296 
Washington  Branch  A.  Ph.  A. 
Am.  Jour.  Pbarni 
.liuif,  1911. 
Resolved,  That  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  accuracy  in 
prescribing,  and  in  the  treatment  of  disease,  that  students  of  medicine 
be  instructed  fully  as  to  those  portions  of  the  United  States  Phar- 
macopoeia which  are  of  value  to  the  practitioner." 
To  illustrate  the  fact  that  the  need  for  restricting  the  materia 
medica  taught  in  medical  schools  is  being  recognized  outside  of  our 
own  country,  Dr.  Motter  exhibited  a  list  of  titles  adopted  by  the 
teachers  and  examiners  of  the  University  of  London  as  a  basis  for 
examining  candidates  for  degrees  as  well  as  licensure.  This  list 
was  furnished  him  by  Dr.  A.  R.  Cushny  who,  in  a  recent  interview, 
assured  Dr.  Motter  that  unless  the  forthcoming  edition  of  the 
British  Pharmacopoeia  was  more  limited  in  scope,  and  more  repre- 
sentative of  the  best  that  is  available  in  materia  medica,  British 
teachers  of  the  latter  subject  would  find  it  necessary  to  ignore  the 
Pharmacopoeia  entirely,  and  limit  their  teaching  to  the  restricted 
list  of  medicaments  mutually  agreed  upon. 
Dr.  Motter  expressed  the  belief  that  much  the  same  conditions 
prevail  in  our  own  country,  and  that  unless  the  scope  of  our  recog- 
nized National  Standards  can  be  restricted  to  a  reasonable  number 
of  articles,  the  books  themselves  must  be  ignored  entirely  by  medical 
schools.  He  characterized  the  present  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United 
States  as  an  illustration  of  "  would-be  science,"  the  National  Formu- 
lary as  "  a  hybrid  between  science  and  commercialism,"  and  N.  N.  R. 
as  "  a  sop  to  the  commercial  Cerberus." 
In  conclusion  he  pointed  out  that  in  the  time  allotted  to  materia 
medica  in  the  present  medical  curriculum,  it  is  practically  impos- 
sible to  discuss,  intelligently,  more  than  a  limited  number  of  the 
more  important  medicaments  and  that  the  resolutions  adopted  at  the 
recent  conferences  in  Chicago,  attended  by  representatives  of  various 
organizations,  indicate  a  rather  wide-spread  interest  in  a  more  re- 
stricted materia  medica.  As  an  illustration  of  the  tendency  mani- 
fested, he  read  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  adopted  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Association  of  American  Medical  Colleges, 
held  in  Chicago,  February  27-28,  191 1  (/.  Am.  M.  Ass.,  Chicago, 
April  8,  191 1,  V.  56,  p.  1065). 
Whereas,  The  time  devoted  to  the  study  of  pharmacology, 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics  is  necessarily  limited,  and 
"  Whereas,  The  thorough  knowledge  of  a  small  but  representa- 
tive group  of  medicaments  is  conducive  to  scientific  progress  in 
therapeutics ;  therefore,  be  it 
