33o  Editorial.  {^jfiSiST" 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
The  Revision  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia. — On  page  268  of  our  last 
number  we  have  published  the  call  for  the  sixth  decennial  Pharmacopoeia  conven- 
tion, which  is  to  meet  in  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  May,, 
1880.  The  call  is  signed  by  Dr.  James  E.  Morgan,  whose  name  is  erroneously  given 
James  M.  Morgan  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  National  Convention  of  1870,  as  pub- 
lished in  the  last  edition  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Dr.  Morgan  is  the  only  survivor  of 
the  five  officers  of  the  convention  who  were  charged  with  the  duty  of  calling  the 
sixth  convention.  In  accordance  with  the  resolutions  passed  in  1870,  the  notice  is 
specially  addressed  to  the  incorporated  State  medical  societies,  the  incorporated 
medical  colleges,  colleges  of  physicians  and  surgeons  and  colleges  of  pharmacy 
throughout  the  United  States,  all  of  which  are  requested  to  elect  delegates,  not 
exceeding  three,  to  the  next  general  convention,  and  in  the  meantime  to  submit  the 
Pharmacopoeia  to  a  careful  revision,  the  result  of  their  labors  to  be  transmitted  to 
the  convention. 
It  is  particularly  to  this  last  clause  that  we  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  our 
readers     It  is  well  known  that  it  is  much  easier  to  find  fault  with  a  work  done  by 
others  than  to  do  that  same  work  in  a  better  manner,  and  it  is  not  unfrequently  the 
case  that  most  fault  is  /ound  by  those  who  have  made  the  least  efforts  towards 
improving  that  which  it  is  desired  to  revise.    Since  the  Phai  macopoeia  is  more 
especially  the  law-book  of  the  pharmacist  and  his  guide  in  making  those  prepara- 
tions which  the  physician  is  expected  to  use  in  the  treatment  of  disease,  a  duty 
evidently  rests  upon  every  pharmacist  to  contribute  his  share  towards  making  the 
Pharmacopoeia  as  perfect  as  possible.    The  discussion  of  processes,  manipulations 
and  menstrua  at  meetings  and  in  the  journals  is  all  very  proper;  but,  with  the  view 
of  lending  efficient  aid  in  the  revision,  the  results,  and  not  the  theories  merely,  should 
be  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  convention  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  them  at 
once  available  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  intended.    Or,  in  other  words,, 
alterations  and  new  material  should  be  presented  precisely  as  they  are  intended  to. 
appear  in  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  any  argumentation  in  favor  of  or  against  a  pro- 
cess or  measure  should  be  to  the  point  and  as  brief  as  consistent  with  clearness. 
All  references  to  published  papers  or  the  expressed  opinions  of  men  can  obviously 
be  best  available  if  put  into  the  language  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.    It  is  doubtless  fop 
such  and  similar  reasons  that  the  different  societies  are  requested  to  submit  the 
Pharmacopoeia  to  a  careful  revision.    The  comparison  of  the  results  will  then  be 
relative'y  an  easy  task,  and  if  a  sufficient  majority  of  the  reports  should  favor 
any  particular  preparation  or  process,  its  adoption  would  obviously  be  secured. 
Have  all  the  colleges  of  pharmacy  applied  themselves  to  the  work  expected  of 
them  ?  We  are  unable  to  say  to  what  extent  this  has  been  done  5  but  in  case  the- 
preliminary  labors  required  should  have  not,  or  only  partially,  been  attended  to,  we 
would  urge  upon  each  college  the  necessity  of  commencing  the  work  forthwith,, 
and,  rather  than  to  leave  it  undone  altogether,  to  revise  as  large  a  portion  ot  the 
Pharmacopoeia  as  can  be  done  by  them  during  the  few  months  left  before  the  meet- 
ing of  the  convention. 
