A CRITICAL REVIEW 
OF 
THE SEVENTH DECENNIAL REVISION 
OF THE 
Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America 
BY 
GEORGE M. BERINGER, A.M., Ph.G. 
Reprinted from the American Journal of Pharmacy. 
With Compliments of the Author. THE 
United States Pharmacopoeia of 1890. 
George M. Beringer, A.M., 
The appearance of the seventh decennial revision of the Pharma- 
copoeia of the United States has been patiently awaited by the 
pharmacists of America. The labors of the committee, extending 
over a period of more than three years, suggested the hope that 
the present revision would be perfect. The committee cannot be 
accused of hastily completing their work and the product, a book 
of over six hundred pages, gives evidence throughout of the desire 
to make this the most scientific of all the national pharmacopoeias. 
The acknowledged talent of the gentlemen composing the commit- 
tee of revision, assured in advance the scientific character of the 
work, but there is no lack of evidence of the want of that practical 
knowledge of the pharmacy of to-day acquired only by personal 
contact with customers. 
That errors should have crept into a book of such vast scope and 
numerous titles is but natural, and the committee have added a final 
page of errata and addenda which they have discovered, but these 
are by no means all. After a careful examination of the book, the 
writer is forced to conclude that it is far from perfect and that the 
mistakes of the present revision will furnish ample work for the 
revision of 1900. 
The typography of the work and binding are fair and the price at 
which the book is sold is satisfactory and should tend to make it much more popular than the previous revision of 1880. From Jan- 
uary 1, 1894, it becomes the legal authority for all official products, 
and it is to be noted that official and not officinal has been stamped 
authoritatively by the committee. 
The present review is.offered from the unbiased standpoint of a 
practical pharmacist, whose daily companion the volume will be and 
it is supposed to be mainly prepared for the use of this class. 
I would suggest that, in the future revisions, the proceedings of 
the convention authorizing that revision alone be published as the 
history of the earlier conventions and pharmacopoeias can be 
obtained from the previous revisions. This would have eliminated 
ten pages from this edition. The book is replete with tables and 
lists as aids in the various calculations and testings, giving it much 
the appearance of a modern text book of chemistry. In this respect 
very little more could be desired, and some might have been here 
omitted as they will appear in the dispensatories and various com- 
pends. That most practical and often enquired after Official table of 
closes is omitted. In the writer's experience, this is quite as much 
needed by our medical brethren as by those of the pharmaceutical 
craft. In the table on page LVI1I, we are informed that the strength 
of decoctions and infusions in the Pharmacopoeia of 1890 is "about 
1 in 5 " instead of 1 in 20, or about five per cent, as in the text 
of the book. The Pharmacopoeia of 1880, stated the weight of a 
fluidounce of water as 455-7 grains, that of 1890 states " 456 392 
grains at maximum density in vacuo," and this method is generally 
adopted in the tables. Scientifically accurate, but the pharmacist 
needs these tables as aids to his commercial operations, which are not 
conducted in vacuo and rarely at the temperature of maximum den- 
sity, and it would have been more to the purpose to have supplied 
him with tables of equivalent weights and measures computed for 
normal temperature and pressure instead of at 40 C. and in vacuo. 
It is regretted that in the adoption of the Centigrade scale for 
temperatures that the equivalent in the Fahrenheit scale is added 
after each statement of temperature. The adoption of the metrical 
system of weights and measures is commendable and in harmony 
with scientific works over the entire globe. The system of parts 
by weight adopted by the Pharmacopoeia of 1880 was regarded only 
as a compromise, a step in the education of the pharmaceutical and 
medical professions toward the universal adoption of the metrical 
2 3 
system. With but few exceptions, such as making the dilute acids 
and mucilage of acacia, parts by weight have been dropped and the 
"un-American" idea of weighing liquids as a principle has been 
relegated to the past. If the pharmaceutical and medical writers 
will now refrain from transposing these weights and measures, they 
will compel the masses to think in the metrical system. This point 
attained, they will soon learn to understand and appreciate its use- 
fulness. 
Prior to, and at the time of, the convention in May, 1890, much 
had been written and said regarding standardization of the prepara- 
tions of the organic drugs. After careful consideration, the com- 
mittee have introduced methods of assay for cinchona and opium 
and for preparations of opium and nux vomica. We endorse the 
reasons assigned for such limitation on page XXX. The lime method 
for assay of opium, of the U. S. P. 1880, is discarded and Squibb's 
process is adopted, with the following slight modifications: Tared 
filters are not used. The crystals of morphine, after washing with 
water, are washed with alcohol saturated with morphine (it is 
apparent that at this part of the process the evaporation of the 
alcohol must be guarded against or a slight error will be introduced), 
subsequently washed with ether and dried at 6o° C. and transferred 
to a tared watch crystal and weighed. No test is applied for the 
purity of the resulting morphine. 
For the assay of cinchona, the process of 1880 was also dis- 
carded and a modification of Prollius' method for total alkaloids 
adopted. The product from the first extraction by a mixture of 
alcohol, chloroform and ammonia is purified by conversion into sul- 
phate. The filtered solution rendered alkaline by potassa, is extracted 
with chloroform. The evaporated chloroformic solution, dried and 
weighed gives the total alkaloids. For determining the percentage 
of quinine, the purified chloroformic solution, from 5 grm. of bark is 
evaporated on powdered glass and then extracted by slow percolation 
with ether until 10 cc. of percolate is obtained, this is evaporated 
and weighed. The percolation with ether is continued until another 
10 cc. is obtained and this is likewise evaporated and weighed. 
The weight of the second deducted from the weight of the first por- 
tion and the result is assumed to give approximately the weight of 
quinine, and multiplied by twenty, the percentage. 
For the assay of extract of nux vomica, the following process is 4 
adopted: 2 grm. of the extract dried at ioo° C. is treated with a 
mixture of alcohol and water and water of ammonia and the alkaline 
liquid is extracted with chloroform. The chloroformic solution is 
evaporated and the residue extracted with 10 cc. sulphuric 
acid and hot water and then titrated with potassic hydrate 
solution using Brazil wood solution as an indicator. The number 
of cc. of the yj sulphuric acid found to have been neutralized by 
the alkaloid, multiplied by the factor 1-82, gives the percentage of 
the total alkaloid. A. H. Allen has recommended methyl orange 
as the indicator in strychnine titration. The process should direct 
distilled water, as the degree of hardness of natural water, would 
materially affect the results in such delicate determinations. 
The descriptions of the official chemicals and many of the vege- 
table products, are accompanied by copious tests for identification 
and determination of purity and in this respect very little more 
could be desired, and in many cases the requirements are too strin- 
gent for medicinal chemicals. 
Ninety-two articles have been dismissed from the Pharmacopoeia. 
The list published on pages XLIX and L contains but ninety titles 
but we suppose that tinctura ferri acetatis and vinurn aromaticum 
were dismissed and not inadvertently omitted. It is significant of 
the present tendency of medication towards the use of chemical 
remedies that of these, twenty-seven were of vegetable origin and 
but thirteen of chemical derivation, and of the latter aether, chloro 
formum venale and sodii bicarbonatis venale represent but titles as 
the purified products remain. The same may be said of the title 
cinchona flava, dismissed as the title cinchona now includes the bark 
of cinchona calisaya, cinchona officinalis and of hybrids of these and 
other cinchonas. It is to be noted that the alkaloidal requirement 
for all official cinchonas has been increased to five per cent, total 
alkaloids which conforms with the best grades of cinchona now in the 
market. None of the vegetable drugs dismissed were sufficiently 
used to be retained, and the following should also have been 
excused from the official list as they would not be missed, cascarilla, 
chelidonium, illicum, melissa and sabina. 
It is not a new proposition but a well-founded one, that the 
Pharmacopoeia should not recognize any drug that is not prescribed 
in the crude state without introducing some official preparation of 
that drug. This would exclude caulophyllum, inula and marru- 5 
bium of which fluid extracts should be official and staphisagria, 
pulsatilla and toxicodendron of which tinctures should have been 
introduced. 
Inspissated ox-gall is the only drug of animal origin dismissed 
and this was unnecessary as the purified ox-gall answers all require- 
ments. 
Fifty-one preparations have been dismissed. The entire class of 
abstracts have been abstracted. This grand experiment of the 
Pharmacopoeia of 1880, proved a most miserable failure. It must 
not be lost sight of, that those who are to use the Pharmacopoeia, 
are practical medical practitioners and pharmacists and that their 
desires and needs must be supplied and not theories and experi- 
ments offered in their stead. They want powdered extracts and 
will prescribe them and use them daily and hourly. The Committee 
knows this, yet, with the exceptions of extract of opium and extract 
of nux vomica, this demand has been unheeded. The consumption 
of dry or powdered extracts of aconite, belladonna, cannabis, col- 
chicum, conium, gentian, hyoscyamus, stramonium, etc., is enormous. 
Was the working out of formulas for these too non-scientific, too 
practical to engage the attention of the Committee ? Manufacturers 
would most likely have furnished the necessary information. 
Acetum lobeliae and acetum sanguinariae both excellent prepara- 
tions for exhibiting the action of their respective drugs, having 
become neglected by the medical fraternity, are dismissed. The 
dismissing of infusion of kousso, was surely an error. The action 
of this drug is admittedly largely mechanical and the Pharmacopoeia 
of 1880, directed rightly that this infusion should be dispensed 
unstrained. It is now dismissed and the almost unused and prob- 
ably inert fluid extract retained. Liquor pepsini has been dis- 
missed, nor has any liquid preparation of this remedy been intro- 
duced, although several are greatly used. 
Mistura Magnesia et Asafcetidae has been dropped. Dewee's 
Carminative is again relegated to its proper position along with 
Godfrey's cordial, Bateman's drops, British oil and the other semi- 
proprietary remedies of the past generations. 
I cannot refrain from noting here that the Mistura Potassii Citra- 
tis, 1880, has been dismissed. Under Liquor Potassii Citratis, Mistura 
Potassii Citratis is given as a synonym. That Mistura Potassii Citratis, 
1880, is superior to Liquor Potassii Citratis, is beyond dispute, and 6 
both physicians and pharmacists have been taught to discriminate in 
favor of the former. The reason for such change is not apparent, 
as disuse cannot be urged and the Pharmacopoeia cannot be pre- 
sumed to endorse that substitution of the solution for the mixture, 
that has been indulged in by some mean-spirited druggists. I would 
suggest that physicians desiring Mistura Potassi Citratis made with 
lemon juice, should in future write Mistura Neutralis, which synonym, 
fortunately, remains unconfiscated, and that pharmacists recognize 
this intent. 
