ADeceSVPih9ir4m"}    Pure  Dru9s  and.  the  Public  Health.  551 
The  methods  adopted  for  enforcing  these  laws  in  the  past  have  not 
always  been  in  accord  with  the  securing  of  the  best  results  from  a 
public-health  point  of  view,  and  even  in  States  where  the  control  of 
laws  regulating  the  nature  and  purity  of  drug  products  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  State  board  of  health  the  tendency  has  been  to  discourage 
rather  than  encourage  adequate  and  satisfactory  control  of  all  medi- 
cal supplies. 
Some  indication  of  the  nature  and  variability  of  the  products  sold 
as  medicine  may  be  had  from  a  comparative  study  of  Hygienic  Labo- 
ratory bulletins  embodying  in  the  form  of  annual  compilations  a 
"  Digest  of  Comments  on  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  and 
on  the  National  Formulary." 
These  bulletins,  though  not  compiled  especially  for  this  purpose, 
reflect  from  year  to  year  the  available  material  regarding  published 
activities  of  food  and  drug  laboratories  so  far  as  they  relate  to  phar- 
macopceial  or  official  drugs  and  preparations,  and  the  sum  total  of  the 
reported  activities  well  indicates  the  general  trend  of  the  trade  so  far 
as  it  is  influenced  by  the  present-day  method  of  drug-law  enforce- 
ment. 
A  compilation  of  the  analytical  reports  embodied  in  previously 
published  bulletins  shows  that  out  of  a  total  of  more  than  9000 
samples  of  6  pharmacopceial  preparations  reported  on  during  the 
years  1907  to  191 1,  inclusive,  more  than  4000,  or  approximately  45 
per  cent.,  were  found  to  be  not  in  compliance  with  the  requirements 
of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  That  approximately  this  same  ratio  still 
holds  is  evidenced  by  the  available  annual  reports  of  State  boards  of 
health  and  State  f6od  and  drug  commissioners,  abstracted  in  Hy- 
gienic Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  93,  embodying  a  Digest  of  Com- 
ments on  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  and  on  the  National 
Formulary  for  the  calendar  year  ending  December  31,  191 2.  Among 
the  reports  reflected  in  this  bulletin  we  find  that  the  chemist  of  the 
Indiana  board  of  health  states  that  of  365  samples  of  drugs  analyzed 
156,  or  42.7  per  cent.,  were  illegal  in  that  they  did  not  comply  with  the 
standards  or  requirements.  The  food  and  drug  commissioner  of 
South  Dakota  reports  that  of  326  samples  examined  118,  or  36.3  per 
cent.,  were  not  passed,  and  in  New  Hampshire  of  421  samples  of 
drugs  examined  by  the  chemist  of  the  board  of  health  180,  or  42.8 
per  cent.,  were  not  conformable. 
Further  evidence  regarding  existing  conditions  will  be  found  in 
the  accompanying  table  showing  the  total  number  of  samples  of 
