THERAPEUTICS FOR PHARMACISTS The Treatment of Burns.-Wyeth, in the Medical Record of September 26, 1915, says that when a severe burn or scald is encountered the immediate incidation is relief of pain by the hypodermic administration of morphine, or by some form of opium given by rectum or stomach. The most convenient local remedy is saturated solution of baking soda in water, with submersion of the burned surface, if possible, or a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and corn starch, one teaspoonful of each to a quart of water. The dressing should be kept wet with the ́ solution, which is applied freely to the burned area. After five or six hours the free application of the following mixture, made into an emulsion, will be found beneficial: These are melted together, and, when cooling, 40 minims of ichthyol added. Either of these ointments should be applied thickly on the soft, linty side of canton flannel, on surgeon's lint, or on several layers of sterile gauze. The application should be repeated daily at first, after opening all blebs. In opening the blebs care should be taken not to remove the epidermis of the bleb, as this may become revitalized, thus greatly accelerating the healing process. In changing the dressing it is important not to disturb new granulations, but simply to wipe over them. When healing is well under way the dressing need be changed only every second or third day. In the treatment of the depression or shock which often follows severe burns, stimulation with whisky or brandy, by enema or by mouth, is indicated, as well as the hypodermic injection of morphine. Physiological salt solution, introduced by the colon, or injected into the areolar tissue, is of great value when the burn is extensive and shock profound. It should always be remembered that opium and alcohol should be given sufficiently cautiously to avoid too profound narcosis with the former, and with the latter increase the fever reaction which follows when the patient rallies from the shock. In an emergency, when the remedies mentioned may not be obtained, a coating of ordinary white lead, as mixed for use in painting dwellings, is an efficient protection when poured over the burn. Flour sprinkled over until the excoriated surface is well hidden is a method of treatment which is applicable in almost any emergency. Rubber tissue, or oiled silk sterilized and laid over the raw surface, with cotton batting applied over it, but never directly on the burned surface, is equally efficient. Lint, or a soft cloth, dipped in a 2 per cent carbolized oil, may be employed directly on the burn. No pressure should be exercised in holding the dressings in place. When the back and posterior aspects of the extremities are chiefly involved, the prone position is of necessity maintained. Bran Biscuits for Constitpation.—Properly prepared, they are pleasing to the eye, pleasant to the taste, light as a feather, and are eaten by the average person with avidity. They form a most practical contribution to the subject. Two tablespoonfuls of sugar. One cup of milk. One cup of bran flour. One half a cup of entire wheat flour. Beat the mixture thoroughly and drop into gem pans and bake in a very hot oven. U. S. P. IX As Examples of the More Important Changes of Strength of Galenicals may be mentioned Unguentum Hydrargyri Dilutum from 33 per cent to 30 per cent of Mercury in order to comply with the protocol, and Syrupus Acidi Hydriodici changed from 1.19 Gm. HI in 100 Cc. to from 1.3 Gm. to 1.45 Gm. in 100 mils. The changes that have been made in the strength of the chemical products are, for the most part, such as were required by the commercial conditions and the quality of the products commonly dispensed as medicines. The principle of allowing for the proper variability of chemicals and for the natural variation in crude drugs has led to many modifications of the rubric requirements by which, instead of the fixed purity statements of the previous revision, there now appears in most of the monographs a variability allowance in accordance with determined conditions and the limitations of such variability is officially defined. The following examples among the chemicals illustrate the desirability and practicability of this change which, in many cases, has been only a rounding off of the requirements: The Eighth Revision required that Diluted Hydriodic Acid should contain not less than 10 per cent HI, the Ninth Revision will state from 9.5 to 10.5 per cent HI. In the Eighth Revision, Hydrochloric Acid was required to contain not less than 31.9 per cent HC1; the Ninth Revision will state from 31 to 33 per cent HCl. In the Eighth Revision, Ether was about 96 per cent Ethyl Oxide; in the Ninth Revision it will be from 95.5 to 97.7 per cent. EXAMINATION QUESTIONS Examination Questions Not Made Public.