SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR THE COSMETIC INDUSTRY 339 manufacturer, a statement of class and formula, approximate concen- tration, and comment on appli- cation. Two punched card files containing about 300 cards each in the original set appeared in 1947, one issued by McCutcheon (32) and the other by the Research Advisory Corporation (33). Both services classify the host of surface-active agents on the market, and bring the information up to date by issuing additional cards from time to time. Antiseptics are widely used in cosmetic products: as mouth washes, in toothpastes, shave lo- tions, shampoos, and body deo- dorants. The mechanism and eval- uation of these materials have been the subject of a symposium and published this year as part of the Arnnals of the New York Arcademy of Sciences (34). Carl Lawrence has done a great service by producing a book reviewing the quaternary ammonium germicides (35). There is a concluding section which tabulates these compounds in the manner described for the surface-active agents. The same service has been done for the almost bewildering assortment of emulsi- fying agents available for cosmetic use. Spalton's little book entitled "Pharmaceutical Emulsions and Enmlsifying Agents" (36) classifies over 300 of these materials. PERIODICAL LITERATURE Apart from a limited number of standard reference books, most of the published technical information is to be found in the form of articles in journals and other periodicals. A statistical analysis of chemical periodicals in the field of pharma- ceutical, cosmetic, and perfume chemistry was made by Boig and Brown to determine which ones seem to be most important for this field (37). It was found that, in 1947, the most important United States publications were: )•ournal of the Armerican Pharmaceutical Arssociation, Armerican Perfumer, )•ournal of the Arssociation of O•- cial Argricultural Chemists, and Drug • Cosmetic Industry. The leading world publication was the Russian Farmatsiya. Other journals of im- portance were: tk)r England, the Pharmaceutical •ournal, o•uarterly )•ournal ooe Pharmacy and Pharma- cology, and Soap, Perfumery, Cos- metics for France, Arnnales Pharma- ceutiques Franfaises and Industrie de la Parfumerie. This latter journal is of recent origin having first appeared in 1946. Each issue contains technical arti- cles and an excellent documentation section giving abstracts of articles appearing in other journals. We are all familiar with THE JouRNax. O1• THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEM- ISTS which made its first appearance in July, 1947. The Toilet Goods Association started publication of its Proceedings in 1944. This year we saw the birth of a new journal entitled International Perfumer, a quarterly review of world progress and research in perfumery mate- rials. It is not the normal type of trade journal, but its stated object is to consist entirely of original

340 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS full-length articles on the produc- tion, uses, and applications of all perfumery materials, and other re- lated subjects. It is difficult to appraise this production until we have seen at least a half-dozen issues. In a recent article Dr. Naves expressed his dissatisfaction with existing periodicals in the perfumery field stating that "It would be highly desirable to witness the birth of an international scien- tific periodical devoted to essential oils.... strictly rejecting everything that is not original and authentic" (38). The former German journal, Deutsche Parfumerie Zeitung, resumed publication in 1950 under the new title Parfumerie und Kos- metik. It now contains a high per- centage of technical papers written by qualified scientists. Other regu- lar features are a documentation section and report of recent patents. IMPORTANCE OF PATENTS A great source of latest technical information which comes from all parts of the scientific world are patents. In the industrial world they are the best literature for industry disseminates the results of its research efforts through this medium rather, than through the technical journals. Patents may therefore, be regarded as the text- books of modern industrial chem- istry, and they are well worth read- ing for their technological contents. Mr. Albert Davis, Resident Attor- ney of the Research Corporation, New York City, describes patent literature as a "scientific omnibus" (39). He urges the scientific worker to read patents routinely as scien- tific references, for the function of the patent is to teach, and he says: "Their very inaccuracies, and to an even greater extent their commer- cial non-utility, is an excellent point of departure for intelligent speculation." SOCIETIES AND TRADE ASSOCIATIONS To indicate the many ways in which societies and trade associa- tions have provided helpful tech- nical and scientific knowledge and advisory services to our industry, perhaps there is no better way of showing these than to outline some of the services and facilities which these organized bodies afford. THE SOCIETY or COSMETIC CHEM- ISTS was organized in May, 1945. This professional body includes among its activities the presentation of the results of research through the medium of papers presented by qualified scientists at semiannual meetings. These papers are pub- lished in the SOCIETY'S JOURNAL. As a service to the technical people of the cosmetic industry, the SOCIETY is building a central li- brary of books, periodicals, and general information relating to cos- metics and perfumery. It is under the able direction of Edward Sag- arin, Chairman of the Library Committee. One very active organization is the Toilet Goods Association whose accomplishments and continuing services are of considerable im-