294  Proposed  Changes  in  the  Pharmacopoeia.  {A*j^fi^^~ 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  book  of  corresponding  size  and  style  was 
produced  at  this  time  at  less  than  double  this  price,  even  though  it  were 
a  work  of  much  more  popular  character  and  much  larger  circulation 
than  a  Pharmacopoeia  !  Considering  that  this  weakling  of  the  press 
("a  mere  skeleton")  could  by  no  possibility  be  classed  with  "light  lite- 
rature," we  are  biased  enough  to  maintain  that  this  publication  was  a 
marvel  of  cheapness.  It  is  not  believed  that  any  respectable  publisher 
could  have  offered  the  book  at  a  lower  rate  (unless  with  the  hope  ot 
securing  a  future  publication  of  the  work  in  better  times).  Whether 
the  majority  of  the  committee,  in  thus  "giving  it  arbitrarily  to  a  pub- 
lishing house,"  consulted  the  true  interests  of  the  professions  they 
were  honestly  laboring  to  serve  is  for  the  unprejudiced  of  those  profes- 
sions to  decide.  The  probable  influence  of  this  course  on  the  circula- 
tion and  sale  of  the  work,  may  however,  be  obliquely  gathered  from  the 
unintentional  testimony  of  our  opponent,  whose  severest  impeachment 
of  the  past  utility  of  the  naked  Pharmacopoeia  is,  that  "  until  within 
the  last  twenty  years,  probably,  the  Pharmacopoeia  was  but  little 
known  !  "  (p.  19.) 
The  plan  now  proposed  by  Dr.  Squibb  contemplates  (as  has  been 
seen)  the  sale  of  the  copyright  to  the  highest  bidder,  in  order  to  yield 
as  large  a  remuneration  as  possible  to  those  entrusted  with  the  revision. 
He  says  :  "  Should  the  copyright  be  offered  to  a  properly  controlled 
competition,  it  doubtless  could  be  made  to  pay  liberally  all  the  expenses 
necessary  to  having  the  work  well  done."  (p.  9.)  And,  to  prevent  the 
danger  of  distributing  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  among  too  many  hands, 
the  caution  is  provided,  that  "  the  income  from  their  work,  if  it  be  well 
done,  will  within  a  moderate  time  pay  a  few  men  for  the  time  and 
labor  they  give,  but  would  not  pay  a  large  number  of  men."  (p.  47.) 
Dissenting  entirely  from  these  views,  we  are  yet  strongly  of  the 
opinion  that  the  time  has  now  •arrived  for  a  considerable  change  in  the 
manner  of  producing  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Not  as  a  momentary  or 
controversial  impression,  but  as  a  deliberate  and  long-cherished  con- 
viction, we  would  advocate,  very  decidedly  :  1st,  the  permanent  reten- 
tion of  the  copyright  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  by  the  Convention  itself,  as; 
an  incorporated  institution  ;  2ndly,  the  publication  of  the  Pharmaco- 
poeia by  the  Convention  itself,  through  a  special  committee  for  that 
purpose  ;  3rdly,  the  appointment  of  a  treasurer  by  the  Convention  to 
take  charge  of  the  proceeds  from  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  a  permanent 
