284 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
Am.  Jour,  Phann. 
.lime,  1911. 
depends  upon  the  Pharmacopoeias,  and  asserts  that  the  pharmacists 
of  America  have  contributed  much  to  make  the  Pharmacopoeia  of 
the  United  States  respected.  Upon  examination  it  is  found  that  the 
National  Pharmacopoeias,  whatever  else  they  may  contain,  include 
the  longest  knov^n  and  most  thoroughly  tested  drugs  and  medi- 
cines which,  having  won  and  retained  the  approval  of  the  medical 
profession,  may  be  said  to  represent  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest." 
In  that  respect  the  Pharmacopoeias  are  admirable.  Nearly  all  of 
the  twenty  national  Pharmacopoeias,  however,  have  published  and 
do  publish  recipes  for  quack  nostrums  which  men  ought  to  know 
are  used  only  by  the  very  ignorant.  Some  of  the  nostrums  put 
in  the  Pharmacopoeias  a  century  ago  when  actually  employed  by 
those  who  then  practised  the  art  of  healing  are  still  retained  in 
these  books  in  this  age  of  highly  developed  medical  knowledge 
when  physicians  treat  them  with  the  contempt  such  rubbish  merits. 
— Bulletin  of  Pharmacy,  May,  191 1,  pp.  202-203. 
U.S. P.  AS  A  Legal  Standard. — As  a  part  of  their  defense  in 
a  suit  under  the  provisions  of  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act,  Lehn  & 
Fink  enter  a  demurrer  in  which  the  constitutionality  of  the  Food 
and  Drugs  Law  is  attacked  on  three  separate  and  distinct  grounds, 
which,  briefly,  are  as  follows:  (i)  Because  it  delegates  legislative 
power,  which  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  belongs 
exclusively  to  Congress,  to  changing,  private  bodies,  not  created 
by,  or  subject  to,  the  control  of  Congress.  (2)  Because  it  is  an 
ex  post  facto  law  in  that  it  specifies  that  the  Pharmacopoeia  used 
must  be  one  "official  at  the  time  of  investigation,"  and  (3)  because 
the  act  seeks  to  deprive  a  citizen  of  his  property  and  liberty  without 
due  process  of  law. — Oil,  Paint  and  Drug  Reporter,  March  6, 
In  overruling  the  demurrer  of  the  defendant.  Judge  Hough 
points  out  that  the  food  and  drugs  act  merely  decrees  that  medi- 
cines must  conform  to  the  implied  standards  under  which  they  were 
sold;  that  if  they  were  sold  under  the  titles  of  the  Pharmacopoeia 
and  the  National  Formulary  they  must  conform  to  the  standards 
embodied  therein  and  that  this  does  not  constitute  a  delegation  on 
the  part  of  Congress  of  its  legislative  functions  to  an  irresponsible 
body.  In  overruling  the  second  contention  Judge  Hough  hek„ 
that  the  phrase  "  official  at  the  time  of  investigation "  must  be 
held  to  mean  official  "  at  the  time  the  goods  are  shipped,"  re- 
