An identical letter has been addressed to Homeopaths, the words “Homeopathic practitioner” being substituted for “Eclectic practitioners.” In all of the letters the “beautiful certificate of membership” is emphasized, and the trivial cost—“only $1.00 a year”—is referred to, while the plea: “surely you are willing to help to that amount to ‘down’ the ‘gang’ in charge of the A. M. A.,” is featured. Another group of letters has gone out to the graduates of the Barnes Medical College. This commences:
“Most graduates of ‘Old Barnes’ have joined our society of protest against the iniquities of the A. M. A. Why should you also not come in? It costs only $1.00 to become a member, including the cost of a beautiful certificate of membership.”
Still another group appeal is based on sex; thus Lanphear:
“We want every reputable ‘lady physician’ in this country to join our society of protest against the iniquities of the A. M. A.”
And yet another:
“You formerly belonged to the Tri-State Medical Society, of which I was Treasurer for 20 years. It is now dead. I wish you would join our new society which has superseded Tri-State in this territory.”
With these various letters is enclosed a “preliminary program” of the 1918 meeting which is to be held October 8 and 9 in Chicago. As might be expected, many of the names on the program are characteristic of the organization and an interesting “story” might be made from the material in The Journal’s files on the individuals. Such names are of men, who, professionally speaking, range from faddists, who ride grotesque and bizarre medical hobbies, to those who with special interests to exploit and unable to use reputable medical organizations for that purpose, take refuge in such hybrid conglomerations as the Medical Society of the United States. Not that the program contains the names of crude quacks, or obvious medical swindlers. It is representative, rather, of that twilight zone of professionalism, the penumbra, in whose uncertain light it is difficult to distinguish between the unbalanced visionary, with a fad, and the more sinister near-quack, with a “scheme.”—(From The Journal A. M. A., Oct. 5, 1918.)
THE NATIONAL FORMULARY—A REVIEW OF THE FOURTH EDITION
The fourth edition of the National Formulary appears simultaneously with the U. S. Pharmacopeia IX, and is to become official at the same time (September 1). The principles which determine its scope, as frankly set forth in the preface, are apparently the same as those applied, though more faint-heartedly, in the compilation of the Pharmacopeia. A statement in the preface of the new National Formulary runs: