PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. — SUB-SECTION, PHARMACY. 143 



Thus we come to the official requirements of our pharmacopoeias, 

 and also to the standards set up by the Public Health Regulations in 

 various countries of the world. These standards put a legal obligation 

 on the manufacturer and distributor which he is bound to follow, even 

 if he be not anxious to avail himself of such knowledge and information 

 as may come before him for the conscientious discharge of his duty 

 in supplying the best that it is in his power to do. 



Further, commercial considerations must weigh, and the manu- 

 facturer who desires to hold and increase his business must, under 

 modern conditions, be able to guarantee his goods and stand by his 

 guarantee. 



Thus analytical control is an essential feature in our business, and 

 the more complete it is the more conscientiously can the business be 

 carried on ; it may be added that the interest in the business is 

 thereby increased. That there are many difficulties in the way must 

 be confessed, and also there is to be emphasized the danger of being 

 carried away by pure analytical data without due consideration of the 

 wider aspects of the question. Cost of production has to be considered. 

 Reliability of chemical and physical tests and standards must be 

 proved before being adopted. Clinical testimony that the drug depends 

 for its activity on the suggested standard of active principle must be 

 obtained before we adopt that standard. Economic requirements of 

 various countries must be considered. 



But, while the possible pit-falls are numerous, the broad basis of 

 control is obvious, and this paper is an attempt to deal briefly with 

 those methods which are generally adopted. In Great Britain and the 

 British Colonies we follow first the standards of the British Pharma- 

 copoeia, supplemented by the Indian and Colonial Addendum, which 

 gives certain latitudes to those parts of the Empire which are governed 

 by local conditions. The British Pharmacopoeia is not, as is expressly 

 pointed out, a legal standard, but is intended (as is stated in the prefaces) 

 " to afford to members of the medical profession and those engaged in 

 the preparation of medicines throughout the British Empire one 

 uniform standard and guide, whereby the nature and composition of 

 substances to be used in medicine may be ascertained and deter- 

 mined." In many parts of the Empire, as in AustraUa, it has been 

 supplemented by additional regulations imposed by the local Govern- 

 ment, which presumably have been found necessary to cope with 

 local conditions. 



In Great Britain itself, however, the Pharma<iopoeia is, imder the 

 Foods and Drugs Act, as a matter of fact, accepted as the standard 

 in a court of law ; although it is now some fourteen years old, it is 

 generally sufficient if the defendant can show the article in question 

 was B.P. to secure acquittal. There have been great strides in our 

 knowledge since the British Pharmacopoeia was published, and many of 



