*&iD?bfeM&?"}      Some  Pharmacopoeia  I  Problems.  565 
plan  of  testing  these  and  certain  other  drugs  "  physiologically." 
This  is  a  quite  laudable  undertaking,  and  we  have  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  it  is  actually  carried  out.  The  method  of  testing  em- 
ployed by  one  of  these  houses  has  been  published,  but  we  have  no 
knowledge  as  to  the  methods  used  by  the  others.  It  is  safe  to  infer, 
however,  that,  as  long  as  a  uniform  method  of  physiological  testing 
(for  each  separate  drug  requiring  it)  has  not  been  agreed  upon,  the 
products  of  the  different  houses  will  turn  out  to  be  uniform  only  by 
accident.  It  would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  what  results  would 
be  obtained  by  the  several  "  standardizes,"  acting  independently  of 
each  other,  from  samples  of  one  and  the  same  lot  of  a  preparation, 
say  of  ergot,  submitted  to  them  without  information  as  to  the 
origin,  age,  or  mode  of  preparation.  Under  present  conditions  it 
seems  hardly  probable  that  their  results  would  agree.  Who,  then, 
shall  standardize  the  standardizers  ?  This  is  a  problem  for  which 
a  solution  is  sought  but  not  readily  found. 
But  whenever  the  medical  profession  will  be  able  to  offer  methods 
of  physiological  testing  which  will  show  both  the  quality  and  the 
quantity  of  effect,  and  which  are  accepted  by  a  majority  of  compe- 
tent judges,  then  such  tests  may  well  be  introduced  into  the  Phar- 
macopoeia, even  if  they  should  involve  special  skill  and  knowledge 
not  possessed  by  the  average  pharmacist  at  the  present  time.  By 
the  time  when  such  tests  will  have  been  brought  forward  and  proven 
practically  reliable,  the  conditions  will  probably  have  so  changed 
that  nearly  all  users  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  will  be  able  to  apply 
them,  or  else  such  tests  will  have  to  be  made  only  upon  wholesale 
lots  by  some  experts  of  acknowledged  skill  and  reputation,  whose 
verdict  or  certificate  will  be  generally  accepted.  If  physiological 
tests  are  to  be  applied  to  such  drugs  at  all,  it  would  manifestly  be  a 
waste  of  time,  labor  and  valuable  material  for  the  pharmacist  work- 
ing on  a  small  scale  to  test  each  separate  small  lot  of  a  preparation 
when  it  is  finished.  He  will  find  it  much  more  advantageous  to 
purchase  either  the  drug  itself  or  the  respective  preparation,  already 
tested  and  "  standardized  "  by  some  recognized  expert  assuming 
full  responsibility  for  its  standard.  Although  this  standard  will,  no 
doubt,  be  affected  by  the  "  personal "  error  of  the  expert  (until  a 
method  is  discovered  which  will  exclude  or  neutralize  this  error), 
yet  the  results  will  be  comparable  among  themselves,  and  thus  a 
practical  uniformity  attained.    This  shifting  of  the  responsibility 
