130  Progress  in  Pharmacy.  {A%4rct?mm 
position  to  the  medical  profession  and  to  the  general  public  as  did 
the  pharmacist  of  a  generation  or  more  ago. 
The  Metric  System  of  Weights  and  Measures  in  American 
Pharmacy. — An  open  letter,  headed  "  Alternative  Formulas,"  pub- 
lished on  page  88  (February,  1904)  of  the  American  Journal  of 
Pharmacy,  may  possibly  represent  the  ideas  of  a  number  of  so-called 
pharmacists,  but  it  certainly  cannot  represent  the  opinions  of  any 
one  that  has  tried  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  progress  in  chemistry 
and  other  sciences  allied  to  pharmacy.  In  this  connection  it  would 
be  preposterous,  indeed,  to  assert  that  the  average  American  phar- 
macist is  not  as  progressive,  or  as  capable  of  progressing,  as  is  his 
fellow  craftsman  of  Germany,  Italy  or  even  Russia. 
The  writer  of  the  letter  noted  above  makes  one  uncontrovertible 
statement  when  he  says  that  "  the  Pharmacopoeia  must  be  a  book 
of  working  formulas,  and  these  as  plain,  simple  and  direct  as  science 
in  her  modesty  can  make  them." 
If  we  compare  the  formulas  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia 
with  those  published  in  the  Dispensatories,  or  even  with  the  formu- 
las for  corresponding  preparations  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  it 
will  not  be  dificult  to  decide  as  to  which  of  the  three  should  be 
designated  as  being  plain,  simple  and  direct. 
There  is,  however,  much  more  to  be  said  in  favor  of  retaining  the 
metric  system  alone  in  the  coming  United  States  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  is,  or  should  be,  intended  for  pharmacists,  and 
not  for  drug-sellers  or  patent-medicine  vendors. 
To  be  a  pharmacist,  one  must  be  conversant  with  the  chemical 
tests  that  are  available  for  the  quantitative  as  well  as  qualitative 
examination  of  drugs,  chemicals  and  preparations. 
Any  one  that  has  ever  attempted  quantitative  chemical  analysis, 
particularly  when  volumetric  processes  are  involved,  will  appreciate 
the  advantages  of  a  decimal  system  of  weights  and  measures. 
So  far  as  known,  the  metric  system  of  weights  and  measures  is 
the  only  decimal  system  available  or  in  use,  and  this  system,  in 
addition,  has  the  advantage  of  being  universally  used  by  chemists 
and  scientific  investigators  generally. 
If  these  assertions  are  based  on  facts,  the  Pharmacopceial  Revision 
Committee  would  be  making  a  very  serious  mistake  to  deviate,  in 
any  way,  from  the  now  well-established  practice  of  having  a  very 
high-class  book,  intended  only  for  such  as  are  willing  or  anxious  to 
do  high-class  work. 
