Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-05-12
Gather in First Convention Since Passage of Late
 Legislation
PROMISE REVISION
 OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL
Delegates Represent Differ ent Departments of Ma
 tional Bodies

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 1.-The first session of the United States Phar- Inaceutical convention since the paF- sage and coming into force of the pure food law began here today with full attendance, and will probably continue for at least week. The United States Pharmacopoeial convention is an in corporated body, chartered under the laws of the District of Columbia, July z, 1900, and is continuous, with power to conduct revisons of the United States Pharmacopoea under the consti- tuition and bylaws framed by the con vention. The present session of the convention is of exceptional importance. :. as 1t will deal with the task of under. taking thorough revision of the Unit States Pharmocopoeia which, under tine pure food law, will be the standard for the purity, strength and composition of all drugs and medicines included in it.
 The last revision of the pharmaco. poeia occurred in 1900. Being then merely standard guide, it was not en- forcible by law, but now under the new food and drug law, the book is an Of ficial work, the requirements of which every pharmacist and dealer in drugs must comply with under penalty of the law. The task of the revision comrir tee of the present convention, headed by Dr. Joseph P. Remington, of Phila- delpha, will be extremely difficult. ow- ing to the fact that the views of the delegates, more or less influenced by the wishes of the bodies which they represent, as to tn manner in which the redivision shall be made, are widely divergent. While some of the delegates favor restriction of the pharmacopoeia to a limited list of drugs and medicines m more or less common use, other dele gates desire considerable ext ansioE of the scope of the harmocopoeia, so as to take in not only the drugs and medicines already mentioned in the last edition but a large number of new drugs which have come in use since the last revision and are, therefore, not described and standardized in the book. They are yelling to concede only the dropping of certain obsolete drugs, no longer prescribed by modern practi, tinners.
 Many of the medical and pharmaccu. t;"al associations throughout the coGn try have passed resolutions favoring some policy in revising the pharma- copoeia and there is a strong faction, headed by the New York delegates, up- holding the principle that all articles commonly included in the medical stock of the pharmacist, and not of propri, etary nature, should be recogni led in the PharmacopOeia, and definite stand ards and tests suitable for the usc of the practicing pharmacist should be provided for them, in spite of the fact that their therapeutical properties may not commend them to the better inform ed practitioner of medicine. The dele gates maintain that the drugs left out would still be used by many physicians and it would be dangerous to leave them without protection of legal standard.
 The convention is thoroughly repre- sentative body. Some of the delegates were appointed respectively by the sur. geon general of the army, the surpeon general of the navy and the surgeon general of the Marine Hospital service, while other delegates represent the Bureau of Chemistry of the department of agriculture and nearly every impor tant medical and pharmac eutical col lege and association in the country.