-The following states do not give permission for the publication of the examination questions: Kentucky, Michigan, Kansas, Vermont, Utah. MISSOURI BOARD OF PHARMACY. Edwin G. Cox, of Craig, Mo., secretary of the Missouri Board of Pharmacy, to whom candidates for registration must apply ten days before the examination. The next examination will be held in Kansas City, April 9. a. b. 5. 6. Edwin G. Cox Pharmacy (Registered Pharmacists).-1. a. Give the Opium percentage strength of: a. Tinctura Opii; b. Tinct. Opii deodorati; c. Tinct. Ipecacuanhae et Opii; d. Tinct. Opii camphorata. b. About what would be the equivalent percentage of the chief Opium alkaloid, and give the name of this alkaloid. Also state the average adult doses of each of the above preparations. 2. Define the processes of maceration, digestion and decoction. 3. Define the pharmaceutical processes: Percolation and Repercolation, and tell what pharmaceutical preparations may be prepared by these processes.. 4. How are the following processes conducted: Sublimation and Resublimation. Distillation and Fractional Distillation. When is water employed to exhaust drugs? advantages over Alcohol?. What are its 7. Name four preparations of the U. S. P. and two of the N. F. which are prepared with water. 8. When should straight Alcohol be used as a menstruum and when Alcohol diluted with water? 9. Name three Official tinctures which are made with straight Alcohol, and three with diluted Alcohol. 10. a. Saccharum: Give the pharmacopoeial requirements of this substance. b. What are Syrups U. S. P.? C. Give the average density of syrups. 11. Spiritus Aurantii compositus, U. S. P.; Give its composition and uses, also tell what essentials are to be observed to get really a pharmacopoeial product, and to keep it so. 12. What are alkaloids? Name some of the official ones and describe them. 13. Name the official resins and oleoresins, give methods of preparation, and describe their properties. 14. What is the difference between an Ointment, Cerate and plaster? How are these preparations made? 15. a. What do you understand by animal secretions, enzymes and sera? b. Name one official of each class and give their uses. 16. Give three good reasons why the Latin language affords the public more safety and protection than the English, in prescription writing. 17. Define the following: 1. Recipe; 2. Inscriptio; 3. Subscriptio; 4. Signatura; 5. Appendages. 18. Write the meaning in English of the following: (a) Ad. (b) Adde. (c) p. aeq. (d) p. c. (e) a. c. (f) Coch. parv. (g) Coch, med. (h) a. a. (i) q. s. (j) t. dos. (k) m. s. a. (1) M. D. S. (m) pone in caps. 19. Write a prescription with Latin abbreviations, and in metric quantities, which is chemically or pharmaceutically incompatible. 20. Write in Apothecaries weights and measures, the limit dose (and transpose these into metric weights and measures) that you would permit to be dispensed without consulting the prescriber: a. Tr. Aconite; b. Tr. Opium; c. Tr. Belladonna; d. Arsenic Trioxide; e. Strychnine; f. Morphine. Pharmaceutical and Chemical Problems-(Registered Pharmacist)-Show Your Work in Full.-1. The molecular weight of Potassium bicarbonate is 99.41, and the molecular weight of Salicylic acid is 137.01; how many grammes of the first will it require to exactly saturate 10 grammes of Salicylic acid? 2. The molecular formula of Stearic acid is: (H30C1802). What percentage of each element does it contain? Atomic weight of H = 1. Atomic weight of C=12. Atomic weight of 0=16. 3. What tests distinguish Aluminium compounds from Zinc compounds? 4. Name two chemical tests which identify and distinguish Corrosive Sublimate from Calomel. 5. What chemical tests would you apply to distinguish Morphine from Quinine? 