There would be no objection to the use of ethyl iodid or hydrogen iodid, except perhaps the acidity of the latter, as a solvent agent rather than of potassium iodid. But neither is there any important advantage, and these preparations would have to be considered as unessential modifications of official preparations, and therefore ineligible for New and Nonofficial Remedies. The attempt to make these modifications commercially profitable, however, seems inevitably to lead to exaggerations and misstatements. In an advertising pamphlet the following claims for Surgodine are unsupported by any evidence: “But from the surgical viewpoint the addition of this potassium salt is most objectionable because when such solutions as the official tincture are used locally in the antiseptic treatment of open and often infected wounds the Potassium Iodide acts as an irritant to the wound and therefore produces a localized irritation which is not only objectionable from the surgical standpoint but also materially lessens the antiseptic power of the Iodine itself.” “It has been demonstrated repeatedly that Iodine without the admixture of any alkaline iodide is much more efficient as a surgical antiseptic than any iodine solution that contains such an addition.” “Iodine does not produce ‘iodism’ as quickly as the alkaline iodides do because it is eliminated more quickly and more perfectly than the alkaline iodides.” The next statement intimates that iodin taken by mouth enters the intestinal tract unchanged and is there free to combine with various gases: “Iodine in the presence of phosphorated or sulphurated gases in the gastro-intestinal tract unites with their hydrogen and thus breaks up these noxious compounds.” This is certainly untrue at least for ordinary doses. It is recommended that Surgodine be held inadmissible to New and Nonofficial Remedies because its composition is secret (Rule 1); because the therapeutic claims made for it are exaggerated and unwarranted (Rule 6); and because it is an unessential modification of the official tincture of iodin (Rule 10). [Editorial Comment.--Surgodine is a good illustration of the economic waste inseparable from most proprietary medicines. A hospital pharmacist writes that whereas his hospital obtains tincture of iodin at less than 82 cents a pint, Surgodine costs $2.13 a pint. This means that while the free-iodin strength of Surgodine is only about one-third that of the official tincture, its price is between two and three times as high.]--(_From The Journal A. M. A., Jan. 26, 1918_) MEDEOL SUPPOSITORIES Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry The following report on Medeol Suppositories has been adopted by the Council, and its publication authorized. W. A. Puckner, Secretary.