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This was considered by both Committees of the Society to be very desirable and expedient, if it were possible to obtain it.

In addition to the questions just considered, and which formed so important and interesting a feature in the earlier labors of the Committee, several others originating in that Committee were discussed and referred to the Conference Committee; and additional questions propounded by the College of Pharmacy Committee of Revision were referred to this Committee. As a direct continuation of those previously mentioned, the questions will be numbered as if they formed a part of the same series.

Question 17. (Proposed by the Committee of the County Society.) Is it advisable to introduce into the Pharmacopoeia a synopsis of the laws regulating the practice of Pharmacy in the different States of the Union, especially those forbidding the sale of dangerous medicines except in a physician's prescription?

Unanimously answered affirmatively by both Committees of the Society.

Question 18. Shall the formulas be expressed according to a decimal system, the percentage of each constituent being definitely expressed in decimal parts by weight?

This question, as well as

Question 19. Shall the principal synonyms be arranged alphabetically under two heads, one Latin, the other English (as Logwood and Hæmatoxylon, under L. and H.; Rhatany and Krameria, under R. and K., etc.)? both of which questions were proposed by the Committee of Revision-were referred to the Conference Committee for discussion.

Report on Poisons and their Doses.

The Committee on Revision of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, having been requested by special action of the Conference Committee, to submit a report as to what articles should be considered as poisons, the doses of which should be indicated by the committees of the medical bodies represented in the Conference Committee, a list was forwarded to this Committee for its consideration and action. The chairman was instructed to prepare a list of doses corresponding to the articles mentioned, which was duly presented to the Committee, and afterwards referred to the Conference Committee; but in the somewhat varying views as to the articles that appropriately belonged to a toxicological table, it was deemed best that the whole matter should be referred back to the original Committee from which it came, with an invitation to them to prepare a list of the preparations of the active drugs.

Caution Mark.

Action of an advisory character has also been taken by the Committee of Revision to insure greater care in prescribing, and the passage of a resolution to the effect that "as it is desirable to indicate caution regarding particular ingredients in prescribing, that the expedient be adopted of underscoring the name of the remedy, or the quantity. When special caution on the part of the apothecary is desired, a line shall be drawn immediately under that part of the prescription."

Dietetic Articles.

Action was also taken in the Committee of Conference on the advisability of excluding all articles of a purely dietetic character from the next edition of the Pharmacopoeia, and it was determined that such exclusion should be made, it being considered that their further retention was both unnecessary and inexpedient.

Revision of the Text.

Such are the subjects of general interest, which have occupied the attention of your Committee during the few months past. In addition to those already enumerated, the work of revision, including suggestions of alterations and additions to the text, has so far been carried to the end of the primary list, and will be continued through the other departments of the Pharmacopoeia. As the Committee has devoted itself almost entirely to the medical aspects of the work, with a view of increasing its usefulness and efficiency, and has left to the pharmacist the more laborious duties. embracing the niceties of pharmaceutical proportions and manipulation, the labors of the Committee, though by no means light, have been materially diminished, as a result of this well-placed confidence in their pharmaceutical coadjutors.

The list of subjects discussed by the Committee of Revision has been a very extensive one. In accordance with the view that the Pharmacopoeia should contain but one general alphabetical arrangement, this plan has been adopted by the Committee. Without any intention of unnecessarily adding to the bulk of the Pharmacopoeia, the Committee have been liberal in offering a place in that work to all articles that have seemed to merit the confidence of the profession as therapeutic agents. Some of these are of but recent introduction, but they have already attained a popular and deserved esteem and prominence, which entitle them to admission. Agents of very doubtful efficacy, or those which have obtained unmerited

notoriety, with no other foundation than the praises of the advertiser, have been carefully excluded. In all cases of doubt, the Committee has reported to the Committee of the Whole, for its advice and action.

Subjects considered in Committee of the Whole.

In addition to the questions already alluded to, as having been discussed at the monthly meeting of the Committee of the Whole, action was also taken upon the propriety of recommending a number of articles for insertion, suggested for discussion of their merits by the Committee of Revision. Papers were read on each subject by the gentlemen named, with a full discussion of the therapeutic value of each article by members of that Committee, before a decision was reached as to its claims for a place in the Pharmacopoeia. The following articles have been considered:

Monday, Feb. 4th.

Salicylic acid and its preparations, Dr. A. Nebinger. Recommended by the Committee for insertion in the Pharmacopoeia.

