76 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



ner's demonstration of the advantage of vaccination ended the 

 devastation of smallpox; with the practical application of the 

 discoveries of Laveran and Ross, malaria ceased to be the 

 scourge of mankind; the use of the knowledge of Reed, Car- 

 roll and Lazear made the Panama Canal a possibility and closed 

 our ports to yellow fever; our understanding of the life history 

 of the Koch vibrio has kept Asiatic cholera beyond our shores, 

 and a scientific attack upon plague has prevented its spread 

 and practically driven it from the country. 



The knowledge of tuberculosis is as complete as that of 

 plague; the epidemiologoy of typhoid fever and cholera are 

 practically identical; the understanding of syphilis is as clear 

 as that of malaria, and the information concerning diphtheria 

 as definite as that of yellow fever. The way for the great re- 

 duction or elimination of preventable disease is known; the 

 need is for society to educate its members, use the methods, and 

 bear the cost. 



THE UNITED STATES PHARMACOPOEIA IN ITS 



RELATION TO THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 



AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH 



By James H. Beal, Urbana, III. 



The United States Pharmacopoeia is the local standard for 

 the purity and strength of drugs and medicines in both inter- 

 state and intrastate commerce, and as such is intimately related 

 to the practice of medicine and the public health. 



A pharmacopoeia, properly so-called, differs from other 

 books descriptive of drugs in that it possesses an official char- 

 acter. Originally pharmacopoeias derived their official char- 

 acter from the fact that they were compiled and issued under 

 the authority of certain colleges or universities, as the early 

 European pharmacopoeias, or were compiled and issued under 

 the authority of some medical or pharmaco-medical society, as 

 in the United States. 



At present every important pharmacopoeia of the world is 

 either issued directly by some government bureau or a commit- 

 tee, or if issued by some non-governmental body, is adopted 



