This state of affairs will continue just so long as the medical profession will tolerate it--and no longer. So long as members of our profession will prescribe proprietaries on the statements of their owners--as to both their composition and their therapeutic value--just so long will pseudo-chemical and pseudopharmaceutical companies fatten at the expense of the medical profession and to the detriment of the public health.--(_From The Journal A. M. A., Aug. 29, 1908._) ZEMACOL W. A. Puckner and W. S. Hilpert Attention has been called to the vague and mysterious statements regarding a preparation called Zemacol, manufactured by the Norwich Pharmacal Co., Norwich, N. Y. Because of the unsatisfactory statements regarding the composition of the preparation, it was considered of sufficient interest to make an analysis and determine its chemical constituents. Accordingly specimens of the preparation were obtained and examined. The preparation Zemacol (Norwich Pharmacal Co.), as found on the market, is a thick, pink, mucilaginous liquid, highly perfumed and having besides a suggestion of a phenolic odor. The bottle bears a label on which appear the following statements: “A colloidal emollient containing extract of the rete mucosum of the healthy yearling lamb, combined with glycerin, salicylic acid and other antiseptic and aromatic oils. Useful in eczema and diseases of the integument where cell destruction is a prominent factor.” In the advertising matter the following claims are made: “An advance in animal therapy....” “... increases the nutritive activity of the cell tissue of the skin through the absorbable extract of the rete mucosum.” “... clinical tests show its efficacy in both the so-called moist and dry eczematous conditions of all parts of the cutaneous surfaces.” “... rich in animal cells.” Since nothing could be found in the literature regarding the therapeutic action of an extract of the rete mucosum of the sheep, it was thought possible that the statements on the label were given simply as a vague and mysterious means of indicating the presence of wool-fat (lanolin), and tests were made to determine the presence or absence of the latter substance. A substance was isolated from Zemacol which had the physical properties of, and responded to some of the chemical tests for, wool-fat; but it was found in such small quantities as to indicate that it was not present as an active constituent. Since there are no definite tests for the detection of serums or animal extracts the presence or absence of these could not be demonstrated. Further examination indicated the presence of salicylic acid, a gummy material, having the properties of tragacanth and glycerin. It is practically free from inorganic matter. By distillation a small quantity of oil was isolated, which possesses the characteristic odor of the preparation.