6. The U. S. P. directs 85 per cent Potassium hydroxide for making "Ligour Potassi Hydroxide," but adds Potassium hydroxide of any other strength may be used by taking proportionately larger or smaller quantity. The rule laid down is, divide 5100 by the percentage strength of the kind taken. Figure out how many grammes of 68 per cent Potassium Hydroxide would be required to make 450 grammes of U. S. P. solution. 7. Your ether has a specific gravtiy of 0.716. How much will 78 grammes measure in cubic centimeters? 8. You are to make a 32% solution of Silver nitrate, and your prescription reads for f3iii. Calculate amount of nitrate silver required. 9. Figure out the doses in Apotheraries weight of this prescvription: 10. If you wish to ascertain the specfic gravity of a solid, how would you proceed? Give an example with full calculations. Pharmaceutical Chemistry-(Registered Pharmacist)-1. (a) What is the difference between metals and metalloids? (b) Give the general physical and chemical properties of metals. 2. (a) Give the source and properties of the metal Potassfum. (b) Give the same of Sodium. 3. (a) Name and describe one important pharmaceutical salt of each of the above-named elements. (b) What is the difference between alkalinity and acidity? 4. (a) What is Antimonium? (b) Give the composition, method of preparation and general properties of Antimony and Potassium tartrate. 5. (a) What is the chemical composition of reduced Iron, and how is it obtained? (b) What is ferric Oxide? and of hybrids of these, with other species of Cinchona (Fam. Rubiaceae), explain the meaning of these terms. Describe Cinchona bark and give its therapeutical properties, chief constituents and dose. 3. Give the origin, U. S. P. description of the following drugs; state uses and dose: (a) Colchicum (seed), (b) Buchu, (c) Uva Ursi, (d) Digitalis, (e) Sanguinaria. 4. Describe the following drugs, and give their source, chief constituents, medical uses and doses: (a) Cantharis, (b) Capsicum, (c) Saccharum lactis, (d) Carthamus, (e) Cetaceum. 5. Give the source, properties and medical uses, and method of preservation, of the following products: (a) Serum Antidiphthericum, (b) Glandulæ Suprarenales siccæ, (c) Glandulæ Thyroidæ siccæ. 6. Describe botanically: (a) Rhizome, (b) Tuber, (c) Corm, (d) Bulb, (e) Candex. 7. Name one drug of each class of question 6, and briefly describe each, giving medical uses and doses. 8. Name the parts of a leaf, and describe three different kinds of leaves botanically. 9. (a) Name and describe one leaf drug which is cathartic. (b) Name a leaf drug which is narcotic, and give a description of same and the dose. (c) Name one leaf drug which is diuretic. (f) Define: cathartic, narcotic, diuretic, astringent, demulcent. 10. Spiritus Odoratus (N. F.) is composed of the following oils: Oil of Bergamot, oil of Lemon, oil of Rosemary, oil of Lavender flowers, oil of Orange flowers. Give the source, method of preparation, properties and proper preservation of these different oils. 11. Lotio Plumbi et Oppi (N. F.) is composed of Lead acetate, Tinct. of Opium, Water. What is the chemical character of the precipitate thrown down? Does this interfere with the intended therapeutical action? 12. Name chemical and physiological antidotes to the following poisonous drugs and chemicals, and their pharmaceutical preparations: (a) Arsenic, (b) Lead, (c) Mercury, (d) Opium, (e) Aconite, (f) Belladonna, (g) Colchicum, (h) Nux Vomica. 13. What would you consider to be doses within the limit of safety of the following preparations: (a) Tinctur Aconite, (b) Tr. Stramonium, (c) Tr. Nux Vomica, (d) Tr. Belladonna, (e) Tr. Digitalis, (f) Tr. Strophanthus, (g) Tr. Physostigmatis, (h) Tr. Opium, (i) Tr. Colchicum, (j) Tr. Hyoscyamus. 14. Give the limit of safety doses of the following alkaloids: (a) Aconitine, (b) Strychnine, (c) Pilocarpine, (d) Morphine, (e) Atropine, (f) Pysostigmine, (g) Codeine, (h) Heroin, (i) Hyoscуamine. 15. Give safety limit of doses of: (a) Acetanilid, (b) Aspirin, (c) Antipyrin, (d) Hexameth, (e) Sulphonal, (f) Veronal. 16. Give the names of poisons included in schedules A and B of the Missouri poison law. 17. Give a brief statement of the Federal Antinarcotic Law. 18. State some of the chief points to be observed by the pharmacist in compliance with the pure food and drug act. 19. How are narcotic and liquor prescriptions to be treated on the question of filing, recording and refilling? 20. What do you understand by pharmaceutical ethics? Registered Pharmacist-Practical Work DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY Chemical Abstracts Published by the American Chemical Society. The Action of Camphor on the Circluation.