AmMayy'i8IS)iarm-}    Standardization  of  Officinal  Drugs.  2 1  5 
Even  if  it  were  possible  to  assay  every  organic  drug  and 
standardize  every  preparation,  this  would  not  remove  the  uncertainty 
in  medicine.  Physicians,  as  a  rule,  learn  the  uses  of  remedies  and 
their  doses  methodically  and  he  who  could  tell  the  percentage  of 
alkaloid  in  extract  of  nux  vomica  or  the  amount  of  morphine  he 
administers  in  a  dose  of  tincture  of  opium  is  a  rare  exception. 
While  the  physician  very  properly  demands  exact  remedies  he  is 
as  a  rule  unable  to  define  the  limits  of  exactness  required.  Again, 
the  observing  physician  carefully  notes  the  peculiarities  of  his 
patients.  In  one  patient  quinine  in  small  doses  will  produce  a 
severe  headache.  In  another,  but  small  doses  of  belladonna  or 
hyoscyamus  will  produce  a  very  marked  effect  while  in  the  next 
maximum  doses  may  be  necessary.  So,  then,  the  dose  necessary  in 
every  individual  patient,  has  to  be  carefully  differentiated.  A  fact 
which  the  radical  advocate  of  standardization  seems  to  forget  is  that 
nature  cannot  be  confined  to  a  straight  line  that  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  variation  in  individuals  either  organized  or  organic. 
The  respectable  pharmacists  of  this  country  desire  no  looseness 
or  indefiniteness  in  pharmacopceial  preparations,  and  if  any  advance 
is  made  in  this  direction,  you  can  rest  assured  that  it  will  be  the 
result  of  the  labor  of  the  pharmacist. 
It  might  be  asked,  do  the  so-called  active  principles,  alkaloids, 
glucosides,  etc.,  represent  the  true  medical  action  and  value  of 
drugs  ?  If  so,  assays  are  a  true  measure  of  activity  ;  if  not,  they  are 
of  questionable  value.  If  so,  the  problem  would  be  a  very  simple 
one,  namely,  in  all  cases  prescribe  the  alkaloids.  But  the  physician 
carefully  differentiates  between  the  cases  in  which  he  prefers  nux 
vomica  or  strychnine,  opium  or  morphine  ;  and  I  have  seen  physi- 
cians who  professed  to  obtain  better  results  from  fluid  extract  of 
cinchona  than  from  the  cinchona  alkaloids. 
By  far  the  most  important  query,  however,  is  :  Is  our  knowledge 
of  organic  drugs  and  their  constituents  such,  at  the  present  time,  as 
to  enable  us  to  chemically  estimate  their  medical  value  ? 
The  life  history  of  but  few  medicinal  plants  has  been  satisfactorily 
studied.  Of  many  we  know  nothing  as  to  the  variation  due  to  col- 
lection at  different  seasons  of  the  year.  We  know  that  colchicum 
is  most  active  if  collected  while  in  flower  or  just  after,  yet  it  is 
generally  collected  several  months  before.  It  is  pretty  certain  that 
podophyllum  varies  considerably  at  different  seasons,  and  it  is  not 
