472 
Pliarm  aceut  ical  Pre  par  a  tio  n  s . 
(Am.  Jour  Pharm. 
I     October,  1905. 
remedy,  regardless  of  cause.  Owing  to  the  greater  cost  of  synthetics 
this  condition  of  affairs  has  deprived  the  retailer  of  a  share  of  his 
revenue  derived  from  prescriptions,  the  use  of  the  old-time  remedies 
being  more  profitable  to  the  prescription  pharmacist. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  as  an  authoritative  standard  has  served  as  a 
guide  to  both  retailer  and  manufacturer.  The  names  of  Procter, 
Maisch,  Rice  and  Prescott,  in  connection  with  the  United  States 
Pharmacopoeia  and  in  the  field  of  scientific  pharmacy,  should  always 
be  remembered  with  honor  and  gratitude.  The  use  of  an  authorita- 
tive standard  for  fixing  the  strength  and  quality  of  medicines  is  quite 
apparent,  and  is  recognized  by  every  civilized  country.  In  this 
country  conformity  to  the  standards  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  is  a 
matter  of  choice,  not  compulsory,  hence  the  Pharmacopoeia  does 
not  always  receive  recognition  as  an  authority.  A  deplorable  fea- 
ture of  manufactured  pharmaceutical  preparations  to-day  is  their 
lack  of  uniformity.  The  market  is  flooded  with  preparations  under 
pharmacopceial  names  which  differ  in  character  so  that  they  will  not 
even  mix  with  one  another,  although  being  marketed  under  identi- 
cal names.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  occurrence  to  hear  a  pharmacist 
say  that  he  mixed  two  fluids,  one  prepared  by  Mr.  Brown  and  the 
other  by  Mr.  Jones,  and  the  result  was  an  unsightly  precipitate.  If 
pharmacopceial  standards  were  adhered  to  such  a  state  of  things 
could  not  exist.  The  advance  in  pharmaceutical  knowledge  has 
made  possible  many  improvements  in  processes  of  manufacture, 
which  is  taken  advantage  of  in  many  instances  to  reduce  the  cost  of 
production.  In  most  instances,  perhaps,  where  deviations  of  official 
formulae  are  resorted  to,  it  is  induced  by  sharp  competition  in  which 
the  manufacturer  adopts  a  less  expensive  formula  or.  process  to  make 
a  preparation  equally  as  good  as  the  official  product  at  less  cost 
The  argument  that  the  advance  in  pharmaceutical  knowledge  at  the 
present  time  makes  possible  many  improvements  in  the  processes  does 
not  hold  good  when  applied  to  official  preparations.  Physicians  have 
a  right  to  demand  uniformity  in  the  official  preparations.  In  the  first 
place,  the  absolute  proof  of  its  being  an  improvement  over  the  official 
method,  and,  secondly,  the  proof  that  the  product  is  identical  with 
the  pharmacopoeial  product,  would  have  to  be  established.  It  should 
be  quite  apparent,  therefore,  that  the  result  of  non-adherence  to 
pharmacopoeial  methods  is  disastrous  to  professional  and  public  in- 
terests.   When  the   pharmacopceial  method  or  standard  is  not 
