ADecimbef,hi899m*}      S°me  Pharmacopoeial  Problem*.  563 
Recognizing  these  conditions,  modern  pharmacopoeias  have,  at 
each  new  revision,  eliminated  working  processes  for  preparations 
which  were  known  to  have  passed  almost  entirely  into  the  large 
manufacturer's  hands,  and  have  substituted  for  them  more  detailed 
descriptions  and  tests.  Among  the  tests,  those  which  are  intended 
to  show  the  strength  of  the  preparations  by  gravimetric  or  volu- 
metric assays  have  been  made  more  and  more  rigorous,  and  their 
application  has  been  extended  to  drugs  and  preparations  which 
formerly  were  not  subject  to  strict  regulations.  The  progress  made 
in  organic  proximate  analysis,  notably  during  the  past  fifteen  years, 
brought  forth  a  demand  for  the  standardization  of  the  preparations 
of  potent  drugs,  often,  unfortunately,  on  the  part  of  persons  who 
were  not  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  technical  difficulties  that 
stood  in  the  way  of  a  more  general  application  of  the  then  known 
methods  of  assay.  In  1890  the  present  Committee  of  Revision  was 
directed  to  give  processes  of  assay  for  two  drugs  only,  namely, 
cinchona  and  opium,  it  being  left  at  liberty  to  extend  standardization 
to  others.  By  the  time  the  Committee  was  ready  to  go  to  press, 
only  one  more  drug,  viz.,  nux  vomica,  was  added  to  the  list,  it  being 
deemed  unwise  to  proceed  further  at  that  time.  Since  then,  how- 
ever, a  very  material  advance  has  been  made  in  the  methods  of 
proximate  analysis,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  hope  that  processes 
of  assay  can  be  provided  at  the  next  revision  for  such  drugs  as 
belladonna,  coca,  colchicum,  gelsemium,  hyoscyamus,  ipecac,  phy- 
sostigma,  pilocarpus,  stramonium,  and  perhaps  some  others. 
The  term  "  standardization  "  as  applied  to  pharmacopceial  pre- 
parations comprises  three  distinct  features,  which  are  not  seldom 
confounded,  and  one  of  which  is  commonly  overlooked.  They  are 
as  follows : 
( 1 )  Quantitative  Determination  of  the  Active  Principles. — The  quan- 
tity of  the  active  principle  (or  principles,  as  the  case  may  be)  in  the 
drug  or  preparations  to  be  standardized  must  be  determinable  by 
a  fairly  simple  process  yielding  practically  uniform  results  in  differ- 
ent hands. 
(2)  Identification  of  the  Active  Principle. — It  should  be  possible  to 
identify  the  active  principle  by  some  fairly  simple  process.  This 
applies,  of  course,  only  to  preparations  not  made  directly  from  the 
original  drug,  but  purchased  ready-made  in  the  market,  possibly  of 
unknown  or  doubtful  brand  or  origin.    This  is  the  feature  which  is 