Eighty-eight titles compose the list of additions to the Pharma- 
copoeia But three drugs are of animal origin, namely, Adeps 
Lanae Hydrosus (the official name for what is generally known by 
the proprietary name Lanolin), Pancreatin and Pepsin. It is signifi- 
cant that thirty-four of these additions are of chemical origin and 
but thirteen of vegetable, while thirty-eight are preparations of 
which fourteen are fluid extracts. 
The chemicals introduced are, as a rule, those whose use warrant 
recognition. The old notation has been discarded in the chemical 
formulas, it was already obsolete when introduced in 1880. 
Surprisingly few are the changes in the titles of chemicals. 
Arsenious acid is now arsenous, and the titles of the official arsen- 
ical products changed in spelling to correspond. The Committee 
have deemed the changes in the spelling and pronunciation of chemi- 
cal terms proposed by the American Association for the Advance of 
Science1 too radical, and have contented themselves with such minor 
changes as placing the metallic or basylous radical first in the 
English names, as sodium chloride instead of chloride of sodium, 
and in using the terminations ous and ic in the salts of mercury and 
iron to denominate the atomicity of the basic element in combina- 
nation. Would it not have been more in accordance with established 
ideas to have written sodic chloride, potassic nitrate, plumbic car- 
bonate, etc. ? Surely, the titles of alkaloidal salts should have 
been changed, so as in each case to indicate the true composition. 
Cocaine hydrochloride, morphine hydrochloride, and hyoscine hydro- 
bromide are correct names and such a change would have been 
endorsed. 
The following are among the few vegetable drugs introduced, 
1 See American Journal of Pharmacy, 1893, 178. 7 
Quebracho bark, Convallaria rhizome and rootlets, Yerba Santa 
and Cascara Sagrada. It is generally admitted that the action of 
cascara is modified and improved by keeping for one year after col- 
lection. This is officially required for Frangula, but has been over- 
looked for Cascara. Barbadoes Aloes is reintroduced and Strophan- 
thus and Viburnum Opulus are deserved additions, and under the 
title of Zea, corn silk is introduced. 
Saigon Cinnamon has been admitted, but it is to be noted that it 
is not directed to be used in a single formula; each formula carefully 
specifying either Cassia Cinnamon or Ceylon Cinnamon to be used. 
It is well known that the bulk of the powdered cinnamon sold in 
the drug trade is saigon, and that this is used to prepare pharma- 
ceutical preparations of fine quality. Its use should have been 
sanctioned officially, at least, where cassia is ordered, otherwise 
there is no reason for its introduction. 
Notable changes in titles are Cusso for Brayera, Coca for Ery- 
throxylon, Oleum Bergamottae for Oleum Bergamii. A number of 
the changes made are not indicated by the titles. Amylum is now 
corn starch and not wheat-starch, as heretofore. Long-leaved 
buchu is no longer recognized. Calendula is rightly florets only 
and Euonymus, bark of Root. Colchici Radix, on page 96, is 
stated to be " the corm of Colchicum autumnale, L.," now a corm is 
recognized as part of the stem system and not of the root, so the 
title should be Colchici Cormus. 
Granatum is the bark of both the stem and root of Punica Grana- 
tum, L., in accordance with what has been in commerce for years. 
Grindelia includes both species, robusta and squarrosa. In the Phar- 
macopoeia of 1880, a curious mistake was made regarding Witch-hazel. 
Under the title of Hamamelis, the leaves were introduced and a 
formula for a fluid extract thereof. True, the so-called distilled 
extract or water had been made from the freshly-gathered twigs 
and leaves, but under the official title of the drug, the dispensato- 
ries described the medicinal action of the bark. The writer knows 
that the bulk of the fluid extract, made up to that time, and even 
since, has been made from the bark. In the report of the Commit- 
tee on Pharmacopoeia of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 
which was presented to the Convention in 1890, it was recommended 
that the bark be admitted into the Pharmacopoeia and that a fluid 
extract of the same be also introduced. Yet the present revision 
continues this error. 8 
Oil of Anise, from Anisum, is alone recognized under that title, 
the description being such as to exclude the oil from Illicium. 
Although the oil from anisum has, in recent years, been produced 
in very much larger quantities than formerly and at greatly reduced 
prices, the bulk of the oil consumed is still that obtained from the 
star anise. 
Our Western pulsatilla from Anemone patens L. var., Nuttailiana, 
Gray, is no longer recognized. Pilocarpus includes both the Rio 
Janeiro and the Pernambuco Jaborandis. In the botanical classifica- 
tion of the plants it is to be noted that sub-orders are not given 
and that several of the natural orders given in the U. S. P. 1880 
have been reduced from their ordinal standing, so that plants 
previously classified as natural order Zingiberaceae are suppressed 
into Scitamineae, Granataceae into Lythrarieae, Erythroxylaceae 
into Lineae, Melanthaceae into Liliaceae, and Aurantiaceae into 
Rutaceae. 
The extreme conservatism of the chemical nomenclature, is in 
marked contrast to the radical changes that have been adopted in 
giving the botanical names of plants and the citation of authors for 
such names. The committee have adopted the rules of the Botani- 
cal Club of the A. A. A. S. which were adopted as recently as 
August 19, 1892, and have published these rules on page XXXII, 
adding another unnecessary page to an already too large volume. 
The Pharmacopoeia is not intended as a botanical text-book, much 
less as a botanical authority, and it is presumed that the committee 
were fully acquainted with the unsettled state of botanical nomen- 
clature, before lending their apparent weight of authority by endors- 
ing these rules. 
In recent years, the battle of nomenclature caused by a disagree- 
ment as to the meaning of "the law of priority of publication," has 
so obscured the botanical horizon, that botany has appeared more as a 
study of plant names than of plants, and a science already loaded 
down with a mass of technical terms, is being buried with synonyms. 
The Paris code of 1867, stated that in transferring a species from one 
genus to another, the specific name is maintained. The strict 
nomenclaturists have contended that, in accordance with the idea 
that priority of publication alone should give authority, the new 
binomial should be made by using the oldest specific name com- 
mencing with Linnaeus Species Plantarum, 1753, and for generic with 9 
the Linnaeus Systema of 1735.1 They would have no regard for the 
appropriateness, or what Watson has termed the convenience of the 
name. It is apparent that such a rule destroys stability of names, 
as new discoveries of older names would cause continual changes. 
It is hoped that the committee were aware that the more conserv- 
ative botanists, whose authority had been heretofore 
were not in sympathy with these radical views on nomenclature. 
Asa Gray did not adopt them and Sereno Watson, on his death-bed, 
took occasion to dictate an article giving the views held by both 
Professor Gray and himself on this subject. (See the Botanical 
Gazette, June, 1892, p. 169.) 
The views held by these American authors were substantially those 
adopted at Kew. Professor Jackson, of that institution,writes (Britten's 
Journal of Botany, 1887, p. 69): "Our practice is to take the name 
under which any given plant is placed in its true genus as the name 
to be kept up, even though the author of it may have ignored the 
proper rule of retaining the specific name when transferring it from 
its old genus to the new; when, at least, such name is not already 
in the genus receiving the accession. To wantonly set aside the 
joint name thus given and to publish a new name by joining the 
oldest specific name to the true generic is a mischievous practice,, 
which should never be condoned; it is adding to the already vast 
mass of useless synonyms, and is more likely to be the offspring of 
vanity than a sincere desire to promote science." 
Sassafras aptly illustrates the two methods of naming. In 1836, 
Nees rightly named the plant Sassafras officinale, and this name has 
been generally adopted since and recognized in the past editions of 
the Pharmacopoeia, and in Gray's Manual and other American 
botanical works. Previous to this Nuttall had applied Evosmos 
albida and Linnaeus Laurus sassafras, and Salisbury, in 1796, Laurus 
variifolia. Otto Kuntze now proposes as the correct binomial 
(according to priority only), Sassafras variifolium, and the Pharma- 
copoeia of 1890 states Sassafras variifolium (Salisbury), O. Kuntze, 
as the source of sassafras. 
It is now a matter of record, that the very meeting that adopted 
the rules in the Rochester Convention of 1892, appointed a dele- 
gate to attend the International Botanical Congress held in Genoa, in 
1 The date 1753 will most likely be adopted as the beginning for both generic 
and specific names by an international agreement. 10 
September, 1892, at which this subject was a prominent topic of 
discussion, and an international committee was appointed to consider 
the same. The decisions of the Genoa congress have not been 
unanimously adopted and at the International Congress, called for 
August, 1893, at Madison, Wis., another attempt was to have been 
made toward an universal agreement. Dr. Otto Kuntze, the fore- 
most nomenclaturist, accepts no authority, and on priority alone 
would set aside, as he says, hundreds of Bentham and Hooker's 
names for genera, and in his Revisio Generum Plantarum (1891) 
proposes changes affecting the names of many thousands of plants. 
By a single sentence, the generic name Astragalus is replaced by 
Tragacantha, changing thus the names of 1,500 species {ibid., pp. 
210 and 940). Strangely this change has not been adopted by the 
Pharmacopoeia. It is known that the botanical authorities at Berlin, 
astounded by the confusion likely to result from this publication of 
Kuntze, proposed, in the latter part of 1892, amending the code of 
1867, and have suggested a revision of the same and significant 
omen, exceptions to this law of priority in a number of genera cover- 
ing about 5,000 species. It is a query if the nomenclaturists practi- 
cally adopt their own suggestions and reclassify and label their her- 
barium specimens with each change proposed, or whether their 
theories remain on paper? It will also be interesting to note how 
many of these names will survive till the pharmacopoeial revision 
of 1900. 
This argument has been extended very much beyond what was 
originally intended. But the anomalous position of the committee 
is such as to cause comment. To cast aside well-recognized names 
and authorities, and to accept rules which were presented by a com- 
mittee of the Botanical Section of the A. A. A. S. within 24 hours 
of the time of their appointment, and which had not withstood the 
test of application, and to reject rules adopted by the Chemical 
Section of the same Association when presented by a committee 
whose labors lasted for more than 4 years, seems inexplicable, par- 
ticularly so, when the committee appointed by the International 
Congress of Botanists at Genoa, to consider this subject, had not 
completed their work. 