-Jas. D. Heard and Clyde Brooks. Univ. Pittsburgh. J. Pharmacol. (Proc.) 6, 605-6(1915). Camphor produced no such marked stimulating effects as epinephrine, digitalis and strophanthin produce in the intact denervated heart; neither were there any depressing effects observed.-[P: J. Hanzlik. Preserving Wood.-Bayer & Co., Ger., 289,990, Apr. 3, 1913. Mixts. of Hg salts and sol. silicates are used as the preservatives. These mixts. are claimed to possess the advantage over Hg compds. used heretofore that they do not sep. Hg in contact with Fe, so that Fe vessels can be used. Considerable fireresisting power is imparted to the wood by the silicate. Furthermore, the treated wood contains the Hg salts in a non-volatile form, so that the wood can be used in closed chambers. The presence of the silicate tends to prevent washing out of the Hg salt. Upon drying and subsequent storing of the wood, a portion of the alkali is withdrawn from the silicate by the CO, of the air, leaving it in the form of comprs. insol. or difficulty sol. in alkali, which stop the pores of the wood and therefore impede the introduction of moisture. Other known preservatives may be added to the impregnating solns. A 'suitable concn. is, e. g., 900 parts H2O, 100 of water-glass of 30-40° Bé., and 1 part sublimate. The Preserving Action of Benzoic Acid. Dirk Held. Amsterdam. Arch. Hyg. 84, 289-36 (1915). The same amt. of BzOH (20.5 cc. of a N. soln. to a 1.) is necessary to inhibit the growth of B. messentericus, B. mycoides, B. subtilis, a bacillus from the ground, a bacillus from hay, and one from potatoes. It makes no difference whether a newly isolated strain or an old one is used. Bacilli and spores are inhibited in the same concn. This inhibiting dose was ascertained in a neutral 3% meat ext. peptone agar. Only a small part of BzOH acts as a disinfectant; the greatest part of it (4/5) is bound by the protein of the medium. If this acid-binding power of the protein is satisfied by stronger acids as tartaric and H2SO., the disinfecting concn. of BzOH is lessened. BzOH obviously acts better in a medium poor in protein than in one rich in protein. It acts as an unsplit mol. The formation of tovin by B. botulinus is inhibited. A concn. may be obtained which permits the growth of the bacillus but prevents entirely the formation of toxin. But this concn. and that necessary to inhibit growth completely are so nearly alike that it is without practical significance. Starch paste and salad dressing were preserved completely for 2 mos. with 2% BzOH, and lemon juice with 1%. In a neutral medium containing chiefly H2O and some protein, cinnamic acid had no preserving properties. Its effect in an acid soln. was not tested.-[Julian H. Lewis. gardless of their buying power. The retailer who orders through the jobber secures dependable service. In proof of the fact that retailers are fully aware of this it is notable that all druggists are quick to make use of the jobber's facilities on "fill-in" and rush orders. The jobber's nearness is a big advantage, and time saving is quite often an important factor to the retailer. Service is of vital importance to good stockkeeping and efficient saleswork. It is of importance to the success of the store that stock be kept up. It is equally important to the financial success of the store that goods are not overstocked. What buying avenue offers the greatest possibility of keeping stock in proper quantities and renewing it in the shortest possible time? The jobber is the best available source of supply. Regardless of the size of the order the jobber stands ready to serve you just as quickly as he does the heavier buyer. He quotes you prices in direct proportion to those that would apply if you bought in quantities. He disfavors sliding scale concessions and special discounts that place the small buyer at a disadvantage. Fresh clean goods in presentable packages are always possible in ordering as needed, through the jobber. The immense wholesale stocks enable the retailer to carry a wide variety of items in small quantities; they enable the retailer to concentrate in his buying; they give him selling opportunities that otherwise would not be possible to merchants of limited buying power. The jobber assembles for him; and the jobber