Am.  Jour.  Pharui. 
June,  1896. 
Editorial. 
341 
EDITORIAL. 
LAWS  REGULATING  THE  CHARACTER  OF  FOODS  AND  DRUGS. 
The  paper  on  another  page  of  this  issue,  by  Prof.  J.  U.  Lloyd,  concerning 
u  The  Pharmacopoeial  Standard,"  furnishes  much  food  for  thought.  The 
author  does  not  in  any  way  exaggerate  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  pharma- 
cist, and  his  remarks  to  the  Pharmacopoeia  Committee  are  suggestive  rather 
than  critical. 
Legislators  in  endeavoring  to  arrive  at  some  standard  for  medicinal  prepara- 
tions naturally  turn  to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  which  is  largely  of  the  pharmacist's 
own  making.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the  latter  that  while  he  created  a  standard 
which  he  is  endeavoring  to  live  up  to  himself,  he  made  its  requirements  too 
severe  for  it  to  be  arbitrarily  interpreted  by  every  political  appointee. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  defines  the  purity  of  some  substances  to  the  minute  frac- 
tion of  1  per  cent.,  while  the  physician  may  administer  those  same  substances 
in  quantities  measured  by  that  arbitrary  standard,  the  teaspoonful,  and  thereby 
give  50  per  cent,  more  or  less  than  he  intends. 
Professor  Lloyd  calls  attention  to  "  the  curious  fact  that  the  very  thorough- 
ness and  precision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  may  furnish  a  source  of  hardship  to 
those  whom  it  was  intended  to  aid,  on  account  of  its  being  looked  upon  as  the 
legal  code  by  persons  who  are  appointed  to  enforce  laws  regulating  the  purity 
of  drugs." 
One  of  the  ways  out  of  this  difficulty  is  to  change  the  Pharmacopoeia  ;  but 
there  are  very  few  pharmacists  who  would  like  to  see  this  excellent  standard 
lowered  or  changed,  except  for  more  exact  and  expeditious  methods.  Another 
remedy  is  to  not  have  the  Pharmacopoeia  the  standard  under  which  the  laws 
are  enforced.  It  has  been  found  possible  to  apply  laws  to  the  sale  of  foods  and 
other  unofficial  substances  without  the  aid  of  such  an  exacting  standard. 
A  third  remedy  is  to  have  no  laws  governing  the  character  of  drugs,  and  this 
is  by  no  means  the  worst  suggestion,  for  it  is  the  condition  under  which  the 
great  majority  of  people  in  this  country  are  living  at  the  present  time.  In  many 
States,  where  such  laws  exist,  they  are  not  enforced,  and  yet  it  is  possible  any- 
where in  the  United  States  for  a  person  to  buy  pure  drugs. 
Laws  regulating  the  practice  of  pharmacy  have  generally  been  satisfactory 
because  it  has  usually  been  found  necessary  to  give  the  administration  of  these 
laws  into  the  hands  of  practical  pharmacists  ;  but  when  it  comes  to  appointing 
inspectors  to  govern  the  character  of  foods  and  drugs,  it  usually  happens  that 
some  one  is  put  into  the  position  because  he  is  good  for  nothing  else,  and,  of 
course,  he  makes  a  failure  of  his  new  venture.  Pharmacists  will  make  no 
mistake  if  they  oppose  the  enactment  of  every  law  which  has  anything  about 
the  quality  of  drugs  in  it,  until  they  can  at  least  have  the  legislative  committee 
of  their  State  association  investigate  it. 
FORMULAS  FOR  BITTER  WINE  OF  IRON. 
We  recently  noticed  in  a  Belgian  exchange  (the  Annates  de  Pharmacie)  a 
short  communication  on  bitter  wine  of  iron,  which  is  rather  severe  on  those 
who  have  been  proposing  superior  formulas  for  that  preparation  during  the  past 
twenty-three  years.    At  the  same  time,  it  might  be  read  with  advantage  by 