There will always be a number of changes in the botanical names 
of plants, necessarily caused by mistakes in classification or other 
errors of botanists, for even they do err, as, for example, it is known 11 
that in the Linnaean herbarium the names of Cerastium viscosum and 
C. vulgatum were transposed, and that Linnaeus filius mixed the 
plants yielding Balsam of Peru and Balsam of Tolu. By thorough 
study of genera or orders by monographers, changes in accepted 
names became necessary. An instance is found in Aloes, where the 
studies of J. G. Baker, on Aloinae, have made him an authority, whose 
determinations are to be accepted. Changes are likewise necessi- 
tated by newly-discovered materials and information regarding the 
true source of drugs, especially if these are obtained from countries 
whose flora has been but imperfectly studied. Examples of this are 
found in Illicium, which E. M. Holmes proved to be derived from 
Illicium verum, Hook. fil. (see Pharm. Journal and Transactions, 
August ii, 1888) and in Pernambuco Jaborandi, which the same 
author decides is from a previously unnamed species of Pilocarpus. 
These names are rightly adopted in the Pharmacopoeia, and it is a 
matter for congratulation that Mr. Holmes had published this paper 
on Jaborandi before the appearance of the Pharmacopoeia (Pharm. 
Journal and Transactions, June 10, 1893, p. 1005; see also Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., July, 1893, p. 351) so that the " ined " after Pilocarpus 
Jaborandi, Holmes, on p. 301, can be eradicated, as unpublished 
matter is not accepted as authority. 
The citation of authors might be likewise simplified. If the 
authority of the maker of the new binomial (or as he has been 
called the synonym manufacturer) is to be accepted, let us be con- 
tent, for the Pharmacopoeia, with the statement of such author's 
name, which is sufficient to designate the plant intended. For the 
student of pharmacy, Hedeoma pulegioides, Persoon, is as good as 
Hedeoma pulegioides (Linne), Persoon ; if Persoon and not Aiton 
(U. S. P., 1880) is author of Gelsemium sempervirens, then it is 
sufficient to write Gelsemium sempervirens, Persoon, not Gelsemium 
sempervirens (Linne), Persoon. If O. Kuntze's name is correct for 
Sassafras, why not write Sassafras variifolium, O. Kuntze, and not 
Sassafras variifolium (Salisbury), O. Kuntze ? It is to be observed, 
that the latter form continually implies the authority of earlier 
botanists to names which they would never have accepted. The true 
aim of science is to simplify not to involve. 
The changes in the titles of official preparations are not very 
numerous. In a number of extracts and tinctures it has been 
deemed advisable to designate, in the title, the part of the plant used 12 
as Extractum Belladonnas Foliorum Alcoholicum, Extractum Bella- 
donnas Radicis Fluidum, Tinctura Colchici Seminis, etc. Opium is 
again said to be deodorized not denarcotized. It is a query, which 
is the most important, the odor or the narcotine extracted by the 
use of ether? If the latter, then denarcotized, or if that is not cor- 
rect, then as suggested denarcotinated would be correct. Sapo 
Mollis is the new name for Sapo Viridis of the Pharmacopoeia of 
1880, and a formula is given for preparing it from linseed oil and 
potassa. The commercial article was only very rarely found to be 
green, and that only when it was made from hemp seed oil. The 
Tincture of Green Soap, 1880, is now Liniment of Soft Soap. 
The term Mistura is now officially restricted to those preparations 
in which insoluble material not of an oily character is suspended in 
aqueous solution by the use of gum or other viscid material. As a 
result, ammoniac, almond, asafoetida and chloroform mixtures of 
1880 are now classed as Emulsions, under the Latin title " Emulsum." 
But the remedies which physicians now prescribe under the name 
of " Emulsions " are not represented. It would have been a practical 
experiment and a taking one to have introduced a "standard" 
formula for (say) Emulsion of Cod Liver Oil with Hypophosphites. 
It is not too late to teach our medical brethren to write Emulsum 
Olei Morrhuae cum Hypophosphitum, U. S. P., instead of Scotts, 
Phillips, etc. I know someone says, " We have a National Formu- 
lary," but the doctors don't know that book. It is a book of drug- 
gists' formulas in the preparation of which they have not taken any 
part or interest. This would in a very large measure stop the 
present system of fighting patent medicines by increasing the 
number, wherein each druggist feels compelled to make a prepara- 
tion after his own formula, just as good as the other proprietary. 
We want something that is not " as good," but the best, because it 
has the stamp of official authority. 
The Pharmacopoeia, to remain the authority, must be abreast of 
the times. It must neither theorize in advance nor retain obsolete 
ideas. Standard formulas must be introduced for remedies pre- 
scribed daily with success, and those whose use has become only 
occasional, can safely be relegated to the formularies. The " ideal" 
Pharmacopoeia of some is a book of simples. Such it never has been 
and never can be made. 
Liquor Ferri et Ammonii Acetatis is the new name for Basham's 13 
Mixture. While " mistura " is hardly an appropriate name for a 
clear liquid preparation, the term liquor strikes us very strangely for 
a preparation containing over twenty per cent, of flavoring and 
sweetening material. Would not " Elixir " have been a more appro- 
priate name ? 
It is to be observed that Acetum Opii and Acetum Scillae are now 
made by maceration instead of percolation, the strength remaining 
about the same as in 1880. 
There are some changes in the acids of the Pharmacopoeia, 
requiring notice. Volumetric solution of potassic hydrate with 
phenolphthalein as an indicator, is generally adopted for determining 
strength. Acid Acetic, still remains the 36 per cent, acid and the 
glacial acid 99 per cent. It would have been well to have changed the 
former to the 60 per cent, acid now being manufactured extensively. 
It is to be regretted that under the title of Benzoic Acid both the 
natural and the synthetic acids are recognized and that in the tests 
for identification the latter seems to be given the preference. In 
the past, we have been taught to discriminate against the artificial 
acids and tests were proposed to detect such substitutes or adulter- 
ants of the natural. Those who have administered both, and ben- 
zoates made from both, distinguish a practical difference. The 
administering of the synthetic is generally followed by a disagree- 
able taste, very persistent and frequently producing nausea. This 
effect is most likely due to toluol derivatives remaining as impuri- 
ties, but is nevertheless recognized and physicians are careful, in 
many instances, to specify " natural." Tinctura Opii Camphorata, 
should be stated as a benzoic acid preparation. 
Phenol, should be the title, with carbolic acid as a synonym. A 
volumetric method for determining the amount of absolute phenol 
present, and depending on the tribrom-phenol reaction, has been 
adopted. Likewise Chromic Trioxide and Chromic Anhydride are 
given as synonyms for Acidum Chromicum; the former would be 
the correct title. 
Diluted Hydrocyanic Acid is again a two per cent, solution in 
zv a ter only. The acid as distilled being condensed in a receiver 
containing distilled water, not diluted alcohol, as in the pharma- 
copoeia! process of 1880; and the distillation is stopped when the 
volume of liquid in the retort is reduced to one-half. The retention 
of the formula for making this acid extemporaneously, is surely 
unnecessary. 14 
Diluted Hypophosphorous Acid is a new addition and is directed 
to be about io per cent, of the absolute acid. An acid of fifty per 
cent, strength has been supplied by the manufacturers for some 
years and, according to F. X. Moerk, is more stable than the weaker 
acid and should have been recognized in place of the dilute. 
Nitric Acid is now 68 per cent, of HNO3 instead of 69 4 per cent, 
as formerly, and Sulphuric Acid is 92-5 per cent, of H2SO4, with sp. 
gr. 1-835 instead of 96 percent. On the other hand, Phosphoric Acid 
is now 85 per cent, instead of 50 per cent. The so-called syrupy phos- 
phoric acid (85 per cent.) was in extensive use in 1880, and it is to 
be regretted, that it was not then made official, as prior to that date 
only the diluted acid had been recognized. There is, in the future, 
the likelihood of considerable confusion arising from this change of 
standard. The process of manufacture of phosphoric acid is rightly 
omitted, as it is such as to be hardly practical for the pharmacist to 
attempt. Sulphurous Acid should hereafter contain 6 4 per cent, of 
sulphur dioxide instead of 3-5 per cent, as heretofore. 
Benzoinated Lard is again directed to be prepared by tying the 
benzoin in muslin and suspending in the melted lard for 2 hours. 
A superior product would be obtained by mixing the benzoin 
in a coarse powder with the lard and allowing to stand for six 
hours, then melt and strain. By the official process but a small 
portion of the benzoin becomes thoroughly exposed to the action 
of the lard. 
Wool-fat, an ancient medicament, forgotten until recently intro- 
duced in the purified state by Liebrich, is recognized under the same 
name as that adopted in the "Additions to the British Pharma- 
copoeia " in 1890, and the degree of allowable hydration (30 per 
cent.), is likewise the same in both standards. The statement that 
it is " miscible with twice its weight of water without losing its 
ointment-like character," requires some little modification. At the 
normal temperature only about an equal weight can be incorporated. 
" Unna says 105 per cent, at 150 C." (see Amer. Journal of Phar- 
macy, 1886, p. 101); but, by warming the mortar, two hundred parts 
can be incorporated with 100 parts of the lanolin. 
The ether of the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, containing but 74 per 
cent, of ethyl oxide, has been discarded and only the stronger 
ether containing 96 per cent, of ethyl oxide is now official under the 
title yEther. The potassium iodide test, given on p. 28, we are 15 
told, indicates by the absence of color produced " absence of alde- 
hyde, etc." What is meant by " etc.;" we presume ozone and hydro- 
gen peroxide ? 
We now have Alcohol, Absolute Alcohol, Deodorized Alcohol and 
Diluted Alcohol, all official. Absolute alcohol should be placed with 
the reagents and test solutions. The official alcohol should, likewise, 
be required to conform to the percentage and tests for deodorized 
alcohol and the latter title dropped. The difference in commercial 
value between the two grades during the past year has only been 
from 5 to io cents per gallon. The U. S. P., 1880, required alcohol 
to stand the sulphuric acid test which is now given as the distin- 
guishing test between these grades. 
Diluted Alcohol is again made from equal volumes of alcohol and 
water, and is 41 per cent, by weight or 48 6 per- cent, by volume, 
instead of being 53 per cent, by volume, as in 1880. 
