noted the close connection of dental troubles with those of the visual apparatus. Septic gastro-enteritis of bucal origin is by no means uncommon. The practice of cleansing the teeth ought to be begun in early childhood, and as much during the first dentition as during the second. The author recommends cleansing the teeth after every meal with a red rubber brush. He believes this does not injure the gums, and their vitality is not lowered by bleeding. The elasticity of the brush, too, allows of more energetic friction without damaging the enamel. The brush can be sterilized by boiling. After reviewing the various forms of dentrifice on the market-several of which, especially the carbolated dentifrice and those of oxygenated water, he condemns as being injurious to the buccal mucosa―the author gives his adherence to the paste form of dentifrice. This, he says, is the best and most practical. It ought to contain an inert and insoluble powder; an antiseptic, miscible and in definite quantity; and a more or less fluid excipient, capable of maintaining the contact of the other constituents.

KEEPING TRACK OF THE SPONGES IN OPERATIONS.

The plan outlined by Lockwood in the Jour. of Missouri State Assoc., briefly, is as follows: In making gauze sponges, having a numeral sewed in colored silk

or

stamped with indelible ink, of a harmless character, in one corner of each sponge. This renders the figures indestructible in sterilizing the sponge. Have three packages of sponges arranged as follows: first package must contain small sponges, fifteen in all, numerals running from 1 to 15. This completes the first series and the package is to be labeled A 15. The letter A designates the size of sponges contained in the package and the numeral the number it contains. The second series must be a size larger than the

first, running from 1 to 10, labeled thus: B 10. Third series is still larger than B, running from 1 to 5, labeled C 5. This package should contain five large sponges or napkins used both for absorbing sponges and viscera towels in abdominal sections. Have sponges made uniformly, each package maintaining a regulation size. The letter on the package indicates the size of sponges contained therein.

When the operation is finished, whether minor or major, count out the sponges by actual notation and if any number be lacking to complete the restored. series, never cease searching until the missing number is found. If one or more packages of sponges are used in an operation it is as easy to complete the count in several series as it is in a single series, except that it takes more time. If all the sponges are not used in any one package in a given operation, count out the unused sponges along with the rest to complete the full number in that particular series. While this may seem strenuous and undue precaution imposed on the surgeon, yet Lockwood believes that such methods would completely avert the possibility of leaving sponges and other materials in the abdominal cavity. A similar numbering plan is suggested for instruments.

USES OF THE HOT WATER BOTTLE. The hot water bottle may be made to serve several useful purposes. Filled with small pieces of cracked ice, it takes the place of an ice cap. In congestive headaches it may be filled with cold water and applied to the forehead or back of the neck. Leaky bottles should not be discarded. If filled with hot sand or salt a bottle that is not water-proof is still of great value. After using a hot water bottle and it has been drained by hanging mouth downward it should be inflated with air before screwing in the plug.

DISPENSING OF EYE SOLUTIONS.
N a paper read before the Kentucky

Homeopathic Medical Association, Dr. Orrin L. Smith made the following suggestions regarding the dispensing of solutions intended for use in the eye, which might be advantageously adopted by pharmacists:

"The lack of special care by pharmacists in dispensing solutions intended for use about the eye, the careless use thereafter by patients and the altogether too frequent accidental introduction of destructive solutions in eyes, led me, some years ago, to devise some method that would at least decrease, if not eliminate, these dangers.

"As a result a substantial pasteboard box was ordered that would exclude dust and light and accommodate two halfounce bottles. A special compartment for droppers was so arranged that with their insertion in the apertures of the partition, their proximal ends were not in contact with each other or the box. "Considering that eye droppers have been almost universally dispensed without attention to special cleanliness, and left by users on shelves exposed to dust and wash-basin splashings, etc., it seemed wise to deliver to the patient a sterile dropper and then instruct him in the care of same.

"After much experimentation with the sterilizing proposition, we found black or red gum to be the only practical form of rubber that would sterilize satisfactorily, for with every attempt to sterilize the white rubber there would occur the white sulphur deposits so annoying to all concerned.

"For the further protection of the patient it seemed wise to attach simple direction relative to the care of the solution, so that the following instructions are plainly printed on the top of every box containing eye solutions prescribed

by me and dispensed by my own pharma

cist.

"'As eye solutions are sensitive to light, heat and dust exposures, keep bottle in box, out of reach of children, in a dark, cool place, and standing upright. This dropper has been sterilized and is ready for use, after which rinse well in hot water and return immediately to proper place in box.'

"Latterly to further safeguard those patients who do not obey directions, and whose solutions are dispensed by other pharmacists than my own, I stamp across each prescription blank in red ink the following: 'Dispense in rough amber bottle.' This color protects adrenalin and silver solutions, and the rough surface announces at once, even in the dark, that the bottle contains an eye solution.

"So far as I have been able to ascertain there never has been in use for any purpose whatsoever a rough amber bottle.

"It would seem that the general use of the above method of dispensing solutions or even the use of the rough amber bottle would greatly limit at least the accidental installation of alcohol, carbolic acid, iodine and other medicaments so destructive to the eye."

DIFFICULTIES IN EVERY-DAY
DISPENSING.

