86     Microscopic  Examination  of  Vegetable  Drugs.     { AFebJr0uaryF?9(»m' 
Two  main  reasons  advanced  in  favor  of  his  position  were  as  fol- 
lows : 
(a)  Very  few  of  the  active  pharmacists  in  our  country  are  college  graduates  ; 
and  even  if  all  the  graduates  of  all  the  schools  of  pharmacy  in  this  country 
were  still  alive,  and  all  were  still  actively  engaged  in  the  business,  they  would 
be  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  whole  number  engaged  in  the  business  of 
pharmacy. 
[b)  The  Convention  had  before  it  a  proposition  to  introduce  descriptions 
of  powdered  drugs  (proposed  by  Professor  Schneider)  and  voted  it  down ; 
another  effort  at  a  subsequent  session  to  get  at  the  same  result  was  to  refer  to 
the  Revision  Committee  ,  many  voting  for  this  motion  to  avoid  a  re-opening  of 
the  debate  on  the  subject,  and  confident  that  the  Committee  would  carry  out 
the  expressed  wish  and  will  of  the  Convention. 
It  is  now  proposed  by  the  sub-committee  to  introduce  the  descriptions  of 
the  microscopical  appearances  of  powdered  drugs.  It  is  not  necessary  to  argue 
this  subject  at  great  length  here  ;  it  was  fully  realized  by  the  Convention  that 
the  introduction  of  this  subj  ect  into  the  Pharmacopoeia  might  result  in  end- 
less persecutions  and  prosecutions  of  retail  pharmacists,  and  the  Convention  is 
on  record  as  disapproving  af  the  scheme. 
A  third  argument  against  the  introduction  of  descriptions  of 
powdered  drugs  was  presented  by  a  member  of  the  general  committee 
who  stated  : 
It  is  certain  that  much  more  space  will  have  to  be  given  to  assay  processes, 
and  the  chemical  descriptions  will  likewise  have  to  be  extended  in  the  new 
book.  The  increased  number  of  synthetics  which  will  be  added,  will  still 
further  enlarge  the  book,  and  there  are  other  additions  which  will  undoubtedly 
be  made,  and  it  is  therefore  necessary  at  this  time,  to  take  the  question  of  space 
into  serious  consideration. 
We  may  then  summarize  the  chief  objections  which  were  raised 
against  the  introduction  of  powdered  drugs  and  any  extension  of 
the  descriptions  of  crude  drugs: 
(a)  General  lack  of  education  among  pharmacists  in  the  United 
States. 
(b)  A  fear  that  pharmacists  would  be  persecuted  unduly  if  the 
characters  of  powdered  drugs  were  given. 
(c)  Lack  of  space  on  account  of  the  introduction  of  additional 
assay  processes,  synthetics  and  other  matters. 
Finally,  the  sub-committee  was  instructed  by  the  General  Com- 
mittee to  prepare  a  report  on  the  vegetable  drugs  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia according  to  the  following : 
(i)  The  botanical  and  pharmacognostical  descriptions  of  the  drugs  entering 
the  U.S. P.,  1900,  shall  be  framed  in  a  manner  similar  to  those  found  in  the  last 