The rules for making a lower percentage of alcohol from a higher 
percentage should be attached to the alcohol table in the appendix 
and not incorporated in the body of the book. 
Purified Aloes remains. There may be some reason for directing 
its use in the pills containing that article and in compound extract 
of colocynth, but in the various tinctures which are necessarily 
filtered, the Socotrine aloes might have been directed. The use of 
aloes and not purified aloes in these tinctures appears to be universal. 
Aloin is a newly admitted remedy. It is to be remarked that as 
one of the principal uses of a Pharmacopoeia is to prevent uncer- 
tainty, to fix definite standards, it would have been well to have 
recognized only barbaloin under that title, especially as it consti- 
tutes almost entirely the aloin of commerce. 
Dried Alum is now manufactured in such quantities and at such 
reasonable price that its preparation is seldom, if ever, attempted 
by the pharmacist and so the process of manufacture might have 
been omitted. Aluminum Hydrate should have been omitted ; use 
would not necessitate its retention. 
Ammonium Carbonate is tested for empyreumatic substances by 
supersaturating with nitric acid and evaporating to dryness when a 
colorless and odorless residue should be obtained ; the permanganate 
test of the Pharmacopoeia, 1880, being discarded. It is titrated 
with normal sulphuric acid solution, using rosolic acid as an indi- 
cator. But why not direct that 2-613 grm. of the salt be dissolved 16 
•and titrated instead of taking 7 84 grin, and dissolving and using 
only one-third for the test ? 
Ammonium Nitrate might have been dropped, as its use is almost 
entirely restricted to dental practice for preparing nitrogen monoxide 
and even here the purchase of the compressed gas in cylinders is 
generally deemed preferable to preparing the same. 
In assaying Amyl Nitrite, a control experiment should be directed, 
using the same quantities of reagents and alcohol and under the 
same conditions without the amyl nitrite and the volume of any gas 
generated deducted from that found in the assay. 
The method of making aromatic waters is again changed. The 
cotton method of 1880 is discarded, and in place of magnesium car- 
bonate as a distributing material for the essential oil, as in 1870, 
calcium phosphate is now directed. This is not a new idea, but is 
one which I have frequently employed since 1878. It is to be 
remarked that as magnesium carbonate is very much more bulky 
or specifically lighter than precipitated calcium phosphate that an 
increased weight of the latter should be directed. The amount now 
directed is nearly the same weight as that of magnesium carbonate 
formerly ordered, and in most cases it will be found advantageous 
to increase this to 8 grm. instead of 4 grm. in the official formula. 
The process is otherwise unobjectionable, provided proper care is 
exercised in selecting precipitated calcium phosphate answering the 
official tests for purity. Several samples examined by the writer 
have contained notable quantities of carbonate, alkali and metallic 
impurities. 
Bitter Almond Water, Chloroform Water and Creosote Water are 
direct solutions in water without the aid of any distributing material 
or chemical means. 
Aqua Hydrogenii Dioxidi is the official name for solution of 
hydrogen peroxide, and an extensive formula for its preparation 
from barium dioxide and phosphoric acid is given, the strength 
adopted being 10 volumes of available oxygen when estimated by 
the process of assay given. This preparation and likewise chlorine 
water, and the ammonia waters should be classified with liquors or a 
new class of solutions. 
In addition to the other stringent requirements for Distilled 
Water it must now be free from carbonic acid. This is a degree of 
purity we fear not often attained, and where necessary it is easy to 
direct boiling to dispel the carbon dioxide. 17 
On p. 48 we are told that triple orange flower water, the 
Stronger Orange Flower Water of the Pharmacopoeia of 1890, is the 
same as the "Aqua Aurantii Florum, Pharm., 1880," and a formula 
is given for making " orange flower water " by dilution, and from 
this latter syrup of orange flower water is directed to be made. On 
p. 54 the same information is given regarding rose water, and it 
is to be observed, that the rose water and not the stronger rose 
water, is stated to be used in cold cream, whereas in the formula 
p. 440 the stronger is specified. The truth is that the terms 
" triple" and " quadruple" were applied by the manufacturers to 
indicate that their products were three and four times the strength 
of the official, and it has become the trade custom to make the 
pharmacopoeial products from these by the necessary dilution. As 
orange flower water is only used for making the syrup and for 
flavoring the stronger only should be official. The stronger rose 
water, however, is too strong to be used undiluted in eye waters, 
injections, etc., and so rose water should be retained, but the stronger 
rose water should be directed for the pharmacopoeial preparations. 
Confection of Rose should be given as a preparation containing 
stronger rose water, likewise, as mentioned, Ointment of Rose 
Water. 
Silver Cyanide should be omitted; provided, the formula for the 
extemporaneous preparation of diluted hydrocyanic acid be like- 
wise dropped. 
The Subcarbonate and Subnitrate of Bismuth are now recognized 
as of varying composition and consequently chemical formulas are 
omitted. Bettendorff's arsenic test is directed in place of the Fleit- 
mann's test of 1880, to prove the absence or limit allowable of that 
element. 
Calamus is, as in 1880, unpeeled. How many druggists have the 
official ? 
Calx Chlorata is required to contain not less than 35 per cent, of 
available chlorine instead of 25 per cent, as heretofore, and this is 
in accordance with what can now be obtained in the best commer- 
cial article. Calx Sulphurata is now made by calcining a mixture 
of dried calcium sulphate, charcoal and starch, and the resulting 
product is required to contain at least 60 per cent, of calcium mono- 
sulphide, whereas the Pharmacopoeia of 1880 specified " not less 
than 36 per cent." 18 
To the list of preparations containing camphor must be added 
Linimentum Belladonnae, Linimentum Sinapis Compositum and 
Pulvis Morphinae Compositus and to those of Cardamom, Extractum 
Colocynthidis Compositum, Tinctura Gentianae Composita, Tinctura 
Rhei and Tinctura Rhei Dulcis. These are but samples of the 
"sins of omission," which appear all through the book. 
In the preparation of Cerate and Ointment, benzoinated lard 
should have been directed in place of " lard," and the same should 
have been adopted even in the compound cerates and ointments 
where lard is directed. Camphor Cerate now contains io per cent., 
instead of 3 per cent., 1880, of camphor liniment, a commendable 
change. 
Codeine Sulphate is used extensively where it is desired to give 
that remedy in liquid form as in bronchial affections and we are 
surprised not to find it introduced. 
The directions for making Collodion are again changed. In the 
Pharmacopoeia of 1880, the pyroxylin was directed to be macerated 
in the alcohol for 15 minutes and then the ether added. The direc- 
tions of 1890 are to macerate for 15 minutes in the ether and then 
add the alcohol. Why not mix the ether and alcohol and then 
add the pyroxylin in portions, shaking after each addition ? This, 
the method of 1870, has always yielded me the best results. 
In the formula for Confection of Senna, on p. 99, it is to be noted 
that oil of coriander and not fruit is directed, yet, on p. 100, we are 
told that coriander is used. 
Creosote is now correctly described as a mixture of phenols chiefly 
guaiacol and cresol, and that from beech-wood tar is preferred. The 
specific gravity and tests for other phenols and pyrogallic ethers are 
the same as adopted by the German Pharmacopoeia. 
Crocus should be accompanied by a test for the detection of solu- 
ble ammonium salts which have been used as adulterants. The 
amount of ash stated, 7-5 per cent., is too high. Examinations of a 
number of samples have yielded the writer 4-5 to 6 per cent, and in 
all pure saffrons was n on-fusible, which should be stated in the offi- 
cial test. 
Cubeb is notoriously adulterated and the description might have 
been accompanied by some description of the most common of these 
adulterants or some of the color reactions proposed. 
What has been before said regarding the necessity of the Phar- 19 
macopceia recognizing remedies frequently prescribed and furnishing 
standard formulas for the same, applies forcibly to the class of 
elixirs. The course of the Pharmacopoeia, on this subject, has been 
erratic. In frequency of use, elixirs rank with tinctures, fluid 
extracts, syrups and aromatic waters and attention has been repeat- 
edly directed to the necessity for official formulas for the most popu- 
lar. Statistics compiled in 1888, show that Elixir of Calisaya was 
prescribed in about 3 per cent, of the prescriptions written in the 
United Statesand that the class was represented in from 54 to 108 
out of every 1,000 prescriptions in various localities (see Amer. 
Journal of Pharmacy, 1888, p. 283), and their popularity seems still 
to be on the increase. The Pharmacopoeia of 1880 recognized this 
demand by introducing Elixir Aurantii as a simple elixir or basic 
elixir, and this, using a vulgarity, "took well." In the Pharma- 
copoeia of 1890, this is dismissed and two formulas are introduced, 
one for Aromatic Elixir and another for Elixir of Phosphorus. The 
former of these, we presume, is intended as a substitute for the sim- 
ple elixir of the previous edition. If this was intended, it should 
have been given the synonym of basic elixir. The latter is, in 
this section of country, but very little used and, surely, no one can 
contend that a solution of phosphorus, even, when in 55 per cent, 
glycerin, will be a permanent preparation. We cannot explain 
what influence it has exercised in the minds of the committee, to be 
thus recognized and the frequently used Elixirs of Cinchona, Iron 
Quinine and Strychnine, Potassium Bromide, etc., remain forgotten. 
The practical pharmacist, in answer to his appeal for bread, has 
received not a stone but a couple of small and dry bones. 
The change in the formula for Belladonna Plaster, is to be noted. 
In the previous Pharmacopoeias, it was directed to be made from a 
specially prepared extract of the root, made by extracting this with 
alcohol. It is now directed to be prepared from the extract of the 
leaf and one-half of the resin plaster is substituted by soap plaster. 
In Mercury Plaster and likewise in the Mercury Ointment, the mer- 
cury is disseminated by trituration with oleate of mercury. Lead 
Plaster is directed to be boiled in a " bright copper boiler." Why 
not use an enamelled or porcelain or other boiler ? 
In the official emulsions, the formula for Emulsion of Chloroform 
is very different from that previously adopted for Mistura Chloro- 
formi. The quantity of chloroform is somewhat reduced and the 20 
camphor is omitted and as an emulsionizing agent tragacanth with 
oil of almonds to furnish blandness displaces the yolk of egg. This 
change is not approved. 
