FEBRUARY MEETING.
The regular stated meeting of the Philadelphia Branch of the American Pharmaceutical Association was held on the evening of Tuesday, February 5, 1907, in the Hall of the College of Physicians.
The subject under discussion, “Higher Educational Requirements for Pharmacists,” has attracted considerable attention during the past year or more, and it was therefore not surprising to find that retail pharmacists attending this meeting were comparatively well informed on questions relating to education, and fully appreciated the need for more rapid advancement along educational lines in the future.
The first speaker on the subject, Mr. William L. Cliffe, in discussing “The Practical Needs for Higher Education in Pharmacy,” called attention to the fact that the people at large are rapidly becoming more thoroughly familiarized with the needs and the wants of the practice of pharmacy.
He believes that with the further elimination of empiricism and mysticism from the science of medicine more will be expected of pharmacists, and they in turn will be required to be educated in every way.
Prof. Henry Kraemer, in speaking on “Standards in Pharmaceutical Education,” (see p. [101]) called attention to the fact that up to the present time the progress of pharmacy in this country had been comparatively slow and that we are now entering on an era of more rapid development. He believes that the enactment of pure food and drug laws will add great additional responsibility to the duties of the retail pharmacist and will also tend to more sharply define the corresponding duties of the colleges and of the boards of pharmacy.
Dr. Horatio C. Wood, Jr., in speaking on “The Future Elaboration of a Course in Pharmacy,” said that, as a commercial pursuit, the business of pharmacy must necessarily be one of limited scope and possibilities; as a profession, however, pharmacy can be developed into an occupation of laudable aims and high ideals. He believes that the pharmacist should develop as the assistant and the adviser of the physician, who in turn must depend more and more on the efforts of the pharmacist to select for him and to improve on the efficiency of the available articles of the materia medica.
Prof. I. V. S. Stanislaus, in opening the general discussion, gave it as his opinion that the pharmacist of the future would again hold the same relative position to the public as did the apothecary of old.
The pharmacist of the future will be the chemist of the people, the food and drug analyst, the assistant and adviser of the physician, in all matters relating to materia medica and chemistry, and will, therefore, practically be the sanitarian of the community.
The subject was further discussed by Messrs. John K. Thum, Franklin Apple, Jacob Eppstein, M. I. Wilbert, H. C. Blair, E. Fullerton Cook, John Hahn and Dr. F. E. Stewart. From the general trend of this discussion it was plainly evident that the better informed retail pharmacists deeply appreciate their responsibility to the public, and are willing and even anxious to meet their obligations fully. At no time in the history of pharmacy in this country has it been so evident that the mentally and morally poor man should not be allowed to jeopardize the health and even the lives of his fellow beings as now.
It is clearly evident that pharmacists are beginning to realize that a full and complete appreciation of their duties to society at large must of necessity react to their own pecuniary advantage and will in addition procure for them the respect and the admiration of their fellow men.
M. I. Wilbert,
Secretary.
A REVIEW OF THE OPSONINS AND BACTERIAL VACCINES.[[2]]
By E. M. Houghton.
As requested by the Therapeutic Gazette, I shall attempt to describe as succinctly as possible the theory of the opsonins and the therapeutic results that have been obtained by the application of the new theory. As the years go by we realize more thoroughly the correctness of the prophetic belief of the “Immortal Pasteur,” that the day would come when it would be possible to eradicate the infectious diseases by vaccination.
We are indebted to Metchnikoff for calling attention to and explaining the rôle of the white blood cells in the defence of the body against bacterial invasion, but the phenomenon of phagocytosis is not so simple as it at first appeared, as little by little new facts are developed which amplify our knowledge of the subject.
It was shown by Denys and Leclef, in 1895, that when rabbits were immunized against Streptococcus pyogenes the serum acquired but slight bactericidal properties, but that such serum, when brought in contact with the leucocytes of normal or immunized rabbits, greatly enhanced their phagocytic activity. Conversely no acceleration of phagocytosis was observed when the corpuscles were brought in contact with the serum of a normal animal.
Mennes two years later confirmed this by showing that similar results were obtained from the blood serum of guinea-pigs treated with cultures or toxins of Pneumococci.
A method of measuring the phagocytic activity of the leucocytes was developed by Leishman in 1902. In 1903 Wright and Douglas made an extensive study of the phagocytes, when brought in contact with suspensions of Staphylococcus pyogenes, and were able to show:
(1) Quoting from the original: “We have here conclusive proof that the blood fluids modify the bacteria in a manner which renders them a ready prey to the phagocytes. We may speak of this as an ‘opsonic’ effect (opsono (2) Normal blood serum and plasma possess the same opsonic action upon bacteria. (3) Serum loses its opsonic action when heated to 60° C. This is spoken of as inactivated serum. (4) Inactivated serum and physiological salt solution have the same influence upon phagocytosis. (5) “The opsonic power of the blood fluids disappears gradually on standing,” losing about 50 per cent. of its activity in five or six days. (6) An anti-opsonic effect is noted when blood serum is digested with typhoid bacilli. (7) When a condition of immunity is conferred upon patients infected by Staphylococci, by vaccination with heated cultures of Staphylococci, the opsonic action of the patient’s blood serum is greatly augmented. Neufeld and Rimpau (1904) found in antistreptococcic and pneumococcic sera evidence of substances which, while inactive towards leucocytes, possessed very marked opsonic or sensitizing action, as they termed it, toward corresponding cultures of streptococci and pneumococci. Ross (Lancet, November, 1906) summarizes our knowledge of the opsonins as follows: “(1) Opsonins act by chemically uniting with the invading bacteria, and so altering them that the leucocytes are able to phagocyte the bacteria and destroy them. It is important to remember that these substances do not stimulate or otherwise affect the leucocytes. “(2) It is probable that there are present many varieties of opsonins in the blood plasma, each having to do with combating a particular kind of microbic invasion. “(3) Opsonins have been shown to be distinct from other bacteriotropic substances, such as the bacteriolysins, the agglutinins, and the antitoxins.” The leucocytes of healthy or diseased persons seem to be equally active when brought in contact with the same serum, hence the amount of opsonins present in the blood of an individual determines, according to the opsonic theory, his susceptibility to bacterial invasion.