442  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference,  {^pimber.'im' 
"  The  vast  number  of  new  vegetable,  chemical  and  animal  reme- 
dies introduced  during  recent  years,  and  the  impossibility  of  keep- 
ing pace  with  them,  on  the  part  of  the  medical  men  and  the 
pharmacist,  especially  in  the  provinces,  where,  as  a  rule,  new  reme- 
dies do  not  come  into  use  until  two  or  three  years  after  introduction 
into  city  practice,  has  led  to  the  comparative  disuse  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia for  prescribing  purposes,  and  to  more  dependence  being 
placed  by  physicians,  concerning  new  remedies,  upon  such  works  as 
Martindale's  '  Extra  Pharmacopoeia  '  and  Squire's  <  Companion  to 
the  British  Pharmacopoeia,'  works  which  enterprising  pharmacists 
have  produced  to  meet  the  necessities  of  medicine  and  pharmacy 
during  the  time  that  elapses  between  the  publication  of  one  Phar- 
macopoeia and  another.  These  works  have  also  the  additional  ad- 
vantage that  they  contain  tables  of  diseases,  and  of  all  the  most 
modern  remedies  used  for  them,  as  well  as  the  doses  and  formulae 
showing  useful  combinations  of  the  various  preparations.  In  these 
rapidly  progressive  times  the  Pharmacopoeia  cannot,  even  if  pub- 
lished decennially,  be  actually  up  to  date;  it  can  only  crystallize 
into  a  definite  shape  formulae  that  have  already  been  in  use  for  some 
time.  The  Pharmacopoeia  is  now  really  more  used  by  pharmacists 
as  a  standard  for  insuring  uniformity  in  official  preparations  than  by 
physicians  for  prescribing  purposes." 
In  regard  to  the  Pharmacopoeia  being  looked  upon  as  a  legal 
standaidy  Mr.  Holmes  says  it  is  not  to  be  used  as  a  legal  standard  ot 
purity  for  drugs  used  in  commerce  for  domestic  and  technical  pur- 
poses. 
"  To  prosecute  chemists,"  says  he,  "  because,  for  instance,  tincture 
of  myrrh,  which  is  used  as  a  dentifrice  rather  than  as  a  medicine,  or 
benzoin,  which  is  used  in  French  polish,  etc.,  or  soft  soap,  or  am- 
monium carbonate,  soda  water,  or  other  articles  in  regular  house- 
hold use  do  not  answer  to  the  tests  of  purity  of  the  B.P.,  would 
constitute  an  interference  with  trade  that  would  be  as  absurd  as  it 
would  be  vexatious.  That  the  standard  of  purity  used  in  dispens- 
ing physicians'  prescriptions  should  be  as  high  as  it  is  possible  to 
make  it,  is  an  article  of  faith  of  the  B.P.C.,  but  there  are  many  cases 
in  which  drugs  and  preparations  which  are  B.P.  articles  are  used  for 
other  than  medical  purposes,  and  for  such  the  average  of  normal 
condition  of  purity  meets  all  the  requirements  of  the  case." 
Concerning  an  International  Phatmacopceia,  Mr.  Holmes  says 