There are thirty-three extracts official. The Pharmacopoeia of 
1880, added in the directions accompanying the formulas, permis- 
sion to incorporate 5 per cent, of the weight of the extract, of 
glycerin to maintain its proper consistence. The Pharmacopoeia of 
1890, in a preliminary note (p. XLII), recommends 10 per cent. It 
is obvious, that in many cases this will be entirely too large a propor- 
tion. 
The Pharmacopoeia of 1880 directed the use of tartaric acid in 
the menstruum of all aconite preparations, because Duquesnel had 
proposed its use in the extraction of the root for alkaloid. It is 
noticeable that tartaric acid is now omitted in all the official formu- 
las for aconite preparations. 
The formula for Compound Extract of Colocynth directs that the 
purified aloes should be melted, then the alcohol, soap, extract of 
colocynth and resin of scammony added and the heat continued 
until a homogeneous mass yielding a brittle thread be obtained ; the 
cardamom is then added and the product powdered. Starting with 
purified aloes and powdered resin of scammony and extract of 
colocynth and cardamom, why not direct the soap in fine powder and 
reduce the mixed products to a powder by triturating. The heating 
on the water-bath with alcohol to produce a mass to be then reduced 
to a powder seems wasteful of both time and material. In both 
the Extract and Fluid Extract of Conium acetic acid is directed in 
place of the hydrochloric of the Pharmacopoeia of 1880. Extract 
of Ergot is directed to be made by evaporating the fluid extract to 
a pilular consistence and not to a definite weight as in 1880. The 
extract of ergot should be an aqueous extract, yielding a product 
entirely soluble in water and made by extraction with water con- 
taining only sufficient alcohol to prevent fermentation of the ergot. 
I would suggest the following process as yielding an excellent pro- 
duct suitable alike for internal administration or hypodermatic injec- 
tion. The ergot in moderately fine powder is extracted by percola- 
tion with purified benzin, then dried and then percolated with a 
menstruum of 1 part by volume of alcohol and 9 of water. The 
alcohol is recovered by distillation and the product evaporated to 
the proper consistence. 21 
We should have an official Fluid Extract of Wahoo as well as a 
solid extract; the former appears to be more used than the latter. 
Extract of Jalap is reintroduced. Although dismissed in the Phar- 
macopoeia of 1880, its use was never discontinued and, even in the 
compound cathartic pill, commercially it was not displaced. Extract 
of Juglans is now directed to be prepared with diluted alcohol and 
not alcohol as heretofore. It should have been dismissed for want 
of use. 
Extract of Nux Vomica is directed to be made by extracting 
1,000 grms. of the powdered drug with a mixture of alcohol 750 
cc., water 250 cc., acetic acid 50 cc., continuing the extraction with 
a menstruum of alcohol 3 to water 1 by volume, until the nux 
vomica is extracted. The alcohol is recovered by distillation, and 
the product evaporated to 150 grms., transferred to a bottle, washing 
out the evaporating dish with 50 cc. warm water and adding to the 
extract. This is now treated repeatedly with ether until it yields 
no more oil to the solvent. The oil recovered by the evaporation 
of the ether is treated with acidulated (acetic acid) water to recover 
any alkaloid extracted by the ether. This aqueous solution is 
mixed with the extract, and this is evaporated to 200 grms., the 
moisture and percentage of alkaloid determined and the extract 
dried and powdered, adding sufficient milk sugar to make the 
finished product contain 15 per cent, of alkaloids. The process 
would be simplified and most likely cheapened if the oil were first 
extracted from the nux vomica by the use of benzin before extrac- 
tion with alcohol. Benzin is such a poor solvent for alkaloids that 
the loss would hardly be appreciable, but if desirable to recover 
any alkaloids extracted, the benzin residue could be treated with acid- 
ulated water, and this evaporated and incorporated with the extract. 
Extract of Opium is likewise made in the most extravagant way. 
With the morphine strength of opium fixed at not below 9 per cent., 
and that in commerce frequently 10-5 to 13 per cent., it is very easy 
to prepare from the gum opium a dry and powdered extract stand- 
ardized to 18 per cent, morphine. Yet the Pharmacopoeia directs 
powdered opium. I doubt if any practical pharmacist or manufac- 
turer will dry his opium and reduce it to number 80 powder before 
treating same for extract. 
Extract of Uva Ursi is a new addition, and we presume that it 
must be used. We had expected to find both a solid and a Fluid 22 
Extract of Sumbul; both of these appear to be growing in favor, 
but neither was introduced. 
Eighty-eight fluid extracts are official, and there are but two or 
three that should be dismissed, namely, those of kousso, menisper- 
mum and savine. Of the latter, we are told on p. 165, that an 
official preparation is Ceratum Sabinae, yet this has been dismissed. 
There are some notable changes in the menstruums directed. Some 
of these changes are good, but others are questionable. The men- 
struum for both the Extract and the Fluid Extract of Aconite, has 
been alcohol. It is now directed only for the former, for the fluid 
extract a mixture of 3 volumes alcohol and 1 volume water is 
directed. For arnica root, diluted alcohol has been ordered in the 
past. It is now retained for the extract, but the fluid extract is 
directed to be made with 3 volumes alcohol, 1 volume water. Di- 
luted alcohol has always been conceded to be the best menstruum for 
both arnica root and flowers, and the reason for the change is not 
apparent. 
The menstruum for Fluid Extract of Belladonna root is changed 
from alcohol to alcohol 4 vols., water 1, and for Buchu alcohol is 
directed instead of alcohol 2 parts, water 1 part, of 1880. For 
Fluid Extract of Calumba, 3 vols. of alcohol and 1 vol. water dis- 
places diluted alcohol; a commendable change. The alcoholic 
strength of the menstruum is increased also in Fluid Extract of Chi- 
rata, and it is to be observed that glycerin has been omitted in 
this and in the fluid extracts of chimaphila, leptandra, matico and 
sarsaparilla, but has been added in fluid extracts of chestnut leaves, 
hamamelis and hydrastis. 
In the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, Fluid Extract of Cypripedium was 
directed to be prepared with alcohol; that of 1890, directs diluted 
alcohol, a menstruum the same as used for fluid extract of valerian, 
3 vols. alcohol, 1 vol. water, would have been better. In Extract of 
Conium, and in Fluid Extracts of Conium and Ergot, acetic acid is 
directed in place of the hydrochloric acid, 1880. 
The U. S. P., 1880, unsatisfactory formula for Fluid Extract of Ipe- 
cac, is dismissed and a menstruum of 3 vols. alcohol to 1 vol. water 
directed, this being one of the suggestions of Mr. A. Robbins that 
has been adopted. 
Fluid Extract of Malt disappears entirely from the Pharmacopoeia, 
but not from use. An official fluid extract with fixed diastasic 23 
value should have been introduced. Then, perhaps, we would have 
gradually stopped handling brown stout, porter and beer under the 
labels of Tom, Dick and Harry's extract of malt. It should be a 
medicinal product, not a beverage. 
Fluid Extract of Nux Vomica, 1890, is essentially the saturated 
tincture suggested by Lyons in 1885. The suggestion of Maisch 
to reduce the alcohol to 70 per cent, by volume, as extracting less 
oil, is practically adopted in the menstruum of 3 vols. of alcohol 
and one volume water directed. The process of the Pharmacopoeia 
is wasteful of alcohol, as it directs the extraction of the drug and 
subsequently by distillation to recover the alcohol and evaporate the 
residue to a definite weight, of which 4 grms. are assayed. From 
the alkaloids calculated in the entire extract; a fluid extract is made, 
by dilution with alcohol and water, of such strength that 100 cc. 
contains 1-5 per cent, of total alkaloids. Distillation, necessarily, 
causes some loss of alcohol. It is to be observed that the fluid 
extract is of such a strength that if 10 grms. of the solid extract be 
dissolved in a sufficient quantity of the menstruum to yield 100 cc. 
the product is identical in strength with the official process fluid 
extract. As the solution of the extract has been adopted for tincture, 
why not adopt same for fluid extract also ? or still better, as the fluid 
extract is only a multiple of the solid, why not omit the former ? 
The official Fluid Extract of Phytolacca is made from the poke 
root and not from phytolacca fruit, as we are informed on p. 299. 
The formula for Fluid Extract of Wild Cherry shows a decided 
change both in method of manipulation and in alcoholic strength of 
the menstruum. 
In Fluid Extract of Sanguinaria the use of acetic acid is a decided 
improvement which should have been extended also to the Fluid 
Extract of Squifl. 
On page 167, we are told that syrupus sarsaparilla compositus is 
made from the compound fluid extract of sarsaparilla. It is the 
fluid extract of sarsaparilla that is directed in the formula for syrup 
and not the compound fluid extract. 
The formula and process for the manufacture of Ferric Chloride 
should be omitted. It is now supplied in a pure condition, and at 
such price by manufacturers that the pharmacist will not attempt 
its preparation. 
As the soluble Citrate of Iron and Quinine has been introduced, 24 
in which the percentage of Iron and Quinine is practically the same 
as in the Iron and Quinine Citrate, the latter might now be omitted. 
In the preparation of Saccharated Ferrous Iodide, one per cent, of 
reduced iron is added to preserve the ferrous iodide from change to 
ferric salt. The term " soluble " has been attached to the official 
title for Ferric Phosphate and Ferric Pyrophosphate, and serves well 
to indicate that these are not the pure chemical salts that the names 
previously adopted seemed to indicate. 
Granulated Ferrous Sulphate is no longer directed to be granulated 
by the addition of alcohol to the concentrated aqueous solution. 
Alcohol is only directed to be used to wash the product granulated 
by constant stirring while the saturated solution is cooling. 
Ferric Valerianate is admitted to be of varying composition, and 
the chemical formula is omitted. 
Glycerites of Carbolic Acid and of TannicAcid are two old friends 
of 1870, restored to their rightful position. In the latter, the direc- 
tions should require that the tannic acid and glycerin be rubbed in 
a mortar to a smooth mixture, and then transferred to a capsule and 
heated on a water bath until dissolved. 
In Glycerite of Starch, 10 per cent, of water is introduced in place 
of that amount of glycerin. Glycerite of Boroglycerin and Glycerite 
of Hydrastis are two new additions. The former is a deserved 
recognition of a frequently used and good remedy, the latter we are 
doubtful about. 
The official Mercurous Iodide is yellow, and this is indicated in 
the title by changing "viride " toflavum, and it is now directed to 
be made by precipitating mercurous nitrate with potassium iodide. 
