.2  88  Proposed  Changes  in  the  Pharmacopoeia.  {Amj^^rm' 
While  the  present  writer  was  in  favor  of  executing  the  order,  he 
never  disguised  from  himself  or  from  others  the  difficulties  and  confu- 
sion inevitably  attendant  on  a  premature  disturbance  and  innovation. 
Taking  the  case  of  "  Fluid  Extracts  "  for  example,  of  which  there  are 
now  forty-six  made  officinal,  we  find  that,  excepting  the  single  "  Com- 
pound Fluid  Extract  of  Sarsaparilla,"  (U.  S.  P.,  p.  167,)  every  one  of 
these  forty-six  preparations  requires  16  troyounces  of  the  vegetable 
powder  to  be  made  into  16  fluidounces  of  the  finished  fluid  extract. 
That  is  to  say,  each  fluidounce  of  the  preparation  contains,  by  the 
existing  formula,  the  extractive  matter  of  a  troyounce  of  the  constituent 
material.  How  or  in  what  proportion  these  valuable  and  elegant  pre- 
parations are  to  be  made  by  weight  is  not  so  obvious,  for  of  course  they 
•cannot  be  made  ounce  for  ounce  by  weight. 
There  seems  to  be  little  room  for  doubt  that  the  abortive  attempt  of 
the  last  Convention  to  introduce  the  gravimetric  system  will  prove  but 
a  temporary  delay,  and  that  it  will  serve  more  effectually  to  secure  the 
result  in  the  Convention  of  1880.  The  principal  advantage  of  the 
•method  is  its  greater  accuracy  than  the  prevailing  volumetric  practice. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  those  so  ready  both  to  improve  and  to  censure, 
will  exercise  their  inventive  ingenuity  on  practicable  details  as  well  as 
on  "glittering  generalities."  And  while  it  is  much  to  be  desired  that 
the  next  Committee  of  Revision  shall  be  composed  of  entirely  new 
material,  it  is  also  earnestly  hoped  that  while  there  is  yet  time,  the  for- 
mulas will  be  so  well  considered  and  so  intelligently  worked  out  by  the 
constituent  bodies  and  their  delegates  before  the  meeting  of  the  Con- 
vention, that  this  enormous  additional  labor  and  responsibility  shali  not 
be  thrown  entirely  upon  the  new  Committee. 
Another  proposed  reform  (partly  embraced  in  the  conclusion  of  the 
•sixth  Resolution  above  cited),  which  has  attracted  some  attention  and 
discussion,  is  the  further  step  of  abolishing  specific  weights  entirely 
and  expressing  all  formulas  in  gravimetric  "  parts."  The  ostensible 
advantage  of  this  system  of  mere  ratios  (or,  as  it  may  be  called,  the 
algebraic  system)  is  that  the  same  formula  could  be  executed  in  any 
quantity  and  by  any  system  of  weights,  and  consequently  that  it  would 
form  an  important  advance  in  the  direction  of  an  international  Phar- 
macopoeia. On  the  other  hand,  the  prospect  of  an  international  Phar- 
macopoeia with  Great  Britain  (to  whom  we  are  most  nearly  related) 
appears  to  be  too  remote  to  justify  much  sacrifice  on  our  part  to 
