mainly rested in the hands of a few persons, who have at the same time published the very remunerative "Dispensatory of the United States." The fifth edition of the United States Pharmacopœia, issued three years after the convention met in 1873, did not, however, meet with the former approval, and was left without its customary commentary, inasmuch as the authors of the Dispensatory failed to prepare in time a new edition supplementing the new Pharmacopœia. Suggestions for an earlier revision of the Pharmacopœia than in 1880 have since been advanced; and a new departure advocated in the method and scope of the revision. Dr. Edward R. Squibb, of Brooklyn, submitted to the American Medical Association an elaborate plan for a new and completer work, to be prepared by experts, under the control of that Association. This plan, however, was abruptly rejected by the American Medical Association at its recent meeting in Chicago, mainly on the ground that the work of pharmacopœial revision is not appropriate to that body. The American Pharmaceutical Association, too, of which Dr. Squibb is also a member, and to which his plan had been presented, objected to it on account of the unequal share accorded to pharmacy in the management of the work.
The plan to obtain a better Pharmacopœia at an earlier date, and under new management, would practically have failed for the present, if it were not for the judicious and prompt action and energy of Dr. Frederick Hoffmann, of New York, who carried the subject, when dropped by Dr. Squibb, into the American Pharmaceutical Association at its recent annual meeting at Toronto. He offered the resolution, that the American Pharmaceutical Association elect a Committee to prepare a complete Pharmacopœia which may be submitted to the criticism of the medical and pharmaceutical professions, and may be proposed to the above-mentioned National Convention for revising the Pharmacopœia. This resolution passed unanimously; and the result was, that a committee was appointed for this purpose, which has agreed upon a plan of its work and has selected the experts to accomplish it. Dr. Hoffmann, of New York, has taken charge of the chemical part of the new Pharmacopœia, Prof. Maisch, of Philadelphia, of the department of pharmacognosy; and Mr. Rice, of New York, represents pharmacy. This committee has promptly entered upon its labors, and expects to submit the results to the American Pharmaceutical Association in the fall of 1879. It remains to be seen whether the Association will then present the work of its expert-committee to the National Convention, supposed to meet in 1880; and whether the latter will accept this gratuitous offer: or else, whether the American Pharmaceutical Association, encouraged by the character and value of the work, and by the sentiments of its members and the profession at large, will choose independently to publish its Pharmacopœia. By such action it would realize a desideratum which Dr. Squibb vainly aimed to accomplish, and would relieve the profession from the old National Convention for revision of the Pharmacopoeia, and this itself from any further labors, by presenting in time a new and adequate standard which by its intrinsic merits might at once command the approval and acceptance of the professions.
Salicylic Acid as a Remedy for Rheumatism.—The value of salicylic acid as a medicine in the treatment of rheumatism has been under discussion for some time, the weight of authority plainly inclining toward an affirmative solution of the problem. As a specimen of the favorable results obtained by the use of the drug, we quote the observations of Dr. L. P. Yandell, Jr., as stated in his "Report on Materia Medica" to the Kentucky State Medical Society. Dr. Yandell’s report treats of a number of recently-introduced drugs; it is published in the Louisville Medical News. His experience with salicylic acid may be briefly stated as follows: First, in the City Hospital of Louisville, nine cases of acute articular rheumatism were treated with this drug, and a "perfect cure" effected; in every instance the disease was arrested within three days, and in several cases relief was obtained in from eight to twelve hours. The drug did not appear to have any antipyretic effect. The patients took the acid in ten and twenty grain doses, in
