•    2 1 8  Pharmacopceial  Revision  and  Assays.   { Am'M^if^rm* 
Whatever  the  committee  decide  on,  we  hope  will  be  the  result  of 
careful  examination  by  competent  unprejudiced  investigations. 
Any  processes  adopted  must  be  simple,  requiring  not  too  great  an 
amount  of  time  or  expert  knowledge  and  chemical  skill  to  place 
them  beyond  the  ability  of  the  average  pharmacist.  The  manu- 
facturer, who  has  much  assaying  to  do,  will  be  compelled  to  engage 
a  chemist,  who  will  study  up  accurate  methods  of  assay  as  the  prac- 
tical pharmacist  studies  the  correct  methods  of  manipulation.  But 
the  latter,  with  the  multiplicity  of  details  and  customers  claiming 
his  attention,  can  not  be  expected  to  find  time  for  exact  investiga- 
tions of  the  constituents  of  drugs. 
The  processes  adopted  must  be  practical  and  fairly  accurate  to 
ensure  their  general  acceptance.  We  must  not  forget  that  our 
Pharmacopoeia  is  intended  as  a  guide  and  hand-book  for  the  mass  of 
pharmacists  and  not  as  a  dictionary  or  encyclopaedia  for  the  expert. 
As  such,  clearness  and  practicability  are  infinitely  more  valuable 
than  absolute  scientific  accuracy.  The  danger  of  too  radical 
changes  can  not  be  overestimated.  Let  us  remember  that  our  zeal 
should  not  outrun  our  discretion.  There  is  no  need  of  great  haste, 
and  every  change  should  be  thoroughly  considered  before  the 
advance  is  made.  "  Truth  is  established  by  investigations  and  delay; 
falsehood  prospers  by  precipitancy." 
PHARMACOPGEIAL  REVISION  AND  ASSAYS.1 
By  Dr.  E.  R.  Squibb. 
The  directions  for  the  description  of  crude  drugs  seem  also  to 
have  been  sufficient  and  satisfactory  in  the  main,  but  in  a  few  in- 
stances they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  fully  carried  out  by  the 
Committee.  This  point  may  lead  to  discussion  in  the  Committee, 
but  probably  not  in  the  Convention. 
The.  directions  for  the  description  of  chemicals  have  of  late 
excited  much  important  discussion.  It  is  directed  that  Opium  and 
Cinchona  shall  have  detailed  processes  of  assay  for  the  alkaloids, 
and  that  the  minimum  percentage  of  total  alkaloids  required  be 
given  under  Cinchona,  and  the  minimum  and  maximum  of  morphine 
in  Opium  be  prescribed.    No  fault  has  been  found  with  these  direc- 
1  From  the  annual  address  of  the  retiring  President  of  the  Kings  County 
Medical  Association  ;  reprinted  from  Ephemeris,  April  1890,  p.  1263. 
