2 8o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



governmental officials; or, in the case of England, by a board espe- 

 cially authorized by the government. One of the peculiarities of 

 Anglo-Saxon civilization is the performance by volunteer bodies under 

 sanction of law of functions which are really governmental. Witness 

 the Brethren of the Trinity, who control and manage the lighthouses 

 of England; witness, also, the United States Pharmacopceial Conven- 

 tion, an incorporated society, which controls the United States Phar- 

 macopoeia. Little by little, now in customs regulations, now in pure 

 food bills, now in this, now in that form, without any definite prear- 

 ranged specific legislation, the United States Pharmacopoeia has come 

 to have the force of law in the United States. In the Latin countries 

 the result of such a method would probably be bad; in the Anglo- 

 Saxon lands with the habit of submission of the individual to the 

 majority, the present method has been successful, and probably more 

 successful than direct governmental rule would have been. The United 

 States Pharmacopoeia scientifically and practically ranks with any 

 in the world, and obedience to its mandates in pharmacy and in medi- 

 cine is universal. 



The first attempt to make a pharmacopoeia in the United States was 

 in 1820; the result was not fortunate, but in 1830 a second edition 

 was prepared which commanded the respect of the profession and was 

 generally accepted. Before this period, if a doctor wrote for a tinc- 

 ture he would get it in one strength in Philadelphia, another strength 

 in New York ; or, perchance, the apothecary on the right side of Broad- 

 way would give him one strength of preparation, whilst his rival on 

 the other side of the street would put up an entirely different article. 

 What was formerly nationally true is now true internationally. 

 A prescription written in New York for a certain much used 

 poisonous remedy would be put up three times the desired strength 

 in Montreal, where the British Pharmacopoeia is in vogue. Arsenical 

 preparations having the same name vary in strength from 1 in 10,000 

 to 2 per cent., according to the national standard in accordance with 

 which they have been made. The growing freedom of intercourse 

 among nations has made this situation intolerable, and various efforts 

 have been put forth to correct the evil. At last the Belgian govern- 

 ment, by summoning the International Conference for the Unification 

 of the Formulas of Heroic Medicines, at Brussels, apparently solved 

 the difficulty. In this conference, which was official and diplomatic in 

 nature, each government of the civilized world was represented by a 

 physician and a chemist or pharmacist and after much talk standards 

 of strength were finally agreed upon for all very potent drugs, and 

 pledges were made by most governments that the National Phar- 

 macopoeias should be made to conform. The new United States 

 Pharmacopoeia is on the eve of printing; the Committee of Eevision 

 has adopted the results of the Brussels conference, and it will be the 

 first National Pharmacopoeia of International scope. 