Mr. Wyatt, at the meeting of the Liverpool (England) Chemists' Association, offered the following notes upon everyday work at the dispensing counter, not claiming for the methods advocated either novelty or infallibility, but simply recording them as practical ways out of difficulties such as present themselves to every practicing pharmacist.

(1) Serum in Mixtures.-The oral administration of sera and vaccines is fre

OINTMENTS AND THEIR USES. Corbett, in the Cleveland Medical Journal, considers this subject. He says that as diseases of the skin were the first to be recognized and treated, we naturally infer that the use of external applications was in vogue at a very early time. We know that medicinal ointments were used in China and India many centuries before the Christian era and with the rise and development of the Arabian school of medicine, external medication by means of ointments came into more general demand. Emerging from the dark ages at the time of the Renaissance, vague theories prevailed in the healing art which continued more or less dominant until the last century. Thus the color of the ointment was considered of highest importance. The first to ascribe therapeutic effect to color was Averoes (1198 A. D.), who said: "White is refrigerant, and red is hot, from the fiery particles with which it manifestly abounds." This theory to a certain extent has survived and with a more intimate knowledge of the effect of the different rays of the solar spectrum on the human organism it still may be demonstrated that this empirical assumption is founded on a demonstrable fact. During the sixteenth and eighteenth

centuries polypharmacy was at its height and the composition of ointments partook of the general custom. Even in comparatively modern times the ointments which bear the names of Vigo and Wilkinson may be mentioned as examples. The present age of medicine is characterized by an effort to attain scientific accuracy and while many things remain obscure, yet the number of demonstrable facts is gradually increasing.

For the modern use of ointments to their full extent we are indebted to Ferdinand Hebra (d. 1880), who first successfully combatted humoral pathology as applied to diseases of the skin. This investigator and great clinical teacher demonstrated that many diseases of the skin, supposed to be due to some peccant humor in the blood or vague dyscrasia of the system, were caused by local conditions and remedied by local measures. These he employed with consummate skill.

In composition, ointments consist of a base or vehicle and certain medicinal substances incorporated therein.. Both the base and ingredients vary according to the therapeutic object to be attained. From the clinician's point of view, ointments may be considered under the following general varieties: First, protective, emollient or soothing, sometimes known as simple ointments; second, astringent; third, stimulating, formerly called alterative; fourth, antiseptic; fifth, absorbent, for introducing medicine deeply into the follicles of the skin or through the absorbents into the general system.

FATAL ERROR IN POPULAR MEDICAL BOOK.

A fatality due to a misprint in a work known as "The People's Doctor" had its sequel in the Paris Law Courts last Saturday. According to the evidence, a cabinet-maker named Tourneux went home one day the worse for drink and asked his wife to send to a

pharmacist for an antidote, as he had some work to terminate. The wife looked up a prescription in a book from the family library, which was "The People's Doctor" in question, and copied the following formula: Water 100 grammes, peppermint water 15 grammes, ammonia 15 grammes. To be taken in two or three doses. She copied this recipe carefully and sent it to M. Ravault, pharmacien, 52 rue de Folie Regnault, who duly dispensed the preparation, which the cabinet-maker took and died, poisoned. Why and how remained to be proved. Inquiry showed that the author of the medical book in question is Dr. Georges Migot, a Parisian practitioner, but who used the name Dr. Dayaud for it. The work was originally published at Ghent, and only issued later in Paris. But in the later edition a grave error crept in, and the formula that contained the indication 15 grammes of ammonia should have read 15 drops. Under the guidance of her legal advisers, Mme. Tournieux prosecuted Dr. Migot and M. Ravault for homicide by imprudence, the latter being also charged with supplying a remedy without a doctor's prescription, which is an infraction of the Pharmacy Law. The doctor was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and the pharmacist to one month, but the sentences were rescinded under the First Offenders Act. They were further condemned to pay jointly 1,200 fr. damages and an annual pension of 300 fr. to the widow, as well as an annual pension of 200 fr. to each of the children until the age of eighteen years.

Heat the cottonseed oil and stearic acid until the acid is completely dissolved. Then add the sodium hydroxide. dissolved in a litre of distilled water, and heat for fifteen minutes with constant stirring. Next add the alcohol and stir until saponification is effected, which will be apparent in a few minutes by the homogeneous appearance of the mixture. Then add one litre of 20 per cent solution of sodium chloride and stir vigorously. Allow to stand until the soap is hardened; the alkaline liquid which remains at the bottom of the container is then dried out by punching a hole in the soapy mass on one side. The soap is then washed two or three times with distilled water, melted, and while still on the fire the powdered pumice is added and the whole thoroughly incorporated. The hot soap is then poured into suitable moulds, and allowed to remain for twenty-four hours to set.

SCARLET RED OINTMENT. Scarlet red is sometimes recommended in the form of an ointment for diseases of the eye. The dye should always be finely divided and intimately mixed with. the base before it is dispensed. The Prescriber suggests that it be dissolved in chloroform before incorporation with the base, or that the base be melted, which will dissolve the scarlet red if the latter be not in too large quantity. The ointment may be 4, 5, 8 or 10 per cent, although in eye practice weaker ointments are preferable, of which the following is an example: