210  The  Scope  of  the  National  Formulary.  {Am-i°ay?i907arm' 
Whatever  the  use  for  this  widespread  use  of  proprietaries  in  our 
country  may  be,  it  must  be  apparent  to  all  that  the  more  evident 
the  abuse  the  more  difficult  it  will  be  to  correct  or  eliminate  it. 
Formulas  like  those  embodied  in  the  National  Formulary  can 
and  will  contribute  much  to  limit  the  continued  use  of  nostrums  ; 
they  constitute,  however,  but  a  means  for  reform  and  should  not  be 
mistaken  for  reform  itself.  Whether  or  not  formulas  that  are  speci- 
fically designed  to  controvert  the  use  of  complex  semi-secret 
preparations  should  be  included  in  a  book  that  has  been  dignified 
as  a  legal  authority,  is  a  question  that  will  readily  admit  of  a  wide 
variance  of  opinion  and  is  the  question  that  more  directly  suggests 
the  need  for  a  more  careful  consideration  of  the  shortcomings  of 
the  present  edition  of  the  N.ational  Formulary. 
Legally  the  National  Formulary  is  the  equal,  as  a  standard  in 
Interstate  Commerce,  to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  it  can  no  longer 
be  said  to  be  "  unofficial."  Being  legally  official,  the  question  of 
revising,  changing,  adding  to  or  eliminating  from  its  pages  becomes 
a  matter  of  greater  and  more  serious  consideration.  Pharmacists 
in  all  parts  of  the  country  appear  to  be  awakening  to  the  possibility 
of  complications  that  may  and  no  doubt  will  arise  out  of  the  various 
errors  of  omission  and  commission  to  be  found  in  the  present 
edition  of  the  book. 
Without  going  greatly  into  detail,  it  may  be  permissible  to  point 
out  some  of  the  more  apparent  shortcomings  of  the  book  as  they 
appear  to  a  casual  observer. 
The  use  of  alternative  weights  and  measures  may  be  pointed 
to  as  one  of  the  most  unfortunate  features  of  the  edition  of  the 
National  Formulary.  The  use  of  exact  alternative  quantities  would 
have  been  ridiculous  and  absolutely  worthless,  while  the  use  of 
approximate  quantities,  as  adopted  in  the  National  Formulary,  robs 
the  book  of  that  conciseness  and  appearance  of  accuracy  that  should 
dominate  an  authoritative  book  of  official  formulas.  In  this  particular 
instance  it  has  also  been  the  cause  of  more  evident  and  glaring 
errata  than  all  of  the  other  features  put  together. 
The  inclusion  of  such  a  large  number  of  complex  formulas  is 
also  to  be  regretted.  Fully  30  per  cent,  of  the  formulas  in  the 
present  edition  should  not  be  dignified  by  being  included  in  a  work 
of  this  kind,  and  it  is  to  be  desired  that  in  future  revisions  a  very 
large  number  of  these  preparations  will  be  omitted. 
