AmMa0y,ri87h7arm' }     The  American  Medical  Association.  2 1 1 
express  purpose,"  so  much  the  worse  for  the  "  duplicate  for  upon  it 
lies  exclusively  the  onerous  task  of  establishing  its  raism  d'etre.  Never 
has  it  been  heard  of  that  the  occupant  by  primogeniture  need  be  called 
on  to  produce  his  title-deeds,  or  to  abdicate  at  the  invitation  of  the 
younger  "duplicate;"  and  it  is  not  probable  that  the  considerate  mass 
of  either  the  medical  or  the  pharmaceutical  professions  will  u  willingly 
let  die  "  the~older  occupant  of  the  field,  placed  there  "  for  this  express 
purpose  "  of  revision,  and  successful  (Dr.  Squibb  himself  being  the 
judge)  in  having  "worked  well  for  more  than  fifty  years;". (p.  4.)  hav- 
ing exercised  "  the  powerful  influence  of  work  well  done."  (p.  32.) 
Perhaps  a  plea  might  be  put  it  for  the  continued  existence  of  the 
American  Medical  Association,  that  in  conception  and  creation,  in 
objects  and  in  career,  it  was  by  no  means  so  ct  nearly  a  duplicate  "  of 
the  National  Convention  as  had  been  represented  ;  that  its  membership 
was  determined  by  a  certain  respectability  of  standing  among  thera- 
peutists, without  any  reference  to  fitness,  real  or  supposed,  for  critically 
determining  the  best  forms  of  the  Materia  Medica  and  its  pharmaceu- 
tical preparations.  And  our  author  has  told  us  that  even  a  selected 
council  of  physicians,  "  fitted  without  special  training  to  take  up  such 
a  work  and  do  it  moderately  well  at  once,  certainly  could  not  be  found  !" 
(p.  14.)  On  the  other  hand,  the  decennial  National  Convention, 
selected  from  representatives  of  the  medical  and  pharmaceutical  pro- 
fessions throughout  the  country,  supposed  to  be  best  qualified  for  this 
especial  work,  convened  "  for  this  express  purpose,"  and  distracted  by 
no  other  objects  or  discussions,  would  seem  at  first  sight  to  occupy  a 
domain  very  far  removed  from  any  chance  of  rivalry,  or  any  suspicion 
of  encroachment  on  even  the  youngest  of  annual  fellowships  and  pro- 
fessional associations. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  resolution  above  cited  "  assumes  owner- 
ship of  the  Pharmacopoeia  "  for  the  American  Medical  Association 
by  a  coup  detat,  "  as  the  superior  representative  body  of  the  organized 
medical  profession."  This  is  certainly  a  curious  ground  on  which  to 
base  such  an  "  assumption,"  admitting  the  modest  claim  to  be  well 
founded.  But  "  superior  representative  body  "  in  what  respect  ?  "  For 
this  express  purpose  ?"  Never  can  such  a  proposition  be  for  a  moment 
admitted  ! 
u  That  the  plan  of  revising  the  Pharmacopoeia  by  this  Convention  has 
been  eminently  successful  and  sufficient  up  to  1850  or  i860  will  not 
