Am.  Jour.  Pharm.") 
May,  1877.  j" 
Minutes  of  the  College, 
261 
Prof.  Remington.  I  know,  somewhat,  the  views  of  the  gentlemen  who  are  oe 
the  committee.  Of  course  I  cannot  say  exactly  what  sort  of  resolutions  they  are 
going  to  bring  in  ;  but  the  opinion  I  have  heard  expressed,  is  that  the  idea  of  Dr. 
Squibb  putting  this  revision  of  the  "  Pharmacopoeia  "  into  the  charge  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  was  not  one  which  would  be  fraught  with  success,  as  to 
the  producing  of  a  good  boook,  and  that  they  believe,  and  I  suppose  a  majority  of 
the  members  here  believe,  that  the  same  reforms  which  Dr.  Squibb  has  spoken  of  in 
his  pamphlet  can  be  brought  about  by  the  National  Convention  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  which  will  embrace  delegates  from  a  wider  range  than  can  be  taken  in  by 
the  American  Medical  Association  5  and  that  Dr.  Squibb  has  foreshadowed  many 
excellent  reforms.  But  the  principal  point  of  difference  is  that  he  is  wrong  in  re- 
ferring the  whole  matter  to  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  giving  them 
the  charge  of  it  ;  that  what  can  be  done,  can  be  done  better  by  a  special  conven- 
tion for  that  purpose  5  that  while  the  previous  conventions  have  not  produced  a*per- 
fect  work — that  must  be  admitted — I  do  not  go  as  far  as  Mr.  Taylor  in  his  remarks,, 
that  the  "  Pharmacopoeia"  cannot  thus  be  made,-  but  I  think  we  can  assume  that  a 
convention  appointed  for  the  purpose  can  do  all  the  work  that  the  American 
Medical  Association  can  do,  and  more  too. 
Dr.  Thomas.  I  am  sure  that  I  agree  with  Prof.  Remington's  idea,  that  the 
Pharmacopoeial  Convention  is  the  proper  authority  for  the  proper  revision  of  the 
"  Pharmacopoeia. "  That  furnishes  the  ground  for  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the 
future  revision  of  the  "  Pharmacopoeia."  I  was  a  member  of  the  last  convention  al 
the  last  decennial  revision,  and  I  well  remember  the  interest  I  took  in  a  proposi- 
tion which  was  made,  and  resolution  passed,  instructing  the  Executive  Committee 
to  have  liquids  presented  in- weight,  throwing  out  measures  of  capacity.  Mr.  Taylor 
made  a  slight  reference  to  it  in  his  paper.  He  used  the  words  :  "  derelict  on  the 
part  of  that  committee."  I  remark  a  pamphlet  of  Dr.  Squibb's,  in  which  he 
severely  handled  this  committee  for  disregarding  this  resolution  of  the  convention, 
from  which  they  received  their  only  authority  to  do  the  work  at  all.  They  threw 
out  this  resolution  itself,  and  stated,  in  the  preface  to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  that  they 
felt  they  had  sufficient  reason  for  doing  so,  and  were  willing  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility for  this,  and  said  that  the  change  would  not  pay  for  the  trouble  expended  in 
the  matter. 
This  brings  me  to  the  further  point  which  I  think  it  would  be  well  to  take  into 
consideration,  for  I  think  this  proposition  of  Dr.  Squibb's  is  broad-reaching  in  its 
action.  One  reform  which  I  think  we  ought  to  bring  into  the  "  United  States  Phar- 
macopoeia" is  the  idea  which  is  the  foundation  of  several  European  Pharma- 
copoeias. My  attention  was  called  to  this  some  three  years  since  by  Prof.  Maisch. 
I  was  interested  in  an  article  published  in  the  "American  Journal  of  Pharmacy," 
in  July,  1874.  The  idea  is  one  that  renders  a  universal  Pharmacopoeia  possible, 
and  that  is  arranging  for  weights  Weigh  all  substances  in  compounding,  not  by 
specific  weight,  but  in  parts  by  weight,  so  many  parts  of  this  and  so  many  parts  of 
that,  rather  than  any  particular  amount.  That  is  the  idea  that  underlies  the  Phar- 
macopoeias of  Germany,  Scandinavia  and  some  others.  As  I  examined  the  Ger- 
man Pharmacopoeia   I  believe  it  should  betaken  as  a  model,  and  ought  to  be  care- 
