Pharmacy

Modern Developments.

Developments in the treatment of diseases and in the nature and quality of the remedial agents required, which are the outcome of scientific research, have a direct bearing upon pharmacy. Barger, Dale, Carr, Stoll and others have shown that ergot contains two extremely powerful alkaloids, ergotoxine and ergotamine, upon which its activity chiefly depends, accompanied by various amines such as ty roamine and histamine, which possess a subsidiary efficacy. The two alkaloids are soluble in alcohol but insoluble in water and are easily converted into inactive substances from which they can be regenerated. These discoveries opened the way to a prep aration of ergot which has proved very satisfactory.

For a long time the group of oxymethylanthraquinone drugs, which includes purgatives such as rhubarb, cascara sagrada, etc., had baffled investigators as the crystalline oxymethylanthra quinones or their glucosides failed to explain, quantitatively at least, the action of the drugs. Maeder has isolated from elder buckthorn bark the glucoside glucorhamnin in which two sugar groups are present. The laxative action of glucofrangulin is such that the amount present in the drug corresponds to the activity of the latter. Probably similar glucosides will be found in other members of the group. Kiefer, working upon Cape aloes, showed that the resins previously considered inactive were, on the con trary, strongly purgative and isolated the substance to which the griping action was due and so made an important step towards a rational preparation of aloes. Bourquelot showed that many enzymes possess a synthetical as well as analytical action and prepared a number of synthetical glucosides and demonstrated the possibility of producing in the laboratory an entirely new class of compounds.

Stabilisation of Drugs.

Pharmacists have long desired to make from drugs preparations which should contain the active constituents in the condition in which they exist in the plant. Goris and Arnould made an important step towards solving this problem by proving that the caffeine in fresh kola nuts exists in combination with kolatin, a combination which is broken up by an oxidase present in the fresh nuts. This oxidase can be ren dered inactive by steam or alcohol vapour and the combination then remains unaltered when the nuts are dried and preparations made from them. Such treatment, or "stabilisation," of a drug will probably be extensively adopted.

Medicinal Plants.—During the World War large quantities of medicinal plants were collected in Great Britain, partly wild, partly cultivated. Attempts to place the cultivation upon a satis factory footing failed, owing to the difficulty of obtaining assist ance for the young industry. In France the Government afforded every aid, and under the direction of Perrot the industry is rapidly growing and much information is being collected as to the effects of soil, manures, etc., necessary to produce the best results. In

the United States considerable attention has been devoted to selection experiments with drug plants, and marked progress has been made towards the production of the most suitable strains. The extremely high price of santonin led to a search for other sources of that vermifuge.

Educational System in Great Britain.—The Poisons and Pharmacy Act of 1908 allowed a body corporate, and in Scotland a firm or partnership, to carry on the business of a pharmaceutical chemist or chemist and druggist provided that the business, so far as it related to the keeping, retailing and dispensing of poisons, was under the control of a registered pharmaceutical chemist or chem ist and druggist. In the second place powers were given to the Pharmaceutical Society to divide the qualifying examination into two parts and to require candidates for the examination to produce satisfactory evidence that they had received a sufficient prelimi nary practical training in the subjects of the examination. In 192o the by-laws and regulations necessary for carrying the provisions of the Act of 1908 into effect were drawn up. They came into full force at dates varying from Feb. 1, 1927, to Aug. 1, 1929, and may be briefly summarised as follows : Before presenting himself for examination the candidate must have been registered as a student of the Pharmaceutical Society for which purpose he must have passed one of a number of entrance examina tions ranging from the junior local examination of Cambridge or Oxford to the matriculation examination of the University of London. After registration he may proceed to the preliminary scientific exami nation, for which attendance at an approved systematic course of instruction of at least 44o hours in chemistry, botany and physics is necessary. Having passed this, or one of several alternative examina tions, he will have to decide whether he will be content with passing the chemist and druggist qualifying examination or aim at the higher qualification by training for the pharmaceutical chemist qualifying examination. In the former case, when giving notice, he must produce a declaration that he has been trained under the direct supervision of a pharmacist in the dispensing and compounding of medicines for Coco hours spread over not less than two years in a pharmacy or in the dispensary of a hospital or similar institution approved by the council. He must also have attended an approved systematic course of at least 720 hours in pharmacy, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharma cognosy and forensic pharmacy.