GENERAL PAPERS 81 



put up in attractive form, are usually of pleasant flavor, and, 

 being - always made by the same firm, are uniform in strength 

 and appearance. The manufacturer's name on the label is a 

 guaranty of genuineness and uniformity; when I write a pre- 

 scription for a proprietary I know exactly what will be dis- 

 pensed. Prescriptions compounded from U. S. P. drugs by 

 different pharmacists frequently vary in color, flavor and 

 strength; when I order a mixture of U. S. P. drugs I do not 

 know how the mixture will look and taste when finished." 



THE READJUSTMENT OF THE U. S. P. TO MEDICAL PRACTICE 



The question then is, shall we drive physicians back to the 

 limits set by the Pharmacopoeia, or shall we extend the limits 

 of the latter so as to suit the prevailing practice among physi- 

 cians ? 



The readjustment of conditions so as to bring the contents 

 of the Pharmacopoeia and the practice of medicine into some- 

 thing like substantial agreement is a complex and delicate prob- 

 lem. To arbitrarily command the physician to restrict his pre- 

 scriptions to a particular list of drugs would be of itself a kind 

 of medical sectarianism, and of a peculiarly offensive kind, 

 since it would have to be a sectarianism supported by legal pen- 

 alties. 



To attempt to limit medical practice in this manner would 

 unduly infringe upon the right of the physician to select such 

 medicinal agents as he thought most useful, and would tend to 

 prevent progress in the discovery and application of new medic- 

 inal agents. 



We would not undertake to compel artisans to use the same 

 kind of tools for the purpose of doing the same kind of work, 

 but would leave it to each workman to select the tools he pre- 

 ferred ; why, therefore, should the physician be prevented from 

 using the tools with which he is best acquainted and with which 

 he gets the best results ? 



On the other hand, it would manifestly be impossible to ex- 

 tend the U. S. P. so as to include the thousands of proprietary 

 and semi-proprietary articles in common use. 



