Whereas the regulations governing the issuance of patents demand that the processes shall be described in such detail that one versed in the sciences can confirm the claims made by the patentee, no pretense whatever of fulfilling this requirement is made in the patent specifications of this patent. The substance of the first three paragraphs of this patent has long been general knowledge. Nearly every sophomore medical student has himself performed, or seen performed such “experiments” as are therein described. The claims of novelty evidently are confined to the assertion that the preparation is able to “resist oxidation or deterioration”; that it is free from “poisonous and irritable chemical substances”; that it “may be administered orally to produce the desired physiological action.” etc., etc. Not the slightest hint is given as to how any person can substantiate these claims. As a matter of fact, the investigation of Professor Carlson and his co-workers has shown that a preparation having the properties claimed cannot be made by the process described in this patent. Any one familiar with the subject could have demonstrated readily that the applicant was withholding information concerning essential features of his process, assuming that he had any information on the subject (which he probably did not have) and would have advised against the issuance of the Beveridge patent.--(_From The Journal A. M. A., Jan. 12, 1918_.) SURGODINE Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry The following report submitted by a referee was adopted by the Council and authorized for publication. W. A. Puckner, Secretary. Surgodine (Sharp and Dohme, Baltimore, Md.), according to an advertising pamphlet, is a solution of 2-1/4 per cent. of iodin in alcohol, containing no alkaline iodid, but miscible with water in all proportions. The A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory reports that Surgodine is an alcoholic liquid (containing 91.8 per cent. alcohol by volume) containing free iodin, combined iodin and free acid, probably hydrogen iodid (hydriodic acid). Quantitative estimations gave 2.51 gm. free iodin per 100 c.c. and 1.78 gm. combined iodin (the greater part apparently was present as hydrogen iodid). It is therefore similar to several other iodin preparations already considered by the Council. Like these, it is essentially similar to the official tincture of iodin, except that it is considerably weaker, and instead of potassium iodid it presumably contains hydrogen iodid and probably ethyl iodid to render the iodin water-soluble. Its composition, however, is secret.