which was to immediately follow.

Henry A. Jorden, of Bridgeton, read the report of the Legislative Committee, the feature of which was the following: "We suggest that this committee be empowered to draft a bill to be presented to the Legislature concerning the sale of habit-forming drugs, or medicines, that will protect the pharmacist and also the general public; also to include in such bill to regulate the manufacture and to govern the inspection and analysis of certain patent' or 'proprietary' medicines, not to amend our present pharmacy law, but a separate and distinct law, and we would suggest that the president enlarge the Legislative Committee for this purpose and work."

It was moved to adopt this suggestion immediately, but after much heated discussion pro and con a motion prevailed to lay it over until the afternoon session.

As the "Beal law" was considered a good model for the intents and purposes of the Legislative Committee in carrying out the proposed legislation the motion was finally amended to read as follows: "That the 'Beal law' be referred to the Legislative Committee as a model for framing a new bill, to be presented to the Legislature, governing narcotics."

For a time it seemed that even this would not meet the favor of the association, but an able address by George M. Beringer, of Camden, father of the motion, changed the sentiment and resulted in its passage unanimously.

Chairman Beringer, in reply to the query, What Should be the Proper Attitude of the State Pharmaceutical Association toward Legislation destined to control the sale of proprietary medicines? said in part:

"The public mind is aroused against the sale of proprietary medicines and aware of the false claims and deception practiced by the patent medicine men. The gravity of the evil is realized by this association and the pharmacist will continue to agitate the matter until some remedial action is found.

"This association should not make war against patent medicines in the same spirit as the Ladies' Home Journal, Colliers' and numerous other magazines of the day, but rather from a standpoint of ethics. We should continue to make an effort against the unrestricted sale of patent medicines and favor bills looking to reform in this matter.