ity of law, and the making of these books rests primarily with the drug profession. This is a signal honor, and a recognition wider in latitude than that enjoyed by any other calling.

Again, druggists are better business men than they used to be. They make more money, live better-and occupy a higher place in the community's esteem because these things are

SO.

Much of what has been accomplished has been brought about by our associations; and no man can keep even loosely in touch with matters pharmaceutical without giving full heed to what takes place each year at the annual meetings of our two national organizations. Read the reports contained in this issue of the BULLETIN.

All business letters should be addressed:

PUBLISHER BULLETIN OF PHARMACY, Box 484, DETROIT, MICH.

THE MONTH'S HISTORY

THE TREND OF THE TIMES.

Interest during the month just past has centered in the two national conventions that of the A. Ph. A. at Atlantic City, and of the N. A. R. D. at Indianapolis. Both of these annual gatherings exert a vital influence on the progress of pharmacy, and the trend of a year's advancement is pretty well mirrored by their activities.

For pharmacy is advancing all the time, in spite of a wail of pessimism that occasionally disturbs the equilibrium of the atmosphere. Lying directly at the root of the situation is the fact that educational requirements are being made stiffer from year to year; throughout the Union, States are swinging into line in this respect. Viewed as a whole the younger element is better equipped to carry on the work than its predecessors have been.

BIG FIGURES THAT ARE INTERESTING.

There are documents more pulse-disturbing than Census Bureau reports; nevertheless there are a number of interesting, perhaps startling, facts contained in a statement issued recently by that particular branch of Uncle Samuel's welfare league. The figures given cover the year 1914 and pertain to the manufacture of "druggists' preparations, patent and proprietary medicines and compounds and per fumery and cosmetics."

"Druggists' preparations" are defined as materials for use by druggists in compounding medicines to be dispensed on physicians' prescriptions or orders, and embrace tinctures. fluidextracts, syrups, pills, tablets, alkaloids. salts, biological products, etc. The total amount manufactured is stated to be valued at $48,624,966, divided as follows: tinctures. fluidextracts, etc., $13,900,402; pills, tablets. powders, etc., $10,903,056; alkaloids and their derivatives, $11,493,168; synthetic preparations, $1,384,996; medicinal metals and their salts, $732,307; and serums, vaccines, and other biological products, $6,223,475.

The total, bear in mind, is $48,624,966.

DOCTORS PLACE ONLY A THIRD.

"Patent and proprietary medicines" are defined as those sold under the protec

tion of a patent, copyright, or trade-mark, or prepared according to a secret formula-and the amount manufactured in 1914 is stated to be $83,771,154.

Contrast this with the other total, twice mentioned above. Patents and proprietaries win, nearly two to one! In other words, doctors are concerned with the placing of only about one-third of the medicine consumed in the United States; two-thirds of it go to the consumer without the intervention of paid medical advice.

Without question such a condition is not the best one that can exist for the retail druggist; surely it is neither profitable nor complimentary when viewed from the standpoint of the physician. There should be more prescriptions, which means, among other things, that there should be closer coöperation between the physician and the druggist.

Of course all the figures quoted are for the year 1914; but it is quite probable that the relative proportions would not be materially altered were a 1915-1916 tabulation available -although there is one incidental fact that doubtless would be brought out by an up-todate compilation. It would be found that tinctures and fluidextracts are waning somewhat and that biological products are constantly gaining-a transition, however, which does not change the status of the physician in so far as patent medicines are concerned.

DETROIT DRUGGISTS AND

For the purpose of better DOCTORS TO GET acquainting Detroit phyTOGETHER. sicians and druggists with the important provisions of the new editions of the United States Pharmacopoeia and the National Formulary it is planned to hold a big joint meeting this month. The organizations coöperating are the Detroit Retail Druggists' Association, the Wayne County Medical Society, and the Detroit branch of the American Pharmaceutical Association.

Professor A. B. Stevens, of the University of Michigan, and a member of the Pharmacopoeial Revision Committee, will discuss the chief points of interest in the U. S. P. IX. Changes of importance in the National Formulary IV will be taken up by Wilbur L. Scoville,

of Detroit, who has had in charge considerable of the work of revision.

Get-together meetings are annual occurrences with the Detroit doctors and druggists, and this year's gathering promises to be one of the most beneficial in effect that has been held for some time. The meeting will take place on the evening of Monday, October 23, in the auditorium of the Wayne County Medical Society on High Street.