Cosmoline, Dr. W. B. Atkinson. Recommended that a similar preparation, under the name Unguentum Petrolei, be introduced

Lacto-peptin, Dr. J. Solis Cohen. Referred to the Committee of Conference, for consideration as to its proprietary character.

Hydrobromic acid, Dr. R. A. Cleemann. Recommended for insertion, with the understanding that a more definite mode of preparation be adopted than that of Fothergill.

Monobromate of camphor, Dr. R. A. Cleemann. Not recommended.
Croton chloral, Dr. H. H. Smith. Not recommended for introduction.

Cinchonidiæ sulphas, Dr. A. Nebinger. Recommended for insertion; also the bisulphate.

Imperial granum and other foods, Dr. A. H. Smith. Resolved that all proprietary articles of diet be excluded from the Pharmacopœia. Coca, Dr. H. H. Smith. Recommended for introduction.

Monday, March 4th.

Grindelia robusta, Dr. W. M. Welch.

Recommended that the article as de

rived from California be introduced.

Jaborandi, Dr. J. B. Roberts. Recommended, with its most desirable preparation, for introduction.

Aromatic syrup of galls, Dr. T. D. Ingram. Recommended that syrup, made with brandy and burnt sugar, be inserted.

Charta potassii nitratis, Dr. J. S. Cohen. Recommended that the formula of Dr. Salter be introduced.

Narcotic cigarettes, Dr. J. S. Cohen. No action taken; therefore not recommended.

Eucalyptus, Dr. A. Nebinger. Not recommended for introduction.
Liquor ferri dialysatus, Dr. H. H. Smith. Recommended for introduction.
Calcii chloridum, Dr. S. R. Skillern. Its introduction approved of, in the form
of hydrated chloride and syrup, gr. clx to f3j.

Liquor chloroformi compositus (Chlorodyne), Dr. H. H. Smith. Bullock &
Crenshaw's formula adopted for introduction.

Monday, April 1st.

66

Xanthoxylum fraxineum, Dr. J. Cheston Morris. carolinianum, Dr. J. Cheston Morris.

Recommended that such preparation of xanthoxylum fraxineum as can be made, especially the tincture (3j to Oj), be introduced.

Similar action recommended.

Gelsemium sempervirens, Dr. W. B. Atkinson.
Guarana. Recommended for insertion.
Ingluvin. Suggested that, if considered worthy of introduction, it shall not
be under the name of Ingluvin.

Extract of malt, Dr. C. B. Nancrede. Resolved that an officinal process for its manufacture be introduced, similar to that published in Amer. Journ. of Phar., Dec. 1876.

Oleate of morphia, Dr. F. Woodbury. Not recommended.

Phosphorized oil, Dr. Nancrede. Resolved that phosphorized oil be made officinal, according to formula in Brit. Phar. of 1864 (mx = gr. }); also pills of phosphorus, each containing gr..

Arseniate of potassium, Dr. H. H. Smith. Not recommended.

Compound licorice powder, Dr. H. H. Smith. The formula of the German Pharmacopoeia recommended for insertion.

Denarcotized opium, Dr. Woodbury. Recommended for introduction.

Anemone pulsatilla, Dr. S. D. Risley. Tincture of anemone Ludoviciana recommended for insertion.

Spartium scoparium, Dr. J. Cheston Morris. Preparations recommended for

introduction.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

RICHARD J. DUNGLISON, M.D., Chairman.

APRIL 17th, 1878.

SOME REMARKS UPON THE DESCENT OF THE TESTES, AND THE FORMATION OF OBLIQUE INGUINAL HERNIA AND HYDROCELE.

BY OSCAR H. ALLIS, M.D.,

SURGEON TO THE PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL.

A VERY common impression derived from the study of the descent of the testes is, that all their coverings except the skin and dartos are acquired in their descent, and the conclusion necessarily follows that in cases in which the testes are absent from the scrotum there must be an absence of the serous and other coverings. In such cases, then, it is obviously impossible for a hydrocele of the tunica vaginalis, or an encysted hydrocele, i. e., a hydrocele of the spermatic cord, to exist. That, however, which is impossible in theory is possible in fact, as is beautifully shown in a pathological specimen in my possession.

In Cruveilhier I find it stated that in the original distribution of the peritoneum, i. e., as a part of the morphological plan of develop

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 represents by a dotted line the general peritoneum and the little tube-like prolongation into the inguinal canal. The testis is represented at c.

ment, a process of the general serous lining of the abdomen is prolonged into the inguinal canal, and this too at a period prior to the descent of the testes. That such a process is found running along the inguinal canal to the bottom of the scrotum, I have had abun

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