forcement of the act and also gave the power to promulgate standards for drugs if upon request the appropriate committee of revision did not take • action within a reasonable time. * Medical progress is now probably greater in 1 year than it was in a decade when the N. F. was established. * Formerly the N. F. was revised over a period of a few years, and after the revision was issued, the Committee on National Formulary was practically inactive during the remainder of the decade. Medical progress now requires that revision be a continuous process. The Committee on the National Formulary has 10 members, each of whom is a chairman of a subcommittee dealing with a specific division: Pharmacognosy, chemicals, solution preparation, extractive preparations, solid preparations for external use, bacteriological or biological preparations, external preparations, miscellaneous preparations, pharmacology and posology, and nomenclature. Each chairman is privileged to select his own committee members, but these must be approved by the president of the American Pharmaceutical Association and ratified by the council of the association, which is composed of 18 members. The present members of the Committee on the National Formulary include 7 members of faculties of schools of pharmacy or other divisions of some college or university, 1 hospital pharmacist, and 2 members of commercial firms. The United States Food and Drug Administration is not represented on any of these committees or on the council of the association, although conferences on questions of mutual interest are held when desired. The members of the American Pharmaceutical Association recognize, however, that, should the Committee on the National Formulary fail to approve satisfactory standards with reasonable promptness, the privilege of establishing these standards might be withdrawn by the Federal Government. The Committee on the Recipe Book is responsible for the publication of the "Pharmaceutical Recipe Book," 33 which provides formulas for preparations ordinarily mixed by individual druggists. The Committee on Unofficial Standards is expected "to formulate Sandards, so far as it may be found desirable, for such drugs and emical products for which standards are not otherwise provided." 34 The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association is also active in this work. A committee serves on the Pharmacopoeia Revision Committee of the United States Pharmacopoeial Convention. This organization is responsible for the revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia,35 hich gives standards for drugs (or simples, as the profession speaks of them). These standards are recognized in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. "National Formulary Revision," by E. J. Kelly, Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, vol. XXVIII, pp. 629-630, October 1939. The Pharmaceutical Recipe Book," by Committee on Recipe Book of the American Farmaceutical Association, 529 pp., second edition, Mack Printing Co., Easton, Pa., 1936. Constitution and By-Laws," ch. VIII, art. VIII, American Pharmaceutical Association, Washington. D. C., August 1925. United States Pharmacopoeia," by United States Pharmacopoeial Convention, 676 pp., Seventh revision, Mack Printing Co., Easton, Pa., June 1, 1936. STANDARDIZATION ACTIVITIES OF TECHNICAL AN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES There are 30 or more technical and professional societies in th country participating in the development of standards and specific tions. The types of membership of these societies vary widely. Son societies are composed exclusively of individuals who have met certai rigid professional requirements, while other societies include a con bination of individuals, corporations, trade associations, and educ tional or institutional agencies. Whatever the nature of the membe ship, each society represents some technical interest common to a members. Many of the engineering and other technical societies hav become outstanding in standardization work, and are conductin extensive research programs. Much of the scientific research is coordinated under the leadershi of such agencies as the National Research Council, the Engineerin Foundation, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and th American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Research workers an maintained at the National Bureau of Standards, educational inst tutions, or private technical laboratories. The three outstanding agencies dealing with the standardization o specifications and test methods are the American Standards Associa tion, the American Society for Testing Materials, and the Associatio of Official Agricultural Chemists. American Standards Association. Industrial standardization in the United States had reached by 191 a stage of development which demanded greater coordination an agreement between industries, technical groups, and government a agencies (Federal, State, and municipal) than had been attained thu far. Confusion and rivalry among the proponents of different stand ards, and conflicts in jurisdiction were continually arising as popula tion increased, industry advanced, and governmental activities wer extended. It was fitting that five of the leading technical societies should at tempt to solve these problems. The American Institute of Electrica Engineers invited the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Ameri can Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Min ing and Metallurgical Engineers, and the American Society for Testin Materials to unite in developing a plan for cooperation in standardiza tion work. On October 10, 1918, they formed an agency to serve a a clearing house through which technical, industrial, and governmenta agencies might coordinate and develop their standardization activitie so as to evolve, eventually, voluntary national standards which would have a relatively wide application. This was first known as the Ameri can Engineering Standards Committee. Gradually other groups wer brought into this committee. In time the concept of its objectives wa broadened, and in 1928 the committee was reorganized and its activi ties greatly extended. At that time the name was changed to the American Standards Association. Since then, its procedures have been further modified to provide for the inclusion of representatives of all interests concerned with the development of standards and to include a wider range of projects: dimensional standards to allow for interchangeability of supplies or to secure