distributes for him the thousands of items that enable the retailer to succeed on a small stock. Carrying a larger stock than is needed is unwise as profits are only made on goods sold and services rendered and not on the amount of ston carried. Small, well-assorted stocks, in marked contrast: quantity buys, involve not only less cash but le labor. Stock on hand bears a close relation to pense incurred and labor involved. Any method th makes it possible to cut down expenses without los fo cash receipts would seem desirable. That is a actly what can be accomplished by confining pu chases as much as possible to the jobber. Reducin expenses lowers the cost of the goods laid down the customer, and this cost is the original purchas price plus the overhead or cost of doing business. Buying as needed means more rapid and bette regulated turnovers. Products bought in quantities that start off with a rush sometimes linger for a long time; whereas, if these same goods were to have! been ordered as needed, the lessening demand would not have meant dollars bound on the shelves in idle ! ness. The jobber method of buying offers profits that are safe and sure because the small quantities in which they are ordered precludes the possibility of their being expensive to carry. There is little chance of their becoming a burden and being taxed with an undue amount of overhead expense. More and quicker turnovers on a small stock at moderate profits will make more real money than fewer and slower turns on a larger stock, at a larger apparent but less real or net profit, because the expense of the overstock absorbs the wider discount. In the few instances in which the first cost of the jobber's goods is higher, the narrower profit margin is offset by more rapid turnovers each yielding profits that aggregrarte more than a single wider margin that is virtually wiped out by the loss on an overstock-a loss that often eats up more than the extra discount originally offered as an inducement to buy. Goods bought in January and sold in December cost far more to sell than goods bought in January and sold in February, bought again in February and sold in March and so on throughout the year. Efficiency in buying gives the retailer's capital the greatest producing capacity. The jobber's stocks help him to avoid over-buying. Many otherwise good merchants find it impossible to resist the appeal of clever salesmen. The jobber is their salvation. The jobber enables the retailer to obtain small quantities of new goods, sometimes called "tryout" stocks. Overbuying is often done on this class of merchandise. "Try-out" goods make it possible for the retailer to feel his way, so to speak. If these goods become good sellers warranting the purchase of larger amounts, then, after gauging the demand with small stocks, is the time to consider quantity orders. The safest check to overbuying is the concentration of accounts with a good jobber. There is less tendency to buy beyond the limit with one house than there is in doing a comparatively small business with many. And by not being overloaded when prices are p, it is possible to take advantage of a drop in the narket when prices are down. Claims for shortage, errors, returns and the like are expedited when business is conducted through the obber; and settlements are made with less time and trouble than they are when dealing with the directselling manufacturer. Buying through a jobber means better credit accommodations, as the jobber will carry a retailer along for a long period of time if he is laboring under a financial strain and is deserving. Remote manufacturers, unacquainted with local conditions, find it impracticable to make generous allowances in individual cases. The saving effected on transportation in buying through the jobber is considerable; small orders can be included or "filled in" with regular needs, of which there are always some. Every saving, no matter how small, helps to lower the cost of the goods. When goods have established selling prices any saving that can be effected by lowering the expense charges incident to stocking and selling them, adds just that much to the profits. The retailer who orders through his jobber finds it easier to take advantage of cash discounts and improve his credit. By having the ready cash at hand, due to his profits having been in cash instead of overstock, he can also take many other