THE NEW REVENUE ACT.

The obnoxious Schedule B is a thing of the past. As the sun came up on September 9-if he did he witnessed the going into effect of the administration's revenue bill which repealed the act making it necessary to affix a diminutive shin-plaster on toilet goods documentary stamp taxes included in Schedule and cosmetics. The new bill also repealed the A of the emergency revenue act, including all bills of lading, express receipts, telephone and telegraph messages. Unused stamps and canceled stamps which have not been attached to the goods may be redeemed; collectors of internal revenue have been instructed to assist manufacturers in the preparation of their claims in this respect.

The new law imposes a special tax on sparkling wines, liqueurs, cordials, and “similar compounds."

ACTION DEFERRED.

Congress adjourned without acting on the Kern-Doremus poison-mailing bill. bill. The measure was introduced a little too late in the session, other matters claiming the attention of our lawmakers right up to the time set for adjournment. This proposed act, as explained in the BULLETIN last month, is intended to make it lawful to mail articles and compounds which, while poisonous, are not dangerous to the mails or to those engaged in the postal service. The bill contains just three sentences and is a very clever piece of wordcarpentry. One of the sentences covers more than a page; nice, light summer reading!

But the measure is a thoroughly meritorious one. Druggists need the use of the mails in this respect; and why should it be denied them? Why should a hundred strychnine pills, for instance, be denied the privileges freely granted to a case of boarding-house eggs?

THE UNITED DRUG CO. AND SOUTH AMERICA.

The United Drug Co. sent a drug expert to South Ainerica and kept him there a year at a cost of $12,000 to study drug conditions, President Liggett told stockholders at the annual Rexall convention, held at Boston. Mr. Liggett says there is a great opportunity down there in the drug trade, but that business must be conducted on entirely different lines. For the United Drug Co. to enter the lists would require an investment of $2,000,000, it was stated; and it was also stated that the company expects to make just that move at some later time.

In his address to stockholders President Liggett pointed out that Sears, Roebuck & Co. is the only firm in the world that has had a growth during the last 12 years equal to that of the United Company. "In the past year," he said, "we have done almost $36,000,000 in business. In two years the volume of business will reach $50,000.000."

It is stated that over 3000 delegates with their wives were in attendance at the convention.

INDUSTRIAL

POISONING.

Manufacturing explosives is a hazardous occupation, of course; but the danger does not all lie in the fact that a batch in the process of construction has a careless way of occasionally letting go. It has been found that gases very poisonous in character are evolved in large quantities, and that these gases cause skin affections, abnormal blood conditions, and degeneration of the liver. A great many cases of industrial poisoning have developed in our hastily-constructed plants, it is said; and enough importance is attached to the matter to warrant the Federal Department of Labor in undertaking a study of the situation.

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and a half million people when they see a foot soap, a foot powder, or a corn remedy simultaneously displayed in every drug-store window in this city-the pulling power cannot be estimated," enthusiastically pronounces A. C. Caldwell, chairman of the committee having the matter in charge.

A cardinal principle of the campaign is that only goods upon which the retailer makes a decent profit will be displayed. No proprietaries sold to the druggist above the 2, 4, and 8 schedule will be given the advantage of this splendid publicity.

A CONSOLIDATION AT PHILADELPHIA.

Two announcements of unusual importance have been made at Philadelphia. One is that the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and the Medico-Chirurgical College of Pharmacy have been combined. The two schools

are now working in "active coöperation and entire harmony, with the object of promoting higher pharmaceutical education and advancing Philadelphia's prestige as a pharmaceutical center." Professor J. W. Sturner, former dean of the Department of Pharmacy at the "Medico-Chi," is now associate dean of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy-the Medico-Chirurgical College of Pharmacy losing its identity in the older and larger institution.

The other announcement pertains to requirements. Beginning with the session of 1917-1918, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy will not admit students to the course leading to the degree of Graduate in Pharmacy who have not had two years' high-school work or its equivalent.

Harry B. Haines, editor of a New Jersey. newspaper and said to be secretary of the National Premium Advertising Association, has brought suit against Edmond A. Whittier, secretary of the Fair Trade League. Criminal libel is alleged and $50,000 set forth as a conservative estimate of the damage done. Mr. Haines objects to a number of sentences contained in one of Mr. Whitter's circular letters.

Great Britain now has a narcotic law. The new measure is not so stringent as Canadian enactments and not nearly so comprehensive as our own Harrison law.