38o 
Dr.  Lyman  Spalding. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1919. 
promptly  made.  The  plan  proposed  by  Spalding  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  pharmacopoeia  was  an  excellent  one,  and  has  practically 
been  followed  for  the  last  one  hundred  years. 
The  pharmacopoeia  was  originated  in  a  paper  by  Dr.  Spalding, 
read  before  the  medical  society  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  which 
he  pointed  out  the  difficulties  attendant  upon  the  present  lack  of 
uniformity  in  the  preparation  of  drugs  in  the  different  states.  As  a 
result  of  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  his  paper,  a 
committee  was  appointed,  of  which  Dr.  Spalding  was  chairman,  to 
suggest  measures  for  the  preparation  of  a  national  pharmacopoeia. 
The  country  was  divided  into  four  districts,  known  as  the  northern, 
middle,  southern  and  western.  Through  the  medical  societies  of 
these  regions,  delegates  were  chosen  to  meet  at  some  central  point 
in  the  district  to  discuss  matters  pertaining  to  the  drugs  to  go  into 
the  pharmacopoeia,  and  to  elect  two  delegates,  each  to  go  to  Wash- 
ington later  to  prepare  the  book  for  publication.  The  only  two 
district  conventions  were  those  of  New  England,  at  Boston,  and 
of  the  Middle  States  at  Philadelphia,  which  met  on  June  1,  1819. 
The  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  although  attended  only  by  delegates 
from  the  middle  district,  had  done  valuable  work  in  the  discussion 
of  remedies  and  methods.  The  delegates  chosen  at  the  two  district 
meetings  met  in  a  general  convention  in  Washington  on  January  1, 
1820,  Dr.  Spalding  being  one  of  the  delegates.  The  two  rough 
drafts  from  the  district  meetings  were  examined  and  discussed,  and 
the  preparation  of  the  pharmacopoeia  was  outlined  and  plans  made 
for  its  completion  and  adoption.  A  committee  of  publication  was 
chosen,  wTith  Dr.  Spalding  as  chairman,  which  met  in  New  York  in 
June,  1820.  The  Pharmacopoeia  was  printed  in  English  and  Latin, 
and  was  immediately  adopted  as  authoritative  throughout  the 
country. 
About  the  same  time  Dr.  Spalding  also  had,  in  addition  to  the 
pharmacopoeia,  a  plan  for  the  establishment  of  what  he  termed  a 
medical  police  to  have  charge  of  all  sanitary  matters.  The  latter 
scheme,  however,  seems  to  have  faded  from  public  sight. 
Dr.  Spalding  did  not  live  long  after  the  publication  of  the 
pharmacopoeia.  In  1821,  while  walking  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
he  was  struck  down  by  some  building  material  which  fell  upon  his 
head,  and  rendered  him  unconscious.  Although  he  recovered  ap- 
parently, he  never  enjoyed  good  health,  and  gradually  went  into  a 
