The American Medical Association and the United States pharmacopoeia / a reprint of the pamphlets of H.C. Wood, Alfred B. Taylor, the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the National College of Pharmacy ; with a rejoinder addressed to the professions of medicine and pharmacy of the United States, by Edward R. Squibb.

  • E. R. Squibb
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The American Medical Association and the United States pharmacopoeia / a reprint of the pamphlets of H.C. Wood, Alfred B. Taylor, the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the National College of Pharmacy ; with a rejoinder addressed to the professions of medicine and pharmacy of the United States, by Edward R. Squibb. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    110/159 (page 110)
    sit in judgment upon the important questions involved. By fixing the numl^er of memlicrs to be nine, moreover, an opportunity will hp affonU'd for a proper proportional rcpre.senlation, so far as prarlicjihle, of the chief branclu-s of knowledge called into requisition in this l<ind of work, viz. : materia medica, botany, ciicniistry, and pharmacy, and upon this important ground chietly your Committee base their .selection of that nuinlK-r. The proviso in Dr. S(iuibb's plan, whereby a majority of the memln-rs are virtually given the power to expel the minority, seems to U8 not only unneces- sary, but decidedly objectionable. It is argued that '' the income from their work, if it be well done, will, within a moderate time, pay a few men for the time and lal>or they give, but would not pay a large number of men. This argimient. however, is si-cnndary, onl}', in importance, and, moreover, if tlie Medical nepartments of the Gov- ernment are invited and retiuested, as proposed, to participate in this lal>or. the officers selected to represent these departments cannot legally receive any compensation other tlian their official salaries. Your Committee share Dr. Squil)b's views in reference to the great advantages which would certainly result from the co-operation of the Medical Deiiartments of the Government as suggested, and believe it to be the duty of tlie Government to contribute their share of the responsibility, labor, and support. (See Doctor Squibl>'s pam- phlet, pp. 50 to 52) The Army, and Navy, and the [Mercantile] Marine Hospital Service should, therefore, be alike invited; similar facilities being possessed by them all. In order that all danger of rival pharmacopieias may l)e obviated, it appears to j'our Connnittee to be of very great importance that (tovernmental ayithority be imparted to the Piiarmacopa'ia published by Tlie National Convention, so far as this is practicable or consistent wiili tiie end in view, for whieh purpose it might well be reconuuended to the Convention to ask the Congress of the Vnited States to piiss a joint resolution rei|uiring tlie Surgeon-General of the Army, tlie Surgeon-General of the Navy, and the Supervising Surgeon-deiiend of the Jlarine Hospital Service, each to detail an otllcer to attend and take part in the proceedings of the convention and co-operate in the revision of the PharmacopoMa witli the committee appointed by the Convention. Tlie organi- zation of the Committee of Revision and I'ulilication (or of the Pharmacopa^ial Council, if that title be preferable) should lie determined solely with a view to the liigliest attainable capacity for tliorougb delilieration and effective labor, and nothing siioiild be left undone that tends to insure tliis result. It is sjife to say that should the Medical Departments of the Government lie required to par- ticipate as here iiulicaled, the aid rendered by them will be of the most cfHcient character. It appears to your Committee that the National Convention for Kevising the Pharmaeopieia as now constituted is as truly what its name implies—National— as it is possible to make it, and a committee of whicli two-thirds are selected by that Convention, and the remaining third by the Government, would, it is con- ceived, carrj- national authority with it, such as could not be otiierwise attained. The suggestion that an act of incorporation be obtained for the Committee (or Council) might be of real practical value, and the Convention might see fit to 80 order. The recommendation that an annual sup]ilenient be pulilislied by the Pliarma- copoeia Revisers, we predict will meet with universal favor, the great advantage