506 
Editorial. 
/Am.  Jour,  rharm. 
\     October,  1900. 
EDITORIAL. 
THE  PEOPLE  AND  THE  PHARMACOPOEIA. 
There  are  some  pharmacists  who  would  be  content  to  have  the 
Pharmacopoeia  contain  only  those  preparations  or  similar  ones  which 
they  with  the  facilities  at  their  command  a  generation  ago  could 
make.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who  would  have  the 
Pharmacopoeia  contain  all  those  substances  and  preparations  which 
from  "hear  so"  and  "  say  so  "  are  being  prescribed.  One  class 
would  keep  the  book  too  far  behind  the  times  and  the  other  make 
it  unsafe  for  the  times. 
All  those  who  have  followed  the  evolution  of  the  Pharmacopoeia 
must  recognize  that  the  scope  of  the  work  is  changing  from  a  more 
or  less  uncertain  volume  without  clearly  defined  principles  to  one  of 
a  definite  purpose.  This  evolution  has  depended  in  a  measure  on 
the  progress  in  the  sciences  as  well  as  in  medicine.  While  cer- 
tain physicians  may  still  use  "  shot-gun  "  prescriptions,  the  more 
discerning  of  them  utilize  few  remedies,  adjusting  them  in  doses 
and  combinations  to  suit  the  patient.  The  newer  medicine  has  to 
do  with  definite  substances  rather  than  mixtures,  and  it  is  evident 
that  the  Pharmacopoeia  must  follow  in  the  direction  of  more  exact 
medicine  as  rapidly  as  the  province  is  outlined  and  the  principles 
established.  But  what  is  to  become  of  the  mixtures  and  drugs 
which,  though  less  prescribed,  are  still  used  by  the  common 
people  as  well  as  by  some  physicians  ? 
E.  M.  Holmes,  in  his  Presidential  address  before  the  British 
Pharmaceutical  Conference  (see  Pharm.  Jom.,  1900,  p.  125  ;  also 
this  Journal,  1900,  p.  440),  makes  some  pertinent  remarks  on  this 
subject  of  the  people  being,  to  a  certain  extent,  their  own  physi- 
cians.   He  says : 
"  There  is  no  law  to  prevent  a  man,  however  ignorant  he  may  be, 
from  prescribing  remedies  for  himself,  his  friends  or  his  household, 
and  it  has  been  stated  on  high  medical  authority  that  it  would  not 
be  objectionable  for  persons  to  apply  at  a  pharmacy  for  simple 
remedies  for  toothache,  muscular  pain  or  trifling  dyspeptic  ailments, 
provided  the  person  seeking  relief  knew  what  he  was  about  and 
was  not  deceived  by  the  assumption  of  an  authority  or  of  titles  on 
the  part  of  the  chemist,  and  provided  that  such  relief  was  merely 
to  be  regarded  as  first  aid  or  a  temporary  expedient  for  a  definite 
complaint  stated  by  the  patient." 
