REPORT ON THE PHARM A COPCEIA. 
281 
ishing darkness, raising the veil of obscurity, and dispelling 
error. Of the share which the profession of pharmacy is capable 
of contributing toward the amendment and improvement of a 
National Pharmacopoeia, it becomes not us to boast; of the 
share which those who represent the medical profession will 
furnish, it becomes not us to judge; each will doubtless devote 
the best efforts of their professional skill to the undertaking; 
and an honorable and praiseworthy emulation will be excited 
in each, to effect, to the utmost of their abilities, the perfection 
of the great work which they have in charge. 
Uninfluenced by prejudice, uncontrolled by partisan views, 
untrammelled by dogma, and unfettered by a veneration for 
mere antiquity, the results which must flow from the co- 
operation and concurrence of sentiment of the two professions, 
must be vast indeed. They must give a tone and character 
to the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, which will endow 
it with the freshness and independence of an original work. 
It will be utterly exempt from the imputation of being derived 
from foreign authorities by a mere transference of the 
contents of their pages to our own; but, above all, and by far 
the most important advantage which is to be derived from 
the mixed commission, under which the revision has been 
effected, will be to insure uniformity of nomenclature, and 
identity of preparation, to a greater extent than any influence 
less than that of positive law, would enforce. For after all it 
must be borne in mind, that, in this country, it rests with the in- 
dividual judgment of each apothecary to adopt or reject the for- 
mulae of the Pharmacopoeia, as they may meet his approbation, 
or obtain his confidence by the faith which he may place in the 
knowledge and capacity of those who may have had charge of 
their creation. The experience of every one will sustain 
this declaration. As the latter influence is that which in the 
main, governs the majority of those who are to employ the 
preparation, it follows that it is a matter of the last moment 
so to direct the composition of the board of review, as must 
effectually and certainly win the reliance of the large class, 
whose confidence must be secured if uniformity and identity 
ovl. vn. — NO. iv. 36 
