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United  States  Pharmacopoeia. 
l  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
i.  September,  1908. 
SOME  MINOR  SUGGESTIONS  FOR  IMPROVEMENTS  IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES  PHARMACOPCEIA.1 
By  George  M.  Beringer. 
The  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when  the  convention  for  the 
Ninth  Revision  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  must  be  held. 
The  eighth  revision  has  been  the  official  standard  since  September  I, 
1905,  and  it  is  believed  to  have  been  more  generally  studied  and 
criticised  than  any  one  of  the  previous  revisions.  A  volume  of  its 
size  and  complex  composition  cannot  be  expected  to  be  perfect  or 
free  either  of  errors  or  criticism. 
The  present  revision  gives  every  evidence  of  the  high  ideal  of  the 
Committee  of  Revision,  and  we  have  their  official  assurance  that 
"  communications  containing  suggestions  for  improvements  in  the 
Pharmacopoeia  will  be  thankfully  received,  carefully  considered,  and 
utilized'  as  far  as  possible." 
It  is  certainly  fair  to  assume  that  every  one  of  the  thousands  of 
intelligent  users  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  including  the  pharmacists  of 
New  Jersey,  has  noted  some  omissions,  errors  or  defects  in  formulas, 
or  has  encountered  some  difficulty  in  following  official  directions  or 
has  worked  out  some  improvements.  These  should  all  be  presented 
to  the  pharmaceutical  societies,  discussed  and  permanently  recorded 
and  published  so  as  to  be  available  and  of  assistance  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Revision  in  their  most  laudable  desire  to  make  the  next 
revision  a  still  more  satisfactory  standard  and  as  near  perfect  as 
possible. 
The  present  communication  is  offered  with  the  hope  that  the 
criticisms  and  suggestions  ventured  will  create  discussion,  and  if  any 
of  the  suggestions  are  available  that  these  will  receive  consideration 
and  be  utilized  in  the  next  revision. 
CRUDE  DRUGS. 
Drugs  of  Vegetable  Origin. — Definitions  and  Descriptions. — The 
value  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  a  text  book  as  well  as  an  accurate 
legal  authority  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  and  also  the  very  uncertain 
knowledge  of  the  sources  of  the  drugs  too  frequently  possessed  and 
exhibited  alike  by  prescriber  and  dispenser.    This  leads  to  a  sugges- 
1  Presented  to  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Association  at  the  thirty-eighth 
annual  meeting,  Atlantic  City,  June  5,  1908. 
