june/?92b.^*'^'''"' }      Revisiou  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  389 
The  last  work  of  the  Committee  has  been  to  draft  a  set  of  General 
Principles  for  submission  to  the  Convention,  embodying  the  ex- 
perience and  constructive  thought  of  the  present  Committee.  These 
will  be  submitted  for  your  consideration  and  discussion  at  the  proper 
time.  There  have  also  been  collected  a  large  number  of  sugges- 
tions and  criticisms  for  the  guidance  of  the  incoming  committee 
in  planning  and  carrying  on  its  work.  All  of  those  which  came  in 
before  January  31st,  1920,  have  been  collected,  classified  and  pub- 
lished in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Pharmacuetical  Association  and 
reprints  are  now  available  for  distribution  and  will  be  turned  over 
to  the  incoming  committee. 
Much  material  of  the  same  kind  which  has  accumulated  since 
will  be  made  a  part  of  the  records  of  the  present  committee.  These 
records  will  also  include  the  final  reports  and  recommendations  of  a 
few  of  the  sub-committees  which  are  still  functioning,  and  all  of  this 
material  will  be  available  for  immediate  use  by  the  newly  elected 
Committee  of  Revision. 
The  plan  of  subdividing  the  work  into  fifteen  different  headings 
has  worked  out  well  in  practice.  It  would  be  in  the  interest  of 
efficiency  if  in  naming  the  men  who  are  to  serve  upon  the  Revision 
Committee  in  the  next  decade  that  some  classification  of  their 
qualifications  be  insisted  upon  in  making  the  nominations  in  order 
that  a  well-balanced  committee  might  be  selected  embodying  ex- 
perts in  all  lines  of  work.  This  could  be  accomplished  by  instruct- 
ing the  nominating  committee  to  require  each  nominee  to  be  classi- 
fied by  placing  after  his  name  the  number  of  the  present  U.  S.  P. 
sub-committee  in  which  his  services  would  be  particularly  valu- 
able. By  following  such  a  plan,  we  would  be  assured  of  a  Commit- 
tee of  Revision  to  undertake  the  important  work  of  the  next  decade, 
which  would  be  well  balanced  in  character  and  free  from  criticism. 
I,  therefore,  recommend  that  the  Convention  instruct  the  nominat- 
ing committee  to  proceed  upon  such  lines  in  carrying  out  its  work. 
If  the  Convention  wishes  to  assure  the  issuing  of  the  next  re- 
vision of  the  Pharmacopoeia  within  a  reasonable  length  of  time,  say 
two  years  from  now,  this  result  can  be  undoubtedly  achieved  by 
issuing  instructions  to  the  incoming  Board  of  Trustees  and  Revision 
Committee  that  frequent  personal  conferences  of  sub-committee 
members  be  authorized  and  periodic  meetings  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  Revision.  This  is  tendered  as  a  suggestion  rather 
than  as  a  recommendation. 