advantages dependent on ready cash. Weekly buying makes it possible for the retailer to let the jobber make the investment and furnish the warehouse. Some goods can be turned in seven days, paid for and cash discounts taken in ten days, or three days after the goods are sold and cash has been received. A retailer ordering through the jobber can buy eight-dollar-a-dozen goods, and by turning the dozen twelve times a year he virtually invests only eight dollars a gross for them and makes twelve turnovers instead of one by being able to buy each dozen separately and pay with the same eight dollars, thus tying up very little capital. THE POWER OF ACCURATE OBSERVATION.-By accurate observation we must mean not the mere exercise of the senses, not the mere seeing or hearing, or touching of a thing, with some levity of thinking about it; we must not mean even the keenest use of the eye cultivated in microscopic work, or of the ear-hearing sounds that to the uneducated sense would be inaudible, or the use of the finger with the most refined detective touch. All these higher powers of the sense you must acquire by careful study practice, and you must learn to exercise them all with all the attention with which a strong will can direct and watch them: But even all this, difficult as it is, is only a part of scientific observation. This must include, besides, an habitual constant watchfulness, the taking notice of all the conditions in which objects or events are found; their concurrence, their sequences, their seeming mutual relations, all their variations.-[Sir James Paget. MICROSCOPICAL NOTES A New Microscopic Test for Pasteurized Milk.The W. D. Frost test differs from a similar one described in 1911 by Frost and Ravenel, in the method of applying the stain, the nature of the stain and the principle involved. A few cubic centimeters of milk have mixed with them one-fifth as much of a saturated aqueous solution of methylene blue. This colored milk is allowed to stand about 30 minutes; it is then centrifuged and the sediment spread on a glass slide. When dry it is ready for examination. In raw milk the microscopic field is stained a uni form blue in which appear clear areas which are either fat globules or leucocytes. The polymorphonuclear cells are irregular in outline, about 12 mikrons in diameter and unstained or only slightly tinged. The sediment from milk heated to 60° C. or above presents a very different picture. The polymorphonuclear leucocytes are rounded up and shrunken so that they are only about 8 mikrons in diameter and the nuclei are deeply stained. The method requires little more time than it does to make a fat determination and is apparently as simple and accurate as the laboratory diagnosis of diphtheria or rabies. How to Sharpen a Scalpel.-Some time since an itinerant vendor entered my office from whom I purchased a paste which, when spread on a leather strop, proved very effective in producing a keen edge on scalpels. I paid five dollars for three small boxes of the paste. In a short time I began to wonder what I should do when the supply ran out, so had a small quantity of the paste washed out in ether and the powdery residue placed under the microscope. We found the residue similar if not identical with size No. 1 F carborundum powder, which costs about forty cents per pound. One pound will make enough paste to equal about fifty dollars' worth at the price I paid for the three boxes. The paste is made as follows: A quantity of clean beef fat is rendered to common tallow, strained through fine cloth or canton flannel, and while in the melted state, carborundum powder No. 1 F is stirred into the melted tallow to make a stiff paste. The mixture is then allowed to cool. To use the paste, simply spread freely on a smooth strop, lay the strop on a table, and draw the scalpel back and forth at right angles, not diagonally. This absolutely solves the problem of a keen-edged knife. In cold weather if the paste is too stiff, add a drop or two of olive oil to the paste on the strop. If you wish an extremely smooth and keen edge to finish the sharpening, a paste can be used of No. 2 F carborundum powder mixed in tallow. However, the No. 1 gives an edge as sharp as a razor, and a dull instrument can be sharpened in one-fourth the time that a stone will do it, and the result is by far more satisfactory.[Dr. V. Berry, in Surgery, Gynecology |