Manufacturers have for years listed both yellow and green mercurous 
iodide, the color being dependent on the amount of mercury present. 
The Mercuric Iodide is made as heretofore from mercuric chloride 
and potassium iodide, but the solutions of the salts are directed to 
be simultaneously poured into a quantity of distilled water. 
That the formula of the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, for Mercury with 
Chalk was very unsatisfactory is admitted, and we are not sorry to 
see it abandoned. In the Pharmacopoeia of 1890, clarified honey 
is used to disseminate the mercury. It is to be observed, that the 
formula prescribes 105 gm. of material to yield 100 gm. finished 
product, which would require a loss of 5 gm. (50 per cent.) of 
moisture by the honey. 25 
We are somewhat surprised to find the hydrochloride of the arti- 
ficial alkaloid hydrastinine introduced, and not the alkaloid hydras- 
tine from which it is derived. While the reports of the haemostatic 
value of the former are favorable, we were not aware that its use had 
extended beyond the experimental stage, but the latter has been 
extensively used for some years, especially as an application to 
mucous membranes, and the alkaloid hydrastine or its hydrochloride 
should have been introduced. 
Hyoscine Hydrobromide and Hyoscyamine Hydrobromide are 
deserved admissions. Aconitine and Homatropine Hydrobromide 
should also have been admitted as their use would necessitate recog- 
nition. 
Infusions and decoctions have both been reduced to five per cent, 
unless otherwise directed, and maceration in the former is directed 
for an half hour only. The formula for Infusion of Digitalis is 
changed again. In 1870, tincture of cinnamon was directed ; in 1880, 
cinnamon and now cinnamon water. The digitalis is now rightly 
directed to be bruised not powdered. Maceration is only until the 
mixture is cold, not for two hours as heretofore. 
Iodoform is official only in crystals, but it is now generally seen in 
powder only. 
Jalap is still required to yield " not less than 12 per cent, of resin." 
Shortly after the revision of 1880, Dr. Squibb, Turner and Drescher, 
all reported examinations showing that the jalap in the market 
yielded less than 10 per cent, resin. While recently, some lots have 
appeared in the market yielding 12 per cent, that requirement would 
exclude most in the market. It would have been as well to have 
fixed the limit at not less than 10 per cent. 
Lemon Peel is official for the sole purpose of using it in spirit of 
lemon, yet the lemon peel described under the official title of 
" Limonis Cortex" is not that directed in spirit of lemon. The 
description should be " the outer or yellow epidermal surface grated 
from the ripe fruit!' 
Linimentum Calcis is again linseed oil and lime water, old "carron 
oil." The substitution of cotton-seed oil in this and in Linimentum 
Ammoniaeby the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, was an inexcusable blunder 
and the retention of this oil in the volatile liniment of 1890, is a 
persistent continuation in a palpable error which is beyond explana- 
tion. Olive oil is admittedly the best for this purpose, producing 26 
the smoothest and thickest liniment. The very consistence of the 
liniment produced, giving it the property of retaining the ammonia 
for a time, assuring the action desired and rendering it more valu- 
able than the other oils which saponify less perfectly with ammonia. 
It is amusing to note the substitutes that have been proposed, 
rancid cotton-seed oil, paraffin oil, lard oil, linseed oil and the new 
Pharmacopoeia proposes cotton-seed oil with the addition of some 
alcohol. The change to cotton-seed oil has been excused by the 
statement that pure olive oil was not obtainable. This argument, 
if valid, would require the substitution of cotton-seed oil soap for the 
official soap and the use of cotton-seed oil in lead plaster and other 
official preparations. At no time within the last 15 years has it 
been difficult to obtain either in Philadelphia or New York olive oil 
of such purity and at moderate prices yielding satisfactory pharma- 
ceutical preparations. The formula of the Pharmacopoeia of 1870 
for volatile liniment has not been improved upon, and should have 
been reinstated in the revision of 1890. 
In Soap Liniment, the soap is directed to be in fine powder ; as the 
official soap is in lump and containing considerable water (not over 
36 per cent. U. S. P.) I presume this is soap which has been dried. 
If so, the formula should read " Soap previously dried at a tem- 
perature not exceeding (ioo° C. ?),and reduced to a fine powder 
70 gm." 
Ground Flaxseed, if pure and recently prepared, will yield 32 to 
35 per cent, of fixed oil, yet the official requirements are only 25 
per cent., which would admit of considerable adulteration. 
In the formula now adopted for Basham's mixture, glycerin is used 
in place of the syrup. The iron strength still remains at 2 per cent, 
of tincture by volume-too weak. The original formula for this 
preparation contained a little over 6 per cent, by volume. 
In the Solution of Magnesium Citrate, the water should be directed 
to be boiled and used, while hot; this renders the solution more 
permanent, probably by destroying fungus spores. The amount of 
syrup directed in this preparation, 120 cc., is entirely too much, 60 
cc. would be sufficient. 
In Solution of Chlorinated Soda a decided excess of sodium car- 
bonate is directed rendering the finished product distinctly alkaline, 
as it should be. 
In Liquor Ammonii Acetatis the second process of the previous 27 
Pharmacopoeias, in which the ammonium carbonate and acetic acid 
were prepared in separate solutions and these mixed at the time 
needed, has been discarded. By many practical pharmacists this is 
deemed the better of the two processes. The term " spirit of min- 
dererus," has become obsolete and is so inaccurate a name, according 
to our present idea of a spirit, that it should be omitted as an offi- 
cial synonym. 
Effervescent Lithium Citrate should have been directed to be 
granulated. Using the salt and not the lithium carbonate and citric 
acid, to prepare same when dissolved, tartaric acid could have been 
substituted for the citric acid to produce effervescence. 
While native Manganese Dioxide, containing 66 per cent, of the 
dioxide, is pure enough for preparing chlorine water it is not sufficiently 
pure for internal administration. Manganese dioxide is now largely 
administered as an emmenagogue and alterative and a pure oxide 
should have been introduced for this purpose and a note of caution 
under the present official oxide, explaining that it was not intended 
for internal use. 
Very little of the natural copaiba will yield Mass of Copaiba by 
the official process until a portion of the essential oil is distilled off. 
The addition of one per cent, sodic hydrate dissolved in a little 
water improves the solidification of the mass. 
The introduction of Methyl Salicylate into the Pharmacopoeia 
is unwarranted by either use or character of the product. Its 
principal use has been as an adulterant of the natural oil of winter- 
green and a test that would readily detect its presence in this oil has 
been a desideratum. As a product, it is itself liable to contamina- 
tion with other synthetic products from impurities present in the 
salicylic acid used in its manufacture, and it is, in addition, notoriously 
adulterated. 
Its introduction into the Pharmacopoeia, is accompanied with tests 
for the detection of some of these adulterants. The official tests for 
methyl benzoate would fail to detect the presence of a small amount 
of that product. It lays claim to no superiority and possesses no 
advantages over the natural oil of Wintergreen. The latter is exten- 
sively used both internally and externally, and I have yet to see or 
hear of the physician who knowingly ordered or accepted the 
synthetic oil. On the other hand, the statement is made by some 
that the salicylic acid made from the natural oil of Wintergreen has 28 
a better remedial effect than that made synthetically. The only 
claim that methyl salicylate appears to advance is that it is a cheap 
substitute. While this might appeal to the soap manufacturer it is 
beneath the self-respect of the honest pharmacist and the dignity of 
the Pharmacopoeia to recognize such reason. This introduction of 
synthetic oil of Wintergreen becomes a dangerous precedent. If 
synthetic oil of wintergreen is to be officially recognized, why not 
introduce also the synthetic essential oils of almond and of mustard ? 
The theoretical necessity for a more accurate classification of the 
pharmacopoeial preparations, alone, seems to have decided the Com- 
mittee in dividing the old class of mixtures. In the past, pharma- 
cists have felt the need of at least one class of liquid preparations, 
wherein might be grouped such preparations as could not be prop- 
erly classed under the more rigid titles, as tinctures, syrups, liquors, 
etc. The title " mistura " was deemed sufficiently elastic, and it has 
always conveyed the idea of a heterogeneous group of remedies. 
This want has been universal and in the British Pharmacopoeia and 
in other national pharmacopoeias, we have similar groups under this 
title. Under the new classification mixtures are more nearly related 
to the emulsions than heretofore. It remains to be seen if the new 
class " Emulsa " will be more graciously received than were the 
abstracts of the Pharmacopoeia of 1880. 
Some peculiar changes have necessarily resulted in the formulas 
for these preparations. In Brown Mixture, syrup and mucilage ot 
acacia are now directed in place of sugar and powdered acacia. 
We can see no advantage from the change. 
The marked changes made in the formula for Mistura Rhei et 
Sodae are such that we cannot approve. To make this formula con- 
form strictly to the newly adopted idea of a mixture, 35 per cent, 
by volume of glycerin is introduced. But why has ipecac been 
added to the formula? It is to be observed, that the amount of 
ipecac is one-fifth that of the rhubarb ; now one grain of ipecac is 
quite as active comparatively as the five grains of rhubarb, and this 
if desirable to be introduced should be indicated in the title. 
Oleate of Mercury now is made by dissolving 20 parts of yellow 
oxide of mercury in 80 parts oleic acid. The 20 per cent, oleate 
will be found more permanent than the 10 per cent, of 1880. The 
red mercuric oxide finely powdered and dried answers as well as the 
yellow oxide. This formula, however, still leaves a decided excess 29 
of oleic acid not in combination. The true oleate prepared by 
double decomposition (and containing but a very small amount of 
free oleic acid due to acidity of the metallic nitrate solution used) 
should have been introduced. Oleate of Zinc of the Pharmacopoeia 
is likewise a solution of 5 per cent, of zinc oxide in oleic acid. It 
ofrms a hard, unctuous mass. This should have been the impal- 
pable powder obtained by precipitation from solutions of alkaline 
oleate and zinc sulphate. Almost all the zinc oleate of commerce 
is the latter. 
The entire class of oleoresins is directed to be prepared by 
exhausting the powdered drug with ether (stronger ether of U. S. P. 
1880). The complete exhaustion of the drug directed is wasteful of 
the ether, as experiments have shown that it is not advantageous to 
continue the percolation beyond that point necessary to obtain 150 
to 200 cc. of percolate for every 100 gm. of the drug. The small 
amount of oleoresin yielded by continuing the percolation till the 
drug is completely exhausted will not pay for the ether lost. For 
some of these oleoresins a cheaper solvent would have been acetone. 
