Ar;cJemberPbi^!'  }    Pharmacopceial  Convention  of  ipio.  569 
the  late  Dr.  Charles  Rice  pointed  out  that  the  all-important  problem 
that  presented  itself  to  the  revisers  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  in  the 
previous  decade  was  that  of  emancipating  the  Pharmacopoeia  from 
the  control  of  the  publishing  trade.  This  accomplishment  with  the 
evolution  of  the  U.S. P.  from  a  mediocre  jumble  of  materia  medica 
catalogue  and  pharmaceutical  formulary  is  and  ever  will  be  recog- 
nized as  the  life  work  of  a  true  nobleman  in  pharmacy,  one  of  those 
really  great  men  that  are  ever  willing  to  sacrifice  themselves  and  to 
contribute  their  best  work  gratuitously  for  the  advancement  of  a 
righteous  cause. 
Dr.  Charles  Rice  was  re-elected  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Revision  in  1900,  and  his  death  early  the  following  year,  followed 
as  it  was  by  a  necessary  reorganization  of  the  Committee  of  Revi- 
sion, contributed  greatly  no  doubt  to  the  undue  delay  in  the  publica- 
tion of  the  U.S. P.  VIII  and  the  inclusion  of  many  of  the  more  or  less 
minor  imperfections  which  were  found  to  exist  in  the  Pharmacopoeia 
after  its  adoption  as  a  legal  standard  under  the  provisions  of  the 
Food  and  Drugs  Act,  June  30,  1906. 
As  pointed  out  in  the  opening  paragraphs  of  this  communication, 
the  adoption  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  a  legal  standard  was  in  turn 
the  direct  cause  for  the  re-revision  of  the  U.S. P.  VIII,  thus  disclos- 
ing the  second  fundamental  defect  in  our  present  method  of  revising 
the  Pharmacopoeia.  It  has  repeatedly  been  pointed  out  that  the 
present  Committee  of  Revision  is  both  too  large  and  too  small.  It  is 
too  large  for  rapid  or  even  prompt  work  and  it  is  hopelessly  inade- 
quate in  point  of  numbers  and  specific  information  when  definite 
decisions  on  special  questions  are  involved.  Even  the  Pharmaco- 
poeial  Convention,  with  all  its  possibilities  for  representation,  cannot 
expect  to  have  more  than  a  minor  portion  of  the  interests  that  are 
involved  in  a  revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  actually  represented  by 
delegates  able  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings.  Even  granting  that 
this  were  possible,  however,  the  resulting  convention  would  be 
hopelessly  unwieldy  and  could  never  be  brought  into  line  to  properly 
consider  all  of  the  many  questions  arising  in  connection  with  the 
work  in  hand.  Even  under  present  conditions  it  is  recognized  to 
be  practically  impossible  to  accomplish  much  in  the  way  of  progress 
unless  the  delegates  to  the  convention  will  agree  to  inform  them- 
selves more  thoroughly  before  attending  the  convention  on  the 
needs  and  the  shortcomings  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  so  as  to  be  able  to 
safeguard  the  interests  of  the  public  without  doing  an  injustice  to 