the interworking of parts or of interrelated apparatus; specifications for materials and methods of test; definitions of technical terms used in industry; industrial safety codes to make possible uniform requirements in safety devices for machines and other equipment in the fields of both public and industrial safety; industrial health codes for the prevention of occupational diseases; the development of a national building code; specifications for consumer goods sold in retail trade." The organization of the American Standards Association is shown. in chart XIV. The primary membership of the American Standards Association includes 72 national technical societies, trade associations, and governmental departments and agencies. In addition, there are some 2,000 industrial concerns which hold membership either directly or by group arrangement through their trade associations. The association is democratically controlled by its membership. Finances and general policy matters are in the hands of a board of directors made up of 19 executives, each nominated by a different industry. The technical work is superrised by the Standards Council, which is composed of representatives of all the member bodies.S The association is supported by dues from all members, except Government departments and agencies, and by subscriptions of sustaining members. The total sum, however, represents only a small fraction of the amount industry spends for standardization. Industry supports this work because it realizes and can demonstrate that standardization along suitable lines pays generous dividends. Major fields in which standards have been and are being developed by the association are: Automotive, chemical, civil engineering and construction, electrical, ferrous materials and metallurgy, nonferrous materials and metallurgy, mechanical engineering, mining, textiles, transportation, wood, and other miscellaneous lines. The procedure in developing American Standards by the sectional committee method is shown in chart XV. Over 3,000 men and women are working on the various committees. The procedure of the American Standards Association provides that Committees engaged in developing standards for a commodity must include representatives of all groups having a substantial interest in the standard, including producers of materials used, manufacturers of the product, distributors, users of the product, and technical experts. All of these interests should be represented from the beginning of the development of the standard. Before a standard can be approved there must be evidence of its general acceptance by all groups substantially concerned. The association provides the machinery through which the industries themselves arrive at decisions. It takes up a new project only upon request of a responsible organization or group. The project may deal with an existing standard already in general use, or one which it is proposed shall be generally accepted, or it may "American Standards Year Book," p. 3, American Standards Association, New York City, 1938. "The American Standards Association." Standards Monthly, vol. 10, p. 140, June 1940. Industrial Standardization and Commercial involve the development of an entirely new standard. It may be any one of a wide variety of types: Dimensional standards; specifications for materials; methods of test; performance specifications; methods of analysis; definitions of technical terms; industrial safety codes; industrial health codes; or a national building code." 38 Almost 400 standards have been approved to date by the American Standards Association and over 280 are in the process of development. Most of these standards are for products to be sold to and to be used by industry and for production methods employed by manufacturers. In fact, it was not until the reorganization in 1928 that the American Standards Association so defined its program as to include specifically the development of standards for retail goods. The relatively few standards so far approved for goods to be sold to ultimate consumers are standards for testing ice refrigerators; standards for methods of testing woven textile fabrics; specifications for dry batteries; specifications for labeling cotton yard goods; and standards covering installation and performance requirements for all the commonly used gas-burning appliances.39 Attempts have been initiated to formulate standards for bed blankets, bed sheets, and shrinkage of cotton textiles, but these efforts have failed because of lack of support by manufacturers. However, the proposed standards on shrinkage have since been included in the Trade Practice Rules for the Shrinkage of Woven Cotton Yard Goods of the Federal Trade Commission. In October 1936 increasing demand on the part of women's organizations and gradually rising interest in consumer standards within the American Standards Association led to the organization of an Advisory Committee on Ultimate Consumer Goods to coordinate and direct the standardization work on consumer goods. This committee includes representatives of leading national women's organizations, retailers' associations, and interested Federal agencies. Subcommittees of the Advisory Committee on Ultimate Consumer Goods have reviewed the situation with reference to various standardization projects for consumer goods, which, from time to time, have been initiated under the procedure of the American Standards Association, and have selected certain Commercial Standards approved by the National Bureau of Standards which it has recommended to the Standards Council of the American Standards Association for acceptance as American Standards. Other committees are investigating the need for work in such fields as shoes, sheets and sheeting, boys' clothing, hosiery, household refrigerators, silver plated tableware, waterproof and water repellant fabrics, and color permanence.* A committee of the American Standards Association is working on the development of standard body measurements to be used as a basis for a uniform system of sizes for children's garments. The standards will be based on a survey of 36 body measurements of 147,000 children between the ages of 4 and 17. This survey was made under the supervision of the United States Bureau of Home Economics and subsidized by the Work Projects Administration. "The Organization and Work of A. S. A. Sectional Committees," p. 2, American Standards Association, New York City, 1939. 30 "Consumer Goods." Industrial Standardization and Commercial Standards Monthly, vol. 10, p. 146, June 1939. 40 Idem. |