(See Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, 1892, 145.) 
In the statements regarding the characters and properties of 
both the fixed and volatile oils we notice a decided improvement. 
Many of the errors in the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, in stating the phy- 
sical properties of the essential oils are corrected. 
It is to be noted that in the Expressed Oil of Almond the solubility 
of the separated fat acids in alcohol is adopted to detect the admix- 
ture of other fixed oils, and in lard oil and olive oil the reduction of 
silver nitrate in acidified alcoholic solution is applied for the detection 
of cotton-seed oil. The iodine absorption test of Hubl is generally 
accepted by chemists as a valuable test for adulterants in these oils. 
It has nowhere, in the volume, been directed, probably because it 
was thought too difficult for the average pharmacist. Yet the only 
apparatus it requires, a burette and a bottle or a beaker should be 
in every pharmacy. In marked contrast to this, we note that in 
a number of the essential oils the optical rotary values are given and on 
p. 512, we find instructions for determining the same. The polari- 
scopic apparatus needed is not in the possession of the pharmacist. 
In many cases, the natural variations of the oils in their optical 
behavior and the causes affecting the same are still to be further 
investigated. 30 
The Oil of Bitter Almond should have been " sine prussic acid " or 
if that was deemed unnecessary, at least the percentage of hydro- 
cyanic acid allowable should have been stated. The test for synthetic 
oil, by detecting chlorinated compounds has proven very satisfactory 
in the writer's experience. 
Volatile Oil of Betula is introduced to distinguish between the true 
oil of wintergreen and what is generally sold as such. The state- 
ment unnecessarily introduced in the official definition that " it is 
identical with methyl salicylate " is seriously disputed. We are 
aware that the manufacturers of methyl salicylate make this claim 
which has been questioned by disinterested chemists who proposed a 
distinguishing test. It is to be hoped that some unprejudiced chem- 
ist will reinvestigate the subject thoroughly so as to settle the 
mooted question. 
Oil of Ceylon Cinnamon is no longer official. The Pharmacopoeia 
now describes Oil of Cinnamon as "a volatile oil from Cassia cinna- 
mon" which implies that it is distilled from the bark. According to 
Messrs. Schimmel & Co. the bark yields but !•$ per cent, of oil, hav- 
ing a sp. gr. 1035, this as well as price precludes its use for this 
purpose. From their investigations they state, " It can, therefore, 
be assumed with safety, that the cassia oil of commerce is distilled 
in China out of the leaves, leafstalks and young twigs of the cassia 
plant, probably together with various refuse products worthless for 
other purpose."-(Semi-Annual Report Schimmel & Co., Oct., 1892, 
p. 14.) 
Hirschsohn's alcoholic lead acetate test is adopted for detecting 
colophony. The character of the residue left on evaporation is a 
simple test that should have been given, as it yields valuable infor- 
mation as to the character of adulterants. The quantitative estimation 
of cinnamic aldehyde is likewise one of the surest tests of quality 
and is not very difficult to apply. 
Oil of Copaiba is stated to be soluble in about 10 times its volume 
of alcohol and not an equal weight, as erroneously stated in 1880. 
My own notes show that freshly distilled oil is soluble in from 6 to 
8 volumes of alcohol, but solubility varies with age, as oils a year or 
so old require from 10 to 15 volumes. 
Oil of Pennyroyal, it should be remembered, is only the American 
oil distilled from hedeoma. The closely allied Austrian and Spanish 
oils obtained from Mentha pulegium, L., are frequently seen in com- 
merce under this title. 31 
The sp. gr. of Oil of Peppermint is stated at -900 to -920. Pure 
oil generally averages -910 and the range 908 to -917 has been 
found as fixing the limits. The statement that " the oil does not 
fulminate with iodine," would be correct if changed to " should not 
fulminate with iodine," as old oil or one exposed to oxidation will 
fume with iodine more or less. 
The nitric acid test, proposed by A. B. Stevens, is adopted to 
detect the adulteration of this and other oils with oil of camphor. 
A test that will readily detect oil of copaiba in this and other oils is 
needed. 
The sp. gr. of Oil of Sandal Wood is stated at 0-970 to 0 978. This 
is too limited. Peter MacEwen reports for an Indian oil 0 989 and 
recommended that the official British Pharmacopoeia figures be 
changed to 0-970 to 0-990. Mr. Holmes had previously reported 
for museum specimens 0-9901 (Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, 1886, 
p. 254.) Dodge and Olcott report (Druggists' Circular, 1889, p. 
84): "We find the bulked result of a distillation to be 0-970 
at 6o° F. The first of the run is of a light color and weighs 0-960 at 
6o° F., and on account of its flowery odor is especially adapted for 
perfumery use. The last of the run is dark and weighs -980 at 6o°." 
I have examined American distilled oil, showing a gravity of 0-9809. 
The East Indian oil distilled in crude apparatus would of course 
show a higher gravity and the figures proposed by MacEwen would 
include this native oil. 
The official test solubility in mixture of alcohol and water (3-1) 
is not always reliable for detecting the common adulterant, oil of 
cedar. E. M. Holmes (loc. cit., p. 262) concludes that the admix- 
ture of cedar oil with sandal oil to the extent of 10 per cent, is not 
easily detected by the reduced solubility in alcohol. My own 
experiments in this direction were likewise unsatisfactory. I have 
found the ammonio-copper solution test, proposed by M. Durand 
(see Brannt, " Fats and Oils," pp. 540-541), to give satisfactory results 
in detecting easily 3 to 5 per cent, of cedar oil. This test appears 
to have been overlooked by all the recent investigators, although 
claimed by the author to detect of one per cent, of the 
adulterant. Almost all of the so-called West Indian sandal wood oil 
in the American market is not the oil described by Holmes as 
obtained from an undetermined species of Rutaceae, but is really a 
mixture of East Indian sandal wood oil and oils of cedar and 
copaiba. 32 
In the preparation of Phosphorated Oil, I would suggest the 
use of chloroform in place of ether as being a much better solvent 
of phosphorus. 
Oil of Turpentine should be accompanied by specific tests for ben- 
zin. 
While the morphine strength of Opium remains at not less than 
9 per cent., that of powdered opium is rightly limited to not less 
than 13 nor more than 15 per cent. The Pharmacopoeia of 1880, 
admitted powdered opium of from 12 to 16 per cent, morphine, 
which permitted too great a variation in the strength of the pharma- 
ceutical preparations. Neither the percentage of water allowable 
in opium nor the yield of extract is given. 
The introduction of Pepsin is accompanied by an official descrip- 
tion sufficiently elastic to admit all the varieties of pepsin in the 
market, providing that they possess the required digestive value. 
There is a lack of definiteness in a product that may be either 
" white, yellowish-white, pale yellow, or yellowish ; " may be either 
"an amorphous powder, grains or scales;" may be either " soluble 
or only partly soluble," and may be " opaque or translucent." 
Would it not have been more in accordance with pharmacopoeial 
exactness to have introduced two pepsins, one in powder, the so- 
called insoluble, and the other in grains or scales, the so-called 
soluble ? The properties of each could have been definitely fixed 
and the former directed for preparing the saccharated pepsin and 
dispensing in powders, the latter for solutions. The statement in 
the assay process that " 100 cc. of the liquid will contain o-2 cc. of 
absolute hydrochloric acid and 0-00335 gm. °f the pepsin to be 
tested and 98 cc. of water " is a self-apparent error, as necessarily 
there must be somewhat more than 98 cc. of water. 
The use of the various purified liquid petroleum products so 
largely introduced as proprietary articles has necessitated the official 
recognition of a Liquid Petrolatum. There is too much variation 
allowable in the official description of color and gravity of this prod- 
uct. The requirements of the Pharmacopoeia Germanica for paraf- 
finum liquidum (" without color, clear, non-fluorescent, * * * 
about -88o sp. gr.") should have been adopted. The statement 
that it is " readily soluble in fixed oils " must be questioned as it is 
nearly insoluble in castor oil. 
The two terms Soft Petrolatum and Hard Petrolatum replace the 33 
Petrolatum of 1880. This change, I presume, has been made to 
define the products suitable for different climates and uses. Fluor- 
escence in these products is due to impurities remaining and is an 
indication of the degree of purification the product has been sub- 
jected to. I would suggest that in the official description " more or 
less fluorescent " should be changed to « nearly or quite free from 
fluorescence." The melting point is given for the soft at 40° to 
45° C. and for the hard 450 to 51°, so that there is an intermediate 
melting point, 45°, where the petrolatum may be either hard or soft. 
The melting point for the hard petrolatum should be 48° to 52° C. 
(118-4° F. to 125-6° F.) 
The official description of Jaborandi intended to cover both Rio 
Janeiro and Pernambuco Jaborandi does not agree with E. M. 
Holmes' description of the latter variety. The official description 
reads " 4 to 6 cm. broad, oval or ovate oblong; Holmes (loc. cit.) 
writes to 5 cm. broad, narrowly elliptical. The description 
should also describe the prominent veinlets on the upper surface. 
Two pills, namely, Pilulae Galbani Compositae and Pilulae Ferri 
Compositae have been dismissed, and two, namely, Pilulae Cathar- 
ticae Vegetabilis and Pilulae F'erri Carbonatis (Blaud's pills) have 
been added to the official list. 
Castor oil is directed as the excipient for Compound Pills of Anti- 
mony. In Compound Cathartic Pills, extract of jalap is again 
directed, but it is to be noted that the proportion of the ingredients 
has been changed so that now the official pills weigh each -185 gm. 
In 1880, the weight was -230 gm., and in 1870 -231 gm. 
In the formula for Pills of Ferrous Carbonate, the quantity of 
potassium carbonate directed is insufficient to decompose the quan- 
tity of ferrous sulphate directed even if an anhydrous pure carbonate 
of potassium is used. These pills should have been directed to be 
coated with an ethereal solution of tolu, as a protection against oxi- 
dation, and then the requirement that they should be freshly pre- 
pared when wanted could have been omitted. 
In the formula for Pills of Phosphorus the althea and acacia have 
been increased so that each pill, when finished, will weigh -120 gm. 
(nearly 2 grains), unnecessarily large for a pill containing only -0006 
gm. grain) phosphorus. The manufacturers will hardly dare to 
adopt this formula. 
