ies, and is not used for beverage purposes.

At the annual meeting of the New York State Medical Society, held in
New York City, in October, 1898, a discussion was held upon the use of
alcohol as medicine. Dr. E. R. Squibb, a leading pharmacist of Brooklyn,
stated that during the last two or three years much had been
accomplished in retiring alcohol as a menstruum for exhausting drugs. Of
the other menstrua experimented with up to the present time, that which
had given the best results was acetic acid, in various strengths. It had
been discovered that a ten per cent. solution of acetic acid was almost
universal in its exhausting powers. There were now in use in veterinary
practice, and in some hospitals, extracts made with acetic acid. They
were made according to the requirements of the pharmacopoeia, except
that acetic acid was substituted for alcohol. Acetic acid, when used
with alkaloids gives the physician some advantages in prescribing, owing
to there being fewer incompatibles. In small doses, the percentage of
acetic acid in the extract is so small as to be hardly appreciable, and
when larger doses are required, the acetic acid can be neutralized by
the addition of potash or soda.

Dr. Noble said, in article to _London Times_ before referred to:--

"Modern science has shown that those drugs which are soluble in
alcohol only, are, in all probability, more hurtful than
useful."

The following from Dr. Jas. R. Nichols, editor Boston _Journal of
Chemistry_, is too good to be omitted, although it should be familiar
to temperance students:--

"The facetious Dr. Holmes has said, that if the contents of our
drug-stores were taken out upon the ocean and thrown overboard,
it would be better for the human race, but worse for the fishes.
This statement may be a little sweeping; but it is true that all
the showy bottles in drug-stores which contain alcoholic
decoctions and tinctures might be submerged in the ocean, and
invalids would suffer no detriment. Since the active alkaloidal
and resinoidal principles of roots, barks and gums have been
isolated and put in better and more convenient forms, there is
no longer need of alcoholic tinctures and elixirs. Laudanum,
which is a tincture of opium, might be banished from the shelves
of every apothecary, as it is not needed. It is now known that
the valuable narcotic and hypnotic principles of opium are
contain