Shellac.-The course of this article, which in former years was noted for its huge and violent fluctuations, was quiet and uneventful; prices have remained about the same.

Tonka Beans are much lower; the new crop is excellent, both in quality and quantity, and Angostura can now be bought at $1.30, against $2.75 last July.

Vanilla Beans continue in good supply, both Mexican and Bourbon; they have, to some extent, recovered from the depression which existed a year ago, and prices are rather higher, though still very reasonable.

Of those remedies which have been introduced to our markets within a few years, and which may be called

we will mention:

NEW REMEDIES,

Acid Gynocardic, from chaulmoogra oil, and used like this in skin diseases, rheumatism, etc. It is looked upon as the active principle of the gynocardia seed, and is said to have been employed with success in the treatment of the above diseases. It is used both internally, in the shape of pills, and externally, in the form of ointment.

Carica Papaya Leaves have now been received; the demand is small, the dried juice and the papayotin being used in preference.

Chinoline. The employment of the salts of chinoline, as a substitute for quinine, is increasing in extent, and besides the tartrate, the salicylate, sulphate, muriate, and tannate, are now manufactured. This is not the place to enter upon an extended dissertation regarding its efficacy; it is still an open question whether it will effect all that is claimed for it.

Cola Nuts are a new drug from Central Africa; they are said to be an aid to digestion, and to enable one to bear fatigue and hunger, similar to coca leaves; they contain an essential oil, which has not yet been isolated, and about 2 per cent. of caffeine; to these two ingredients their good effect is no doubt due.

Coto Bark is somewhat lower in price; the demand is on the increase, and this has naturally brought on larger supplies.

Diphenylamine, a coal tar product, has of late come into use as a test, chiefly to detect the presence of nitric acid.

Duboisia Leaves have lately come into the market; they are used but little, the alkaloid receiving the preference.

Duboisina Sulphate is increasing in demand; prices are a little lower.

Erythrophleine, the active principle of sassy bark, has received some attention; the muriate is the salt usually prescribed. Its high price. has tended to retard its general introduction.

Eserine and its salts, because of the increased demand, and its production on a larger scale, slightly cheaper.

Euphorbia Pilulifera, an herb found both in East India and Aus tralia, is a new remedy, said to be a cure for asthma and other affections of the chest. It is used as a decoction.

Gynocardia Seed, from which the chaulmoogra oil is expressed, is now to be obtained here.

Homatropine has come into general use; its great importance as a remedial agent is firmly established, and the demand is continually increasing.

Hyoscyamine has advanced about 50 per cent., owing to the higher price of the raw material; this has not in the least affected the demand, which has more than doubled during the year.

Hyoscine is also coming into extended use; the iodide, bromide, and chloride are the salts now used.

Naphthalin has of late been recommended as an antiseptic dressing; a white, finely crystallized product is used for this purpose.

Naphtol (Beta-Naphtol), a preparation gained from the products of the dry distillation of wood, etc., has been introduced by Professor Kaposi, of Vienna, as a substitute for tar, in the treatment of skin diseases. It has been successfully employed in cases of eczema, scabies, etc. As first placed upon the market, it was in light brown crystalline pieces, of a penetrating odor; now a white refined, and a resublimed preparation, the latter of a brilliant white color and much weaker smell, are manufactured.

Nitroglycerin, in solution, originally a homoeopathic remedy, has lately been prescribed by regular practitioners, as a cure for headache.

Papayotin is gradually coming into demand; it is to be regretted that interior preparations, of very little strength, are palmed off for the real papayotin. A pure article should peptonize 200 parts of fresh beef which has been deprived of superfluous moisture by means of pressure with filtering-paper.

Pelletierine Tannate continues to be used as a substitute for, and in preference to, the pomegranate bark of the root; prices are lower, on account of increased demand, and consequent larger production..

Pilocarpine is now generally recognized as one of the most important of the modern remedies; the demand is continually on the in

crease, chiefly for the muriate and nitrate, which have been found to be the most stable and reliable of its salts. The price has declined almost 50 per cent, the supply of jaborandi leaves being abundant, and the cost of manufacture naturally decreasing as larger quantities are made.

Quebracho Bark is another of those new remedies whose therapeutic worth is pretty generally appreciated. The demand was large, but with ample supplies, prices declined, until now it can be bought for about one-third less than a year ago. The quebracho blanco is the only variety now recognized as genuine.

Quinine Iodate is a new salt, for which a demand has lately sprung up; it is claimed to be more efficacious than the iodide.

Resorcin. The value of this article as an antiseptic is now definitely established. It acts as a poison on fungous growths, and, like carbolic acid, may be used as spray, as a dressing for wounds, or in combination with vaseline as ointment. It is preferred to carbolic acid because less poisonous and more soluble in water (0: 100). Three kinds are in the market: the ordinary, of a brownish color; the white, a crystalline powder; and the resublimed, in shining needle-like crystals. Only the last two should be administered internally.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION.

