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In 1812, the Danish king decided to reform the medicine supply to the military on the initiative of the pharmacist Jens Peter Groth (1785-1832), the tenant of the Royal Orphanage Pharmacy in Copenhagen. Up till then, the military physicians themselves for fixed medicine money had supplied the army and the navy with the necessary medicine, but now it was decided that Groth should establish a military pharmacy to manage the future medicine supply to the army and the navy in Copenhagen and also that the medicial members of the General Direction of the Military Medical Service should compile a military pharmacopoeia for both of the fighting services. The Royal Orphanage Pharmacy was named the Royal Military & Orphanage Pharmacy and the ordered military pharmacopoeia was issued in 1813. Compared with the national pharmacopoeia, the military pharmacopoeia was characterized by a limitation of the number of medicaments and by a simplification of the compositions. These facts were caused by the economic considerations and the duty of the military physicians themselves to prepare the simple medicaments. The subsequent editions of the military pharmacopoeia were published in 1840, 1857 og 1869, but in 1874, the military pharmacopoeia was cancelled, because the medicaments in the military pharmacopoeia were less effectual and less palatable than the medicaments in the national pharmacopoeia, and because the use of the military pharmacopoeia did not result in economic savings.

The use of compact disc read-only-memory (CD-ROM) at a medical library is described. The introduction of CD-ROM as a reference tool has been a positive experience both for the library staff and the end users (doctors). Medical journals in fulltext, textbooks and special databases are already available on CD-Rom. Future perspectives concerning CD-technology for doctors are discussed.

A 26 year old primiparous woman in the 30th gestational week presented with upper right abdominal pain. Clinical examination revealed direct tenderness under the right curverture, oedema, hypertension and proteinuria. Ultrasound scanning showed a normal gallbladder. Laboratory findings revealed Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelet count. On account of suspected HELLP-syndrome cesarean section was performed. We suggest screening of all pregnant with upper abdominal symptoms suspected for preeclampsia by measuring platelet count and liver enzymes.

A 13-year-old boy presented with persisting abdominal pain after a skateboard accident. Primary clinical and laboratory findings disclosed no signs of intra abdominal bleeding. Ultrasound scanning indicated rupture of the spleen which was confirmed by acute exploratory laparotomy.