Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1910.  / 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
123 
PROGRESS  IN  PHARMACY. 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Washington,  D.  C. 
A  QUARTERLY  REVIEW  OF  SOME  OF  THE  MORE  INTERESTING  LITERA- 
TURE RELATING  TO  PHARMACY  AND  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
Not  for  many  years  have  the  happenings  in  the  pharmaceutical 
line  attracted  such  wide-spread  attention  and  discussion  as  at 
present,  and,  if  interest  is  an  indication  of  importance,  pharmacists 
who  can  manage  to  keep  abreast  of  the  progress  that  is  being  made 
are  destined  to  come  into  their  own  in  the  near  future. 
The  interest  in  the  forthcoming  Pharmacopceial  Convention  is 
growing.  Both  medical  and  pharmaceutical  journals  are  devoting 
considerable  space  to  the  consideration  of  matter  relating  to  the 
Pharmacopoeia.  As  the  time  for  the  convention  approaches,  we 
also  find  an  ever-increasing  difference  of  opinion  on  the  scope  and 
content  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  manifesting  itself.  One  extreme,  in 
this  connection,  is  that  embodied  in  the  so-called  Coudrey  Bill. 
The  U.S.P.  and  the  Coudrey  Bill. — Some  of  the  daily  papers  and 
many  of  the  medical  and  pharmaceutical  journals  have  recently 
devoted  considerable  space  to  the  discussion  of  a  bill  introduced 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  December  10,  1909,  by  Repre- 
sentative Coudrey.  This  bill  is  officially  designated  as  H.R.  13859, 
and  it  provides  for  the  amendment  of  the  Pure  Food  and  Drugs 
Act  of  1906  so  as  to  require  "  That  the  United  States  Government 
should  edit  and  publish  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  or  the 
National  Formulary,  and  have  a  complete  test  for  purity  and 
strength  of  all  drugs  and  chemicals  whether  generally  used  or  not." 
Dr.  H.  H.  Rusby  (A.  Ph.  A.  Bulletin,  1910,  p.  82)  recently 
expressed  the  belief  that  the  Pharmacopoeia  being  a  national  stand- 
ard should  include  all  drugs  that  are  used  to  any  considerable 
extent.  He  also  believes  that  a  new  class  of  drug  standards  will 
be  essential.  Such  a  class  should  include :  ash  test,  limit  of  starch 
in  non-starchy  drugs,  limit  of  woody  tissue  in  non-woody  drugs, 
extraction  constants,  and  clearer  definitions. 
The  Medical  Profession  and  the  Pharmacopoeia. — An  editorials 
points  out  that :    "  A  thoroughly  up-to-date  Pharmacopoeia — one 
which  will  truly  reflect  the  best  medical  practice  of  the  present  time 
— will  contribute  more  to  sane  drug  therapeutics  than  any  other 
