26 
Work  of  the  Council  on  Pharmacy. 
<  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    January,  1907. 
prietaries,  such  as  the  "  boozes"  and  the  "  dopes;"  but  this  work 
was,  however,  of  the  greatest  importance  and  value,  as  it  did  much 
to  bring  about  a  public  sentiment,  with  the  result  that  both  State 
and  National  legislation  has  followed.  When  our  recently  enacted 
Pure  Food  and  Drugs  Act  goes  into  effect  on  January  1st,  1907,  we 
will  know  the  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  morphine,  opium,  cocaine, 
chloral  hydrate  or  acetanilid  contained  in  any  of  these  proprietary 
mixtures. 
Not  only  this,  but  in  the  National  Food  and  Drugs  Act  we  find 
the  following  statement  in  Section  7  : 
"  That  for  the  purpose  of  this  act  an  article  shall  be  deemed  to  be 
adulterated  in  case  of  drugs : 
"(1)  If,  when  a  drug  is  sold  under  or  by  a  name  recognized  in 
the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  or  National  Formulary,  it  differs  from  the 
standard  of  strength,  quality  or  purity  as  determined  by  the  test 
laid  down  in  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  or  National  Formulary,  official 
at  the  time  of  investigation,  provided  that  no  drug  defined  in  the 
U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  or  National  Formulary  shall  be  deemed  to*  be 
adulterated  under  this  provision,  if  the  standard  of  strength,  quality 
or  purity  be  plainly  stated  upon  the  bottle,  box  or  other  container 
thereof,  although  the  standard  may  differ  from  that  determined  by 
the  tests  laid  down  in  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  or  National 
Formulary. 
"  (2)  If  its  strength  or  purity  fall  below  the  professed  standard 
or  quality  under  which  it  is  sold." 
This  very  important  provision  insures  that  articles  which  are 
labelled  "  U.S.P."  or  "  N.F."  without  other  qualification,  must  abso- 
lutely conform  to  the  standard  of  strength  and  purity  of  those  two 
publications,  which  are  hereby  given  official  recognition  at  the  hands 
of  the  Government.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  article  is  distinctly 
labelled  to  be  of  another  strength  than  the  official,  it  may  be  sold, 
but  its  strength  or  purity  dare  not  fall  below  the  professed  standard 
or  quality  under  which  it  is  sold. 
It  is  obvious  that  we  have  here  very  important  aids  in  maintaining 
the  purity  of  preparations  to  be  used  in  medicine,  whether  they  be 
official  or  proprietary  articles. 
When  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  was  constituted, 
effort  was  made  to  have  pharmacists,  chemists  and  pharmacologists 
all  represented,  and  the  Council  was  divided  for  detail  work  into 
