Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
June,  1919. 
Dr.  Lyman  Spalding. 
379 
of  the  Faculty  have  made  less  progress  than  those  of  law  and  divinity:  the 
latter,  indeed,  have  much  to  do  before  they  can  attain  real  eminence. 
In  your  profession  I  have  long  considered  it  a  desideratum  to  have  an 
able  but  simple  work,  accurately  describing  the  nature  and  functions  of  the 
several  parts  of  man  in  a  state  of  health,  the  effect  or  changes  diseases  pro- 
duce on  each  of  those  parts  and  of  the  remedies  for  those  diseases. 
I  would  purchase  and  read  such  a  work  with  pleasure,  and  that  pleasure 
would  be  enhanced  if  it  was  simple,  plain  and  free,  so  far  as  the  nature  of  the 
subject  would  admit,  from  abstruse  technical  terms,  and  of  attachment  to 
existing  theories.  Mystery  is  the  enemy  of  improvement,  and  it  is  better 
suited  to  prolong  the  reign  of  ignorance  and  of  error  than  to  promote  that  of 
truth  and  science.  And,  the  knowledge  of  things  is  vastly  more  important 
than  that  of  words. 
I  really  wish  we  had  an  accurate  Journal  kept  in  different  sections  of  our 
Country  of  the  actual  state  of  the  weather,  the  crops,  the  general  diet  and 
regimen  of  our  citizens,  the  diseases  most  prevalent  in  each,  their  type,  char- 
acter and  mode  of  treatment,  etc..  so  as  to  exhibit  the  means  by  which  health 
was  preserved  and  lost  and  how  far  they  depended  on  climate  and  modes  of 
living.  Such  a  Society,  I  think,  might  be  formed  of  Gentlemen  living  in 
various  parts  of  our  Country,  with  little  expense  and  from  whose  reports 
much  information  could  be  obtained  which  would  be  useful  to  all,  and  par- 
ticularly to  Medical  Characters.  I  would  freely  contribute  to  such  an 
establishment. 
But,  I  am  wandering  from  the  object  of  this  letter,  which  was  to  thank 
you  for  your  Pamphlets  and  to  say,  that  if  you  or  the  Historical  Society  of 
N.  Y.,  should  need  any  of  the  few  pamphlets  we  publish  here,  it  will  afford 
me  pleasure  to  procure  and  transmit  them.  I  remain  with  much  esteem 
and  respect, 
Yours,  etc., 
William  Plumer. 
About  1817  Spalding  began  to  agitate  the  preparation  of  a 
national  pharmacopoeia,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  several  local 
pharmacopoeias  already  existed,  the  most  extensive  and  authoritative 
one  being  that  of  Massachusetts.  His  motive  in  urging  a  national 
pharmacopoeia  was  due  to  his  desire  to  secure  uniformity,  and  also 
to  discard  local  remedies  which  seem  to  have  been  used  in  different 
parts  of  the  United  States  without  any  sufficient  scientific  authority. 
As  an  example  of  such  local  favorites  may  be  mentioned  Scutellaria 
or  skullcap  as  a  remedy  for  hydrophobia.  It  was  shown  by  Spald- 
ing that  the  authority  for  the  use  of  this  remedy  was  wellnigh  uni- 
versal. Numerous  cures  through  its  employment  were  reported, 
and  in  the  literature  its  claims  were  overwhelming.  We  now  know 
that  it  is  worthless,  and  its  elimination  from  the  pharmacopoeia  was 
