^ecemberr^i™' >       °f  P^'macopmal  Standards.  573 
cepted  and  moreover  progress  in  the  medical  sciences  since  that  time 
has  presented  some  new  problems,  so  that  there  is  now  great  need 
for  another  international  conference  on  the  subject. 
The  Federal  Food  and  Drugs  Act  of  1906  named  the  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia  and  the  National  Formulary  as  the  legal  au- 
thorities for  drugs  and  their  standards  of  strength,  quality  and 
purity  thus  became  the  law  for  such  drugs  and  formulas  as  are 
included  in  these  works.  While  Ave  had,  as  the  result  of  the  un- 
selfish labors  of  the  revisers  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  National 
Formulary,  two  standard  books  that  could  be  recognized  as  legal 
authorities  for  most  of  the  drugs  commonly  used,  it  is  noteworthy 
that  there  were  no  such  standard  authorities  for  the  foods  consumed 
and  this  deficiency  has  not  yet  been  supplied. 
I  am  well  aware  that  the  Federal  Food  and  Drugs  Act  also 
failed  to  provide  standards  or  to  designate  any  published  work  as 
the  accepted  legal  authority  for  purely  homeopathic  medicines.  In 
my  opinion  this  was  an  oversight  that  should  have  been  corrected 
as  a  number  of  homeopathic  drugs  and  preparations  are  of  such 
extensive  use  that  standards  of  quality  and  purity  should  have  been 
named. 
The  failure  of  the  efforts  of  the  homeopathic  practitioners  to 
secure  favorable  action  by  Congress  to  an  amendment  of  this  Act 
providing  for  standards  for  homeopathic  medicines  is  now  a  matter 
of  history.  It  is  unfortunate  for  homeopathy  that  the  followers  of 
that  school  of  medicine  in  the  United  States  are  not  unanimous  in 
their  support  of  only  one  authority.  Some  accept  the  Homeopathic 
Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  as  their  guide,  others  insist  on 
using  the  American  Homeopathic  Pharmacopoeia.  This  difference 
may  have  unfavorably  influenced  Congressional  consideration  of  the 
proposed  amendment  to  the  Act  of  June  30,  1906,  to  recognize 
homeopathic  standards. 
In  the  states  that  by  enactments  have  established  legal  standards 
for  homeopathic  drugs  there  is  a  lack  of  harmony.  The  Act  of  the 
Pennsylvania  legislature  approved  June  7,  191 7,  in  both  sections  2 
and  3,  provides  that  the  American  Homeopathic  Pharmacopoeia  shall 
be  the  standard  of  strength,  quality  or  purity  for  homeopathic  drugs 
sold  in  that  commonwealth  and  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act  of  the 
neighboring  state  of  New  Jersey  names  the  Homeopathic  Pharma- 
copoeia of  the  United  States  as  the  legal  authority  in  that  state. 
These  are  but  examples  of  the  existing  conflict  of  opinions,  the 
