ANovemberPhioriQ'  }      Committee  on  Pharmacopoeias.  711 
not  exist  in  this  country  and  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
20°  C.  more  nearly  represents  the  normal  room  temperature  in  the 
various  sections  of  the  United  States  and  we  recommend  that  in  the 
future  revisions  200  C.  be  adopted  for  the  standard  temperature 
except  where  in  a  few  determinations,  such  as  those  of  refractive 
indices,  another  temperature  may  be  necessary  and  that  in  each  such 
group  of  necessary  variation  the  temperature  to  be  adopted  shall  be 
stated  if  it  varies  from  the  standard. 
In  order  to  economize  the  space  and  the  cost  of  publication,  the 
U.  S.  P.  IX  introduced  a  plan  for  general  formulas  which  was 
tested  out  in  the  type  formulas  given  for  fluid  extracts  and  for 
tinctures.  This  plan  has  eliminated  much  useless  repetition  and 
appears  to  have  worked  entirely  satisfactorily  and  we  recommend 
its  extended  use  wherever  practicable  in  other  classes  of  official 
preparations. 
The  previous  pharmacopoeial  convention  "  recommended  that  a 
range  of  volume  content  of  absolute  alcohol  be  stated  in  the  Pharma- 
copoeia for  each  preparation  containing  alcohol."  While  the  recom- 
mendation was  not  carried  out  in  its  entirety  a  partial  table  of  alco- 
holic content  was  published  in  Part  II.  The  importance  of  such 
official  statements  of  the  range  of  alcoholic  content  permissible  in 
each  official  preparation  is  apparent  to  every  pharmacist  and  would 
be  a  guide  to  those  entrusted  with  the  enforcement  of  the  laws 
against  adulteration  of  drugs.  It  is  therefore  recommended  that 
wherever  possible  the  U.  S.  P.  IX  should  give  such  information. 
The  necessity  for  accuracy  in  the  preparation  of  medicines  and 
in  their  administration  needs  no  argument.  It  is  recommended  that 
the  U.  S.  P.  define  and  describe  standard  graduate  measures  and 
a  standard  dosage  measure. 
The  enormously  increased  use  of  "  biologic  products "  such  as 
serums  and  bacterins  in  medical  practice  must  be  recognized.  The 
same  is  also  true  regarding  the  use  of  many  animal  organ  drugs 
such  as  mammary  substance,  ovarian  substance,  corpus  luteum.  It 
is  recommended  that  especial  consideration  be  given  to  the  necessity 
for  official  standards  for  these. 
The  Federal  Food  and  Drugs  Act  fails  to  recognize  any  standard 
for  homeopathic  drugs  and  so  far  the  homeopaths  have  failed  in 
their  endeavors  to  have  Congress  recognize  as  a  legal  authority  the 
Homeopathic  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  and  as  the  coequal 
of  the  U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F.   The  reason  for  thus  failing  to  recognize 
