THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



log 



This supply was soon exhausted and was 

 followed by a second edition of 5,000 cop- 

 ies, and again, in 1894, ^ third edition of 

 5,000 had to be printed, and a large por- 

 tion of these is already sold. 



Altogether the reception of the work 

 has been a favorable one both at home 

 and abroad. Criticisms have been pub- 

 lished in a number of journals, some of 

 them censuring the committee of revision 

 for introducing or omitting features which 

 were not in the power of the committee to 

 control, as their action was limited by the 

 instructions on the convention which 

 elected the committee. Among the omis- 

 sions especially censured was the non- 

 introduction of a number of modern syn- 

 thetic chemicals, such as antipyrin, phe- 

 nacetin. sulfonal, etc., which are received 

 into European pharmacopoeias. Many of 

 the members of the committee of revision 

 were in favor of their admission, but the 

 stringent rule, number 6, adopted by the 

 convention, forbade this, and the only 

 remed}^ for those who wish such prepa- 

 rations introduced will be that the dele- 

 gates to the nex: convention give greater 

 libertv of action to the committee they 

 may then elect. 



Another objection dwelt on by some 

 critics was the failure of stating the doses 

 of the remedial agents, or at least the 

 maximum doses of very active and poi- 

 sonous preparations. This question was 

 also under discussion in the convention, 

 and though no formal restriction was 

 placed upon the committee of revision, 

 the sentiment expressed in the convention 

 was so unfavorable to the introduction of 

 doses that it was not deemed prudent to 

 contravene it. 



As in all large publications, a number 

 of mi.sprints have happened, and have 

 been discovered too late for correction in 

 the plates of the first edition. In spite of 

 all care, and the most painstaking proof- 

 reading, such mishaps will always occur. 



and are more liable to be overlooked 

 where the authors of the book live dis- 

 tant from each other and from the place 

 of publication. Unless the printing is to 

 be unduly protracted, only a limited time 

 can he given to reading the proofs, and 

 this is much shortened when they are to 

 be sent and returned by mail- In spite 

 of many vigilant eyes, not only of the 

 editor and the whole committee, but also 

 of the outside assistants, a few errors 

 were permitted to pass. Fortunately they 

 were mostly unimportant, such as each 

 reader would readily correct when no- 

 ticed, and a list of errata has been pub- 

 lished to enable the purchaser of the first 

 edition to correct them. The plates have 

 at once been corrected, so that the errors 

 are eliminated from the later copies. 



Since the publication of the Pharma- 

 copoeia the committee of revision has 

 not been idle. Its active chairman. Dr. 

 Charles Rice, with the consent of all the 

 members, has organized "Research" 

 committees to engage in preparatory 

 work in aid of the next revision. Thus 

 far four such committees have been or- 

 ganized : 



Research Committee A. Subject, The 

 feasibility of devising practical methods 

 of assay for drugs containing no sharply 

 defined proximate principles capable of 

 being separated in a sufficiently pure 

 state (such as ergot, digitalis, rhubarb, 

 etc.) 



Chairman : Dr. W. M. Mew. 

 Research Committee B. Subject, Re- 

 vision of the description and tests of 

 inorganic chemicals, including salts 

 of inorganic bases with organic acids. 

 Revision of the volumetric assays of the 

 U. S. P. Study of the proper limits of 

 purity or strength of chemicals, now offi- 

 cial or likely to become so hereafter. 

 Chairman : Dr. Charles O. Curtman. 

 Research Committee C. Subject, In- 

 quiry into the feasibility of incorporating 



