2J0 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1902. 
should  have  been,  has  nevertheless  reached  a  much  greater  number 
of  active  pharmacists  than  the  previous  edition.  All  of  this  despite 
the  fact  that  the  1880  edition  directed  the  attention  of  the  majority 
of  these  pharmacists  to  the  evident  advantages  of  the  dispensatories 
and  commentaries  that  were  and  are  allowed  to  publish  at  will 
complete  or  modified  working  formulas  for  the  different  prepara- 
tions. It  must  therefore  be  considered  a  promising  indication  for 
the  future  that  a  gradually  increasing  number  of  pharmacists  are 
again  making  their  preparations  from,  and  comparing  their  crude 
drugs  and  chemicals  to,  the  clear  and  graphic  formulas  and  descrip- 
tions as  given  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  itself. 
It  will  readily  be  admitted  that  the  book  from  which  the  every- 
day work  of  the  pharmacist  is  conducted  should  not  be  overbur- 
dened with  foreign  matter.  The  formulas  should  be  clear  and  dis- 
tinct and  not  given  in  duplicate  or  triplicate,  as  is  the  case  with 
some  as  given  in  the  dispensatories. 
This  brief  review  of  the  past  editions  will  of  course  suggest  specu- 
lation as  to  the  merits  and  contents  of  the  coming. 
That  the  coming  book  will  be  a  marked  step  in  advance,  and 
practically  inaugurate  a  new  era  in  professional  pharmacy,  is  to  be 
expected.  That  we  have  a  right  to  expect  this  is  evidenced,  not 
alone  by  the  indications  from  the  past,  but  is  already  assured  by  the 
action  and  recommendations  of  the  last  convention.  As  is  well 
known,  this  convention  has  authorized  certain  changes  that  will 
give  the  book  a  firmer  and  more  authoritative  position  with  the 
rank  and  file  of  both  the  medical  and  the  pharmaceutical  profes- 
sions. 
That  the  coming  book  will  prove  to  be  the  equal  if  not  superior 
of  any  of  the  recent  editions  of  several  of  the  European  Pharma- 
copoeias, is  assured  by  the  scientific  character  and  attainments  cf 
the  various  members  of  the  Pharmacopceial  Revision  Committee. 
That  the  new  book  will  have  exceptional  merits  is  doubly  assured 
by  the  established  standards  that  it  must  at  least  equal,  if  not 
excel. 
Whether  or  not  it  will  become  a  popular  book  will  depend  largely 
on  the  action  of  the  Committee  on  Publication,  and  mainly  on  the 
price  at  which  it  is  to  be  sold.  Let  us  hope  that,  for  the  sake  of 
advancing  the  interests  of  scientific  pharmacy  in  these  United 
States,  this  committee  may  see  its  way  clear  to  publish,  not  only  a 
