88 
\ 
Correspondence. 
f  A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    February,  1904. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
ALTERNATIVE  FORMULAS.  1 
Ever  since  the  change  made  in  the  official  formulas  of  substitut- 
ing parts  by  weight,  and  which  was  subsequently  followed  by  metric 
apportionment,  trade  and  professional  interest  in  the  Pharmacopoeia 
has  been  withdrawn  and  transferred  to  commentaries.  In  other 
words,  pharmacists,  instead  of  indicating  a  preference  for  the  work 
of  authority,  absolutely  ignore  it,  and  in  its  place  we  find  the  various 
dispensatories,  companions,  etc.  Not  that  I  would  say  aught  against 
these  most  useful,  indispensable  repositories  of  information,  for  they 
do  more  toward  instructing  the  student — educating  him  as  it  is 
usually  expressed — than  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Each  work  should 
occupy  a  distinct  field.  The  Pharmacopoeia,  however,  must  be  a 
book  of  working  formulas,  and  these  as  plain,  simple  and  direct  as 
science  in  her  modesty  can  make  them. 
I  would  like  to  suggest  that  the  Committee  of  Revision,  in  antici- 
pation of  the  same  conditions  prevailing  in  the  future  which  have 
predominated  in  the  past,  do  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  a  con- 
tinuance of  this  plight.  It  has  operated  during  the  past  two  decades 
and  presumably  will  continue  unless  steps  are  taken  to  overcome  it, 
and  with  this  end  in  view  I  advisedly  suggest  that  alternative 
formulas  in  definite  common  weights  and  measures  be  presented  as 
is  done  by  the  British  Pharmacopoeia.  Not  that  I  would  favor 
aping  that  work,  but  that  we  exercise  good,  wholesome  judgment 
in  discriminating  what  is  useful  from  that  which  is  practically  use- 
less. The  sale  of  copies  of  the  last  revision  were  in  a  measure  satis- 
factory, but  this  was  due  almost  entirely  to  the  fact  that  schools  of 
pharmacy  and  medicine  insisted  upon  students  securing  it  as  a  text- 
book. 
To  continue  the  work  with  the  metric  system  alone  is  to  wilfully 
relegate  it  to  a  place  among  useless  publications. 
Very  respectfully, 
F.  M.  Goodman. 
Chicago,  III.,  January  7,  1904. 
xThe  above  is  an  open  letter  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  United  States 
Pharmacopceial  Convention. — Editor. 
