The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-19

Lively interest Is being shown In
the forthcoming deeeaniai revision of
the United States Pharmaropoeia.
The doctors. tine druggists. the phar-
tnacentieal associations, this govern
ment--in short, every one OF the
many interests that near q close re-
lation to drugs from the time they
are in their raw state until they pass
Down the throat OF the patient--are
all taking much interest in the re-
Itx.a4.- CONGRESS has Hard tfte
matter brought before IL through q
pfit which proposes That the Pnar-
maeopoeia shall be made property
fsif the government. 10 be revised nta-
der It's control 1t Ia said that the
drug manufacturers are In favor Of
such a law, but that all other inter-
ests are heartily against IT,
The ninth decennEai convention far
revising the Pharmasopoefa Will in Z
manner legisIate for Congress. since
that body has said In the pure food
law that the United States Pharma-
pensary shah DO the official stand
ard OF preparations under the pure
food law And here an interesting
point has been raised. One State has
held In it's highest courts that the
Official drug book at the time Of the
enactment OF the law remains the
official book On the other hand an
ether State has held through lite
courts that the book In force at
/ the hour Of Interpretation is 10 gov
ern. So far as is known. the Fed
eraf courts have not passed upon the
! subject, but most authorities are act
Ing on the principle that the time OF
Interpretation and not the time OF
enactment will serve 10 fix the STAND
! ard.
There are about $4,000 pharmacists
in the United States. and they pre-
pare about one million prescriptions
every day in the year. The ordinary
range of prescription writing takes In
several thousand drugs and proprie-
tary combinations. The highest num-
! her of substances resurtad IN In the
/ important drug store Is about 10000
although there are $4,000 drugs and
/ com pounds known To the pharnaceu.
kticai world. In record of the prepa-
ration Of 3T.e0G prescriptions ii was
i found thtt i,TT1 different drugs Were
used. and that the average number fr
each prescription was 20. Opinions
vary widely as 20 how many drugs q
| physician really needs to prescribe
| DR. Osler once said that nux vomica
/ and hope were the only two reall,
! was using hyperbole sto drive hons
an argument against the excessive lis
I Of medical preparations. Some ply
/ siclans think that q hundred drugs
! are sufficient 10 quelt the whole ga.
T nut OF human Ills, While others com
/ plain that the Pharmacopoeia Is no
comprehensive enough when IL con
i tains only thousand official prepa
!. rations.
sea. III. - ~. -
one Of the most Interesting things II
Tall human activity. The minute car
that is required in the preparation q
THE heroic remedies grips the atten
! ton of the iayman as firmly as IN
wonders Of astronomy or geology
Drug manufacturers ransdck tn
whole world for new ideas In Esaitn;
materials Medical science owes Il
use OF stroDhanus. one or the mos
valuable OF the heroic drugs. to tn
study of poisoned arrow from Africa
In the preparation Of this drug IL
lstrengtfs must frequently be tested
and In this test q live frog Il used
The standard Is the amount 1t re
quires to xiii frog Weighing d cor
tain number OF ounces, The hun
/ rcdtfl-tlfousandth part Of a grain vii
determine the issue between life an,
| death for the freq,
Ergot IL nothing more than fungi
CROWNS ON rye, and In gathere,
/ Throughout the rye fleids Of Europe
The only known way to satisfactorily
test the strength ~ ergot In to pain
10 rooeter's como with II. III 1t make
1 Il certain shade Of black the prepars
i ton ID of the require strength. Ever
manufactured OF ergo. has & COOP fnl
/ IT rnossare To aid him IN his tests q
Nstrength In the case or diSataits 1t !
htsrAlly tried on the dog A dog !
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