136 THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



Reasonable allowance for unavoidable variation in purity and strength 

 of drugs. 



The gradual seeking of uniformity in strength of our preparations with 

 those of other countries. 



The disposition of the accumulated funds of the 7th revision. 



The personnel of the new officers and committee of revision. 



Several of these subjects require but little discussion and can be quickly 

 disposed of. 



Doses. — The demand for these was very general, and there was no op- 

 position from any source. Average doses only are to be stated, and re- 

 sponsibility is specifically disavowed on the part of the Pharmacopoeia. 

 The arrangement thus becomes one of convenience and not of authority. 

 The doses will probably be printed in the body of the book and repeated 

 in a list, to increase the convenience of reference. 



English Equivalents. — Much inconvenience has resulted from the use in 

 the 7th Revision of the metric terms exclusively, and it was desired to follow 

 them, in parenthesis, with the English equivalents. To this it was objected 

 that people would never learn the metric system while they had access to 

 both terms ; but the opposite view prevailed and both are to be used. 



Assays. — The recognition of the value of assay processes has become 

 general since the last convention, when it was strongly opposed, for the 

 most part on grounds quite foreign to the merits of the case. Better still, 

 methods have been improved and extended, rendering a further advance 

 practicable. 



Physiological assaying was absolutely tabooed, leaving antitoxin and 

 other similar substances without legal or official standards and quite at 

 the mercy of anyone inclined to take advantage of the situation. This 

 result was due to the same narrow and unscientific spirit which opposed 

 chemical assaying ten years ago. While the action taken was in the 

 main right, and even necessary, the spirit referred to led to an active oppo- 

 sition to such measures as were not only desirable, but also practicable. 



Allowable Variatio7i. — No argument is necessary to show the impor- 

 tance of interpreting requirements so as to avoid giving them the color of 

 impossibility. 



International Uniformity. — For a nation which has pursued the policy 

 of preventing exportations, so far as possible, as the United States has 

 done, international uniformity has been a matter of little commercial im- 

 portance, however desirable in principle. Now, however that exportation 

 has forced itself into the position of a reality, it is highly desirable that 

 our tincture of nux vomica and similar preparations should conform in 

 strength to those of other countries when found beside them upon a foreign 

 shelf. This uniformity is to be attained as rapidlj' as is consistent with 

 domestic interests. 



