208  United  States  Pharmacopoeia.        {Am  May^Moa™* 
U.S.P.  tests  are  not  adequate  to  reveal  the  adulterations.  The 
official  oils  of  eucalyptus  are  substituted  by  or  adulterated  with 
some  of  the  many  eucalyptus  oils  derived  from  the  many  species  of 
eucalyptus.  The  olive  oil — cotton-seed  oil  tests  are  far  from  satis- 
factory, and  cod  liver  oil  may  contain  a  considerable  amount  of 
other  fish  oils  without  much  tear  of  positive  detection. 
It  also  frequently  happens  that  a  test  or  method  or  standard  of 
to-day  is  rendered  perfectly  useless  by  the  investigations  of  to- 
morrow. For  these  reasons  it  appears  to  the  writer  that  it  is 
undesirable  to  adopt  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  a  hard-and-fast  standard, 
but  rather  let  the  Pharmacopoeia  be  the  guide,  supplemented  by  all 
other  available  standard  literature. 
The  general  principles  adopted  by  the  National  Convention  of 
1890,  to  be  followed  in  revising  the  Pnarmacopceia,  were  excellent 
in  character  and  spirit.  Let  us  quote  just  one.  "In  the  case  of 
chemicals  the  degree  of  purity  or  the  allowable  percentage  of 
impurity  shall  be  prescribed  as  closely  as  practicable.  The 
standard  of  purity  shall  be  set  as  high  as  practicable  for  legal 
enforcement,  but  not  beyond  a  point  reasonably  attainable  by  the 
manufacturer  without  subjecting  any  particular  product  to  unneces- 
sary cost,  through  the  enforced  removal  of  some  harmless  and 
insignificant  accidental  impurity." 
The  above  is  certainly  comprehensive  and  liberal  enough  not  only 
for  the  manufacturer,  but  for  the  consumer  also.  Trie  spirit  of  this 
resolution  has  apparently  not  been  fully  kept  in  mind  when  adjust- 
ing the  standard  of  some  chemicals. 
The  following  is  what  a  foreign  manufacturer  writes  when  he  was 
notified  concerning  the  rejection  of  some  of  his  goods  : 
"  With  regard  to  the  sodium  hypophosphite,  we  know  that  it  is 
alkaline  in  reaction,  so  is  T.  &  K.'s — and  the  reason  it  is  so  is 
because  both  the  sodium  and  potassium  are  made  with  calcium 
hypophosphite,  by  precipitation,  with  the  respective  alkaline  carbo- 
nates, and  the  balance  of  decomposition  is  so  near  that  it  will  either 
contain  calcium  or  be  alkaline.  And  we  find  that  being  slightly 
alkaline  prevents  the  insolubility  and  want  of  turbidity  which 
would  be  seen  if  the  calcium  were  present.  With  regard  to  the 
sulphates  and  chlorides,  we  again  say  that  the  quantities  are  but 
mere  traces  and  do  not  affect  the  medicinal  use  of  the  article.  If 
people  want  hypophosphites  and  half  the  other  things  to  stand  the 
