The _Journal of the American Medical Association_, October 13, 1906, exposes the fraud and deception practised by certain proprietary firms in putting on the market preparations purporting to contain cod-liver oil, when, in fact, they contain no oil at all. It is conceded by pharmacologists that the value of these remedies depends on the nutritive power of the fat, and any preparation which contains fat must respond to simple tests which the physician can personally apply. The preparations claiming to represent cod-liver oil are in liquid form, and if they contain oil it must be in one of the following forms: (1) An emulsion of the oil which may be miscible with water, but from which the fat tends to separate and rise to the top. In this form the fat can be seen as globules under the microscope. (2) A solution, resulting from the saponification of the oil, containing a soap which usually will be alkaline in reaction, especially when mixed with water, and from which fatty acids are separated as a precipitate when the solution is acidified. (3) A solution of fatty acids. This will be acid in reaction and will be precipitated by the addition of water, in which the fatty acids are not soluble. An examination of one of these preparations, _e. g._, Waterbury’s Metabolized Cod-Liver Oil, which, it is claimed, “contains the metabolized product obtained by the action of ferments on cod-liver oil,” shows that it is neither an emulsion, a solution of soap, nor a solution of fatty acids, and more careful analysis shows that it contains no fat or fat acids (except the merest traces). No intelligent physician should be misled by the extravagant and unfounded claims made for this preparation. Hagee’s Cordial of Cod-Liver Oil is a representative of a class of preparations which claim to “represent the oil, but contain no fat,” and are therefore practically worthless. The claims of therapeutic value for such preparations can not be substantiated. Some such remedies are advertised as extracts of cod-liver oil, when, in fact, they are made from cod livers, but not from cod-liver oil. These preparations, if honestly made, might be worthy of a trial, but they are not preparations of cod-liver oil, and should not be so termed. So far as we know, however, no satisfactory evidence is forthcoming that such extractives have any therapeutic value. The attempt to modify cod-liver oil for therapeutic purposes may be pronounced a failure and the large variety and extensive sale of these preparations appear to be owing to the fact that physicians do not recall the ordinary facts of chemistry, but accept too readily the statements of the manufacturers. PROGRESS IN PHARMACY. A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ADVANCES IN PHARMACY AND MATERIA MEDICA. BY M. I. WILBERT, Apothecary at the German Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.