562  Some  Pharmacopoeial  Problems.  {ADecimbef,hi899m' 
probably  be  less  than  a  dozen.  The  conditions  or  characteristics 
that  ought  to  be  complied  with  are  the  following : 
(1)  If  the  remedy  is  a  definite  chemical  compound,  its  chemical 
composition  and  physical  and  chemical  properties  should  be  known 
and  controllable.  (Examples  :  antipyrine,  aristol,  chloralamide,  phe- 
nacetin,  salophene,  sulfonal,  trional.) 
(2)  It  should  have  passed  the  experimental  period,  and  should 
be  in  regular  and  general  use  by  the  medical  profession  as  a  remedy 
of  a  definite  and  recognized  therapeutic  value. 
Statistics  as  to  the  regular  and  general  use  of  any  such  remedy 
can  readily  be  obtained  from  reliable  sources,  such  as  the  larger  dis- 
pensing pharmacies,  large  hospitals,  the  Government  medical  ser- 
vice, etc.  As  to  how  and  under  what  titles  these  remedies  are  to 
be  introduced  is  of  minor  importance.  This  may  safely  be  left  to 
the  Committee  of  Revision. 
In  former  times  the  Pharmacopoeia  was  a  work  chiefly  concern- 
ing itself  with  what  its  name  expresses,  namely,  the  making  of 
medicines.  At  the  present  day  the  name  has  already  become,  at 
least  partly,  a  misnomer,  and  the  time  may  not  be  far  distant  when 
it  should  rather  be  called  Pharmaconomia  or  Pharmacographia, 
that  is,  a  book  prescriptive  for,  or  descriptive  of,  medicines.  This 
gradual  transition  is,  however,  quite  natural,  and  in  normal  pro- 
portion to  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  the  condition  and 
status  of  the  profession  of  pharmacy.  When  we  consider  the 
exacting  demands  which  are  made  at  the  present  day,  under  various 
laws,  upon  the  quality  of  medicines  dispensed  by  pharmacists,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  latter  become  more  and  more  un- 
willing to  assume  full  responsibility  for  the  quality,  and  particularly 
the  exact  strength,  of  the  preparations  they  dispense,  but  that  they 
prefer  to  shift  this  responsibility  upon  the  manufacturer,  more 
especially  when  the  latter  assures  them  that  he  is  willing  to  assume 
the  responsibility  himself.  This  matter  of  responsibility  for  the 
quality  of  medicines  in  combination  with  considerations  of  economy, 
particularly  by  the  saving  of  time,  space,  labor  and  wages,  has 
brought  it  about  that  the  manufacture  of  certain  classes  of  pharma- 
ceutical preparations  is  becoming  more  and  more  concentrated  in 
the  hands  of  large  firms,  and  that  the  function  of  the  pharmacist — 
at  least  of  the  conscientious  pharmacist — is  chiefly  confined  to  an 
examination  of  the  preparations  which  he  buys  by  means  of  such 
tests  as  are  available  to  him. 