THE Committee respectfully report that during the past year bills. affecting the practice of pharmacy have been under consideration by the legislatures of various States. New laws, regulating this prac tice, were enacted and approved in Georgia and Wisconsin, and amendments to previously enacted pharmacy laws received the sanction of the proper authorities in Connecticut, Iowa, and West Virginia. Laws intended to prevent the adulteration of food and drugs were enacted in Louisiana and Massachusetts, and the new license law of Connecticut contains a clause referring to the selling of liquors for medicinal purposes. These comprise all the new laws and parts of laws affecting pharmacists, passed since our last meeting. However, in answer

to circulars sent out, the committee has come in possession of several older laws and parts of laws, which have not been previously pub lished in our Proceedings, and which are appended to the present report.

Alabama.-The Code of Alabama, 1876, requires all poisons to be labelled as such, and forbids the delivery of poisons to apprentices or

children under ten years, except upon a written order of their masters or legal guardians; the term, "poison," is not defined.

Another section requires all “druggists" to obtain license from some medical board in the State.

Mr. Candidus writes that these enactments seem to be a dead letter on the statute-book, except in a few counties.

Colorado.-Mr. H. R. Hartung has sent us a copy of the poison law,' passed nearly eleven years ago by the legislature of Colorado Territory. It is similar to the poison laws or poison clauses in the pharmacy laws of several of the older States, and directs the proper label-. ling of poisons enumerated in two schedules, and the registration of the poisons of one of these schedules, comprising arsenic, prussic acid, poisonous alkaloids, and aconite, with their preparations or salts, and; tartar emetic. The poison-book is to be preserved for one year.

Connecticut. The pharmacy law of 1881 applied only to cities andboroughs; the amendments of the present year repeal this clause and extend the provisions of the law to the entire State, stipulating also. that pharmacists affected by this extension must register within ninety days. From March 31st next, all applicants for a license have to submit to an examination, except graduates of reputable colleges of pharmacy and those having a license granted within one year by another pharmacy board, if such license shall be deemed sufficient evidence of qualification by the commissioners of Connecticut. The license fee: remains at $3, and the fee for examination and license is fixed at $5, which sum is to be refunded after the first failure of the applicant to pass the examination, but not after the second failure.

A section has also been added, enumerating twenty-seven drugs and chemicals, which are to be properly labelled. As a rule such schedules are unsatisfactory in either mentioning too many or too few of the poisons; in this instance we find that ammoniated mercury and redi oxide of mercury fall under the provisions of the law, while corrosive sublimate is not embraced, although sold perhaps more frequently than the two mercurials named combined. No change has been made in the poisons required to be registered; they remain three in number, viz., arsenic, strychnia, and prussic acid.

The liquor law of Conneticut exempts licensed druggists from its provisions, but requires them to pay $12, or in towns of less than 5000 inhabitants $10 for the privilege of selling spirituous and intoxicating liquors, only upon the prescription of any practicing physician. In the annexed copy of the section of this law, the clause referring to druggists has been italicized.

Georgia -The Board of Pharmaceutic Examiners created by the pharmacy law, consists of five druggists or pharmacists, who are appointed by the governor for three years. The board grants licenses,

1

and is entitled to one-half of the fines collected under this act, and to a fee of $15" for examination and license," which sum is not returned to a candidate failing to pass, but stands to his credit for another examination, after a period of six months. The law recognizes as entitled to a license: physicians; druggists of ten years' experience; druggists of nine years' experience, having attended at least one course of lectures in a college of pharmacy; pharmacists possessing a diploma from a foreign college or institution or examining board, and pharmacists with at least three years' experience, and possessing a diploma of a college of pharmacy, acknowledged by the American Pharmaceutical Association. The meaning of this last clause is not clear, since this Association has never “acknowledged," that is to say, received delegates from colleges of pharmacy, because they were educational institutions, “but solely because they were associations of pharmacists and druggists." The licentiates of the Georgia Board are required to register with the ordinary of the county, for which a fee of fifty cents is paid. The board consists of Elward Barry, of Augusta, chairman; J. S. Pemberton, of Atlanta, John Ingalls, of Macon, Osceola Butler, of Savannah, and Isadore Zacharias, of Columbus, secretary.

It will be observed that the fee is larger than that allowed by any other pharmacy law. In three or four States the fee is $10, in all others it does not exceed $5 for examination and registration, and in most cases it is less than the sums named for registration where no examination is required. Section 6 of the Georgia law is differently interpreted; the Board claims the full fee for each license, whether granted after, or without an examination; on the other hand, we have been informed by Mr. Theo. Schumann, that the principal movers for the passage of the law, the Georgia Pharmaceutical Association, did not intend this law to levy a new tax upon the druggists, and that a case is pending in the courts of the State to test this fee question.

Indiana.-Mr. George W. Sloan has communicated to us two sections from the laws of Indiana on Public Offences," one of which prohibits the sale and advertising of abortifacient medicines, while the other permits the sale, by druggists, of spirituous liquors on Sundays, holidays, and election days, only upon physicians' prescriptions.

Iowa.-At the last session the legislature amended the pharmacy act of 1880 in the following particulars: The clause of section 4, permitting the registration of those in business within sixty days, is replaced by the provision that those registered in this manner, forfeit registration on voluntarily giving up the business for two years, and may subsequently be registered only by examination. An annual renewal of registration is provided for at a cost of $1; changes in the locality of business are to be registered at a cost of 50 cents, and the display of the certificate of registration is made compulsory.