THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JULY,  1869. 
THE  PHAMACOPGEIA  OF  1870— SHALL  ITS  AUTHORITY  BE 
MORE  GENERALLY  RESPECTED? 
By  William  Procter,  Jr. 
In  May,  1870,  the  next  decennial  convention  of  delegates 
from  the  incorporated  medical  and  pharmaceutical  bodies  of  the 
United  States,  meets  in  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
the  usual  measures  to  effect  the  fifth  revision  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia. It  is  of  great  importance  to  both  physicians  and 
pharmaceutists  that  this  revision  should  be  wisely  considered  and 
thoroughly  executed,  so  that  the  pharmacopoeia  may  command 
the  respect  and  recognition  in  practice  so  necessary  to  its  use- 
fulness. In  the  absence  of  any  legal  power  to  compel  the  adop- 
tion of  its  formulae,  it  is  worthy  of  the  earnest  consideration  of 
the  medical  profession  and  of  all  well  informed  pharmaceutists  to 
devise  some  plan  by  which  a  more  general  recognition  of  its  au- 
thority may  be  effected.  Forty  years  ago,  before  the  edition  of 
1830  was  published,  apothecaries,  even  in  Philadelphia,  used  their 
private  manuscript  "receipt  books"  for  most  of  the  leading 
preparations.  Now  the  pharmacopoeia  or  its  commentary,  the 
U.  S.  Dispensatory,  is  found  in  every  shop.  Nevertheless  there 
is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  many  to  depart  from  officinal  rules, 
when  to  obey  them  is  more  troublesome  or  more  expensive  than 
some  short  cut  process  that  they  may  have  devised.  This  devi- 
ation in  reference  to  chemicals  of  a  positive  composition,  as 
calomel  or  tartar-emetic,  for  instance,  is  less  objectionable, 
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