22  Educational  Work  of  A.M.  A.  {^SSi^ST' 
and  has  busied  itself  with  the  development  of  plans  for  the  syste- 
matic upbuilding  of  a  rational  materia  medica  by  means  of  which 
,it  should  be  possible  to  eliminate  at  once  and  for  always  both 
therapeutic  nihilism  as  well  as  therapeutic  fetishism  and  to  place 
therapy  on  a  firm  foundation  of  well-established  truths. 
From  the  very  origin  of  the  Council  the  members  have  appre- 
ciated the  need  for  conducting  an  educational  campaign  in  favor 
of  recognized  open  formula  or  official  medicaments. 
The  earliest  efforts  in  this  direction  were  undertaken  by  indi- 
vidual members  of  the  Council  through  the  publications  of  the 
Journal  Office. 
Beginning  in  1905,  there  appeared  in  the  Journal  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "  The  Phar- 
macopoeia and  The  Physician."  These  articles  were  designed  to  call 
attention  to  some  of  the  more  reliable,  official  medicaments  and  to 
point  out  the  advantages,  to  both  physician  and  patient,  that  might 
accrue  from  the  rational  use  of  U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F.  remedies. 
The  articles  were  subsequently  published  in  book  form  and  have 
been  since  reprinted  on  two  different  occasions. 
Early  in  1906,  largely  through  the  initiative  and  instrumen- 
tality of  the  late  C.  S.  N.  Hallberg,  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation published  an  epitome  of  the  U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F.  under  the 
title,  "  Manual  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  and  the  National 
Formulary." 
This  latter  publication  proved  to  be  the  immediate  incentive  for 
the  now  widespread  U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F.  Propaganda  that  has  done 
so  much  to  direct  the  attention  of  retail  druggists  to  the  possibility 
of  improving  their  own  standing  in  the  community  by  developing 
the  professional  side  of  their  calling. 
Following  the  publication  of  these  books  an  effort  was  made, 
through  a  special  committee,  to  induce  teachers  of  materia  medica 
to  devote  much  if  not  all  of  their  time  to  the  discussion  of  well- 
established  official  medicaments  so  as  to  give  to  future  generations 
of  medical  men  a  thorough  grounding  in  the  possible  uses  and 
limitations  of  the  more  important  articles  in  our  materia  medica. 
While  this  work  has  not  been  entirely  futile  the  practical 
results  have  not  been  commensurate  with  the  time  and  money  that 
has  been  expended.  The  reasons  for  this  apparent  failure  are 
directly  traceable  to  the  redundancy  of  the  present  official  stand- 
ards for  drugs  and  medicinal  preparations  and  the  ever-threatening 
possibility  of  having  one  of  the  members  of  the  State  Board  of 
