86  The  U.S.P.  as  a  Legal  Standard.  { 
great  trade  interests  sure  to  be  on  the  alert ;  they  can  afford  to  send 
a  full  complement  of  representatives  and  insist  on  their  zeal  and 
activity.    Standards,  therefore,  may  be  framed  to  suit  such  interests. 
A  primary  and  inherent  fault  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  a  legal 
standard  is  the  same  as  that  pointed  out  with  regard  to  its  use  by 
the  analyst,  namely,  the  infrequency  of  publication.  Ten  years, 
even  five,  is  much  too  long  an  interval.  Trade  conditions  change  and 
these  changed  conditions  should  be  met  promptly  and  fully.  The 
method  of  establishing  standards  by  governmental  proclamation  is 
not  wholly  satisfactory,  but  it  is  much  better  than  the  system  of 
establishing  them  by  a  book  which  can  only  be  corrected  by  the 
formal  action  of  more  than  two  dozen  persons  scattered  over  a  wide 
area. 
The  injustice  that  has  been  worked  by  the  use  of  the  Pharmaco- 
poeia as  a  legal  standard  has  been  so  apparent  that  the  framers 
of  the  current  edition  have  made  a  formal  statement  that  it  is  to  be 
considered  such  only  so  far  as  the  substances  are  used  as  drugs.  It 
is  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  this  wTaiver  will  avoid  the  trouble.  In 
some  of  the  laws  enacted  to  prevent  adulteration  the  statement  is 
made,  substantially,  that  an  article  sold  under  a  name  which  occurs 
in  the  Pharmacopoeia  must  conform  to  the  requirements  of  that 
work.  The  law  does  not  consider  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  article. 
Moreover,  there  is  no  certainty  that  all  courts  will  concede  the 
validity  of  the  waiver.  The  law  has  its  own  methods  which  are  not 
always  foreseen  or  even  comprehended  by  those  not  in  that  profes- 
sion. In  an  Ohio  case  a  druggist  was  charged  with  the  sale  of  an 
article  that  did  not  accord  with  the  then  current  (1890)  Pharmaco- 
poeia, but  did  accord  with  the  issue  that  was  in  use  when  the  law 
was  passed.  A  conviction  was  obtained,  but  a  higher  court  set 
aside  (and  I  think  justly)  the  verdict  on  the  ground  that  the  Phar- 
macopoeia mentioned  in  the  act  was  the  one  in  force  at  the  time  the 
act  was  passed  and  not  some  issue  not  in  existence  and  of  which  the 
enacting  body  was  unaware. 
A  definite  instance  of  the  ease  with  which  the  book  can  be  used 
harshly  was  shown  in  a  trial  for  selling  "  extract  of  vanilla."  The 
sample  did  not  conform  to  the  standard  for  "  tincture  of  vanilla"  in 
the  Pharmacopoeia.  The  expert  for  the  prosecution  took  the  ground 
that  this  latter  was  the  proper  standard  for  preparations  sold  for 
flavoring  purposes.    He  admitted,  on  cross-examination,  that  "  ex- 
