490 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 
profession  in  its  reports,  T  deem  it  advisable  to  continue  the  Committee,  and 
make  a  division  of  the  subject  for  separate  reports.  For  instance,  one 
division  might  embrace  those  articles  of  use  as  component  parts  of  our  daily 
food, — treating  them  as  subjects  of  the  Materia  Medica,  or  on  sanitary- 
grounds ;  another  division  might  embrace  the  preparations  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia; still  another,  articles  of  Materia  Medica. 
The  publication  of  the  analysis  of  most  articles  as  commonly  found  in 
commerce,  together  with  a  statement  of  what  they  should  be,  would 
certainly  improvethe  standard  of  commercial  quality,  if  only  by  comparison. 
To  what  extent  it  is  advisable  to  publish  the  names  of  adulterating  parties, 
I  leave  it  for  the  committees  to  report  and  the  Association  to  decide.  The 
reports  of  these  committees  would  be  much  more  valuable  if  members  would 
jeport  cases  and  send  samples  for  examination  lo  this  Committee,  who  have 
solicited  and  been  anxious  to  receive  them. 
I  cannot  too  strongly  urge  upon  you  the  duty  as  well  as  policy  of  making 
no  compromise  with  adulterations  and  adulterators.  If  there  is  any  sin  that 
should  be  exposed  and  punished,  it  is  that  which  lurks  unseen  and  works 
mischief  and  death  upon  innocent  parties. 
Pharmacopeia. — At  our  last  meeting,  your  Committee  on  the  Pharma- 
copoeia made  their  final  report.  The  result  of  our  labors  was  presented  to 
the  Pharmacopoeia  Convention  and  accepted  J  and,  although  as  an  Association 
we  had  no  delegation  in  that  body,  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the 
apothecaries  were  well  represented,  and  that  a  majority  of  the  Committee, 
appointed  or  elected  by  the  Convention  for  the  revision  of  the  United  States 
Pharmacopoeia,  are  members  of  this  Association,  and  those  whom  we  should 
consider  most  suitable  for  the  purpose.  It  should,  therefore,  be  considered 
and  upheld  as  a  fair  expression  of  the  views  of  pharmaceutists  throughout 
the  United  States,  more  especially  as  the  committee  of  revision,  I  under- 
stand, are  acting  very  harmoniously,  and  we  may  expect  in  due  time  a 
national  work  that  should  carry  weight  and  authority  with  it  sufficient  to  do 
away  with  all  private  formulae  for  officinal  preparations.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  Pharmacopoeia  will  be  a  work  of  fixed  and  available  standards  ; 
and  that  all  who  follow  the  profession  of  pharmacy  will  strictly  conform  to 
it,  that  we  may  have  one  uniform  standard  throughout  the  country,  no 
matter  how  great  a  change  it  may  make  in  the  preparations  that  have  been 
previously  in  the  market. 
It  is  proposed  to  publish  a  large  and  cheap  edition,  to  give  it  a  wide 
circulation,  and  we  may  resonably  expect  that  this  Association,  in  its 
individual  capacity,  will  do  its  utmost  to  establish  it  as  soon  as  published,  as 
the  only  authority  for  preparations  that  have  an  officinal  name. 
Sale  of  Poisons. — Owing  to  numerous  cases  of  poisoning,  exciting  great 
public  interest  of  late,  the  attention  of  legislation  has  been  attracted  to  this 
subject,  and  it  is  surprising  to  notice  how  weak  and  inefficient  have  been 
all  the  laws  to  remedy  the  evil.  The  difficulty  of  framing  a  law  to  protect 
the  community,  accommodate  the  public,  and  at  the  same  time  be  equitable 
