Excerpt from E. Merck's Annual Report of Recent Advances in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Therapeutics, 1912, Vol. 25 As far back as 1870 I undertook to furnish my friends and customers with short reports on recent therapeutic preparations, as at that time the professional journals did not contain as detailed and complete accounts of recent discoveries in the field of pharmacotherapy as is now the case. These communications, which appeared at irregular intervals, developed in the course of years into the regular Annual Report. Its aim from the first was to collect the most important items from the entire international literature, all the information that was likely to prove of interest to physicians and pharmacists, and to present it in a perfectly, impartial manner, leaving the reader to examine the information and to decide upon its actual value. I have therefore scrupulously avoided expressing my own views upon the results obtained by others, provided these communications did not conceal some actual danger, to which it was absolutely necessary to draw attention. On account of this impartiality, combined with as comprehensive a report as possible, the Annual Report has been so highly appreciated that the number of copies printed has had to be increased from year to year. At the present time it is published in four languages (German, English, French and Russian), the total annual edition amounting to 60,000 copies. This steady increase of the annual edition is evidence that the Annual Report supplies a real want. Further, it bears eloquent testimony that the Annual Report has succeeded in satisfying its readers. In accordance with the purely scientific object of the Annual Report, only those new preparations and drugs have been discussed which have been introduced into therapeutics as a result of scientific research, while secret remedies and scientifically questionable preparations have been excluded as far as possible. Thus doubtful preparations will not receive unmerited recognition, such as might result from their mention in the Annual Report, which is held in such high esteem. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.