Lead Nitrate is so little used that it might have been dropped. 34 
Potassium Carbonate is now directed to be anhydrous, and to 
contain not less than 95 per cent, of the pure salt. This excludes 
the commercial purified carbonate or salt of tartar, which generally 
contains 18 per cent, of water, about 3 molecules. Prune should be 
the dried fruit of Prunus domestica, L. 
In Pulvis Glycyrrhizae Compositum, the substitution of oil of fen- 
nel for the pulverized fruit is to be noted. We see no reason for 
changing this formula from that original in the German Pharmaco- 
poeia. 
In the description of Pyrethrum it should have been noted that 
the crown of the root usually contains tufts of hair from the base 
of the pubescent stem. 
The solubility of Resin of Podophyllum is erroneously stated on 
p. 338.1 On p. 340, Pale Rose is stated to be an ingredient in 
Syrupus Sarsaparillae Compositus, but it is not mentioned in the 
formula given for this preparation; as it has no other use it might 
have been omitted. 
Sugar of Milk should be accompanied by tests for such adulter- 
ants as starch and glucose, and should be required to be free from 
fat and casein. The tests should likewise state the percentage of 
ash allowable, and supply other tests for inorganic salts apt to be 
present from the water used in its preparation. 
In order to insure uniformity of product, the formula for Sapo 
Mollis should require a definite yield of product. 
Scutellaria is stated to be 50 cm. long ; most of that in the market 
will be 20 to 25 cm. and broken. We are again told on p. 349 
that argel leaves " are frequently present " in Alexandria Senna, and 
a description is attached to detect this adulterant. For ten years 
past the writer has been examining commercial senna for this adul- 
terant, but has not yet been successful in finding it. 
Tests are wanted for detecting chloride and bromide in Sodium 
Iodide. Sodium Nitrate is not sufficiently used to be retained. 
Sodium Nitrite is a new addition, introduced as the source of 
nitrogen dioxide in the new official process for spirit of nitrous 
ether. It is required to contain not less than 97-6 per cent, of the pure 
salt a degree of purity hard to obtain in the commercial salt. The 
price at which the chemically pure salt is now sold, $2.50 to $3 per 
1 Experiments by the writer to decide this point were not completed, but 
were reported later. (See Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, 1894, 9.) 35 
kilo, precludes its use for this purpose. The commercial article 
prepared for the use of the dyer while not attaining the official 
purity will probably be found to answer. It is likely, however, to be 
contaminated with both lead and arsenic. 
To the official Spirits there are four additions, Spirit of Bitter 
Almond, Compound Spirit of Orange, Spirit of Glonoin and Spirit 
of Phosphorus, and one dismissal, Perfumed Spirit or Cologne 
Water of 1880. Spirit of Nitrous Ether is required to yield when 
assayed by the nitrometer method 4 per cent, of pure ethyl nitrite. 
The process for the manufacture of this spirit is again changed; 
sodium nitrite, alcohol and sulphuric acid being distilled to yield the 
ether; which after washing and dehydrating is dissolved in 22 times 
its weight of alcohol. In the formula 770 gm. sodium nitrite is 
directed to be dissolved in 1,000 cc. water, heat not being directed. 
This salt is stated to require 1-5 parts of water for solution and this 
would necessitate increasing the amount of water directed. 
The ammoniacal strength of Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia is 
reduced and oil of nutmeg is again directed replacing the oil of 
pimenta of 1880. The solution of the ammonium carbonate in the 
ammonia water and water should be directed to remain in the closed 
flask for 24 hours to insure the conversion of the acid carbonate 
into the normal carbonate and leaving less free alkali to react on 
the essential oils and darken the solution. 
In Spirit of Orange the synonym, " essence of orange" should be 
given; oil of sweet orange peel should be specified and 50 gm. 
orange peel grated from the fresh ripe fruit should be added. In 
Compound Spirit of Orange, oil of bitter orange peel should be 
specified. In Spirit of Camphor, water is omitted, alcohol alone 
being the solvent. At least 10 per cent, of water should have been 
directed. The addition of a small amount of water seems to bring 
out the pungency of the camphor. Spirits of Gaultheria, Juniper, 
Juniper Compound, Lavender and Nutmeg have all been increased 
in strength. 
Strophanthus is stated to be nearly inodorous, this is hardly 
accurate as a very disagreeable odor is obtained on crushing the 
seed. 
Strychnine Sulphate is stated to contain 5 molecules of water, 
whereas in 1880 it was recognized as containing 7 molecules. As 
this would materially affect the strength of such a potent remedy as 36 
well as its physical properties, solubility, etc., it is interesting to 
know which formula corresponds with the present commercial 
article. 
The Pharmacopoeia is careful to specify both the shape and weight 
of the various suppositories. The rectal suppository is directed to 
be i gm. as in 1880. In many cases this has proven too small 
except for infants. The 2 gm. size is preferable. The vaginal sup- 
pository is directed to be globular, and about 3 gm. in weight. Six 
gm. is preferable, especially where large quantities of such articles 
as boric acid and iodoform are directed as has become customary. 
I see no reason why the official directions should not order that the 
medicinal ingredients be incorporated with all the cacao butter, it 
being grated and added in portions, and the resulting mass melted 
on a water-bath, and poured into moulds as melted. 
It is to be observed that in Suppositories of Glycerin the formula 
directs 68 gm. " to make ten rectal suppositories." There will be 
some loss of water, of course, in the preparation. A trial of this 
formula yielded 65 gm.; but this would yield suppositories of 6-5 gm. 
each, if made into ten suppositories, as directed. On the other hand, 
one gramme rectal suppositories of glycerin are too small except for 
infants. These, as generally supplied, are from 2 gm. to 2 5 gm. 
each. The direction that they should be freshly prepared when 
required is unnecessary and impractical. The permanence of 
glycerin suppositories is a practical test of their quality. 
The process of cold percolation is for the first time officially 
applied to the preparation of syrups. 
The exact instructions for carrying out this process, given under 
Syrupus, on p. 387, should be sufficient for all intelligent phar- 
macists, and there should be no necessity for a repetition of the 
instruction in each of the other ten syrups in which this process is 
officially permitted. The statement that the solution of the sugar 
may also be effected by the process of percolation as described on 
p. 387 would be sufficient. 
The formula of 1880 for Syrup of Acacia is maintained, with the 
exception that the mucilage of acacia is directed to be recently pre- 
pared. The mucilage itself is very prone to decomposition. It is 
regretted that the formula of the 1870 Pharmacopoeia, which yielded 
an excellent preparation, that properly kept remained unaltered for 
some time, was not again introduced. 37 
In Syrup of Citric Acid the amount of spirit of lemon is greatly 
increased, making the preparation correspond more nearly to the 
lemon syrup, dismissed. 
The formula for Syrup of Hydriodic Acid of the Pharmacopoeia of 
1880 is discarded, and the process of the National Formulary is 
introduced. In the official formula the quantity of tartaric acid 
directed, 12 gm., is insufficient to decompose both the potassium 
iodide and potassium hypophosphite directed and necessarily a por- 
tion must remain undecomposed in the product. To ensure entire 
decomposition 13-19 gm. would be required. The tartaric acid 
should be directed to be crystals as the experience of the writer is that 
the commercial powdered acid when used in this preparation causes 
liberation of iodine. The use of hypophosphite of potassium as a 
preservative is unnecessary, provided a small amount of sugar is 
added to the acid solution before filtering. The official directions 
to evaporate the solution on a water-bath, and when cold to mix 
with syrup is likely to result in decomposition of the hydriodic 
acid ; why not direct the acid solution to be filtered into sugar and a 
sufficient quantity of distilled water added and the sugar dissolved 
by agitation ? In the report of the Pharmacopoeia Committee of 
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, submitted to the National 
Convention, will be found a formula containing these suggestions. 
To test this formula samples have been preserved for over a year, 
and in one instance for over three years, with satisfactory results. 
The addition of a small amount of spirit of orange would improve 
this syrup and give it distinguishing character. 
The addition of both alcohol and glycerin in the formula for 
Syrup of Althaea is endorsed and will render this a more stable pre- 
paration than it has been in the past. 
The directions for preparing Syrup of Almond are sadly erroneous, 
and we can only conjecture what the intention was. In the formula, 
200 cc. of water is directed and quantity sufficient of syrup to make 
1,000 cc.; but in the*instructions 330 cc. of water is used, and then 
in addition water to make the product measure 1,000 cc. For the 
latter, syrup evidently was intended. 
In Syrup of Orange, the orange peel cut into shreds is boiled 
with alcohol for 5 minutes and after cooling the tincture expressed. 
Macerating the orange peel, grated from the fruit, with the alcohol 
for 2 or 3 days without heat, and then expressing and washing the 
residue with sufficient alcohol would be preferable. 38 
In Syrup of Calcium Lactophosphate the salt is directed to be 
prepared by dissolving the calcium carbonate in lactic acid and 
adding phosphoric acid. There is a decided excess of acid directed. 
Stronger orange flower water should be directed and was most likely 
intended as the quantity directed to be used is much less than that 
ordered in 1880. 
The saccharine strength of Syrup of Ferrous Iodide is now less 
than 50 per cent, instead of 60 per cent, in 1880, and syrup is used 
instead of sugar, the boiling ferrous iodide solution is filtered into 
the syrup which is not directed to be warmed previously, other- 
wise the process is identical with that of the Pharmacopoeia 
of 1870. 
Syrup of Hypophosphites now contains a small amount of hypo- 
phosphorous acid in place of the citric acid of the 1880 edition. 
The quantity of sugar directed should be increased to 600 gm. In 
Syrup of Hypophosphites with Iron, ferrous lactate is retained, but 
is directed to be dissolved by aid of potassium citrate; ferric hypo- 
phosphite should have been directed, making all the metallic salts 
used hypophosphites. 
The addition of acetic acid and glycerin to Syrup of Ipecac is a 
decided improvement. 
It is a question if in the new official formula for Syrup of Lactu- 
carium the valuable portion is not precipitated by the water, and 
allowed to remain with the calcium phosphate on the filter ? With 
the present official tincture of lactucarium a syrup, yielding but a 
small amount of precipitate on standing, can be made by the follow- 
ing formula: tincture of lactucarium 100 cc., glycerin 100 cc., syrup 
800 cc., mix the tincture with the glycerin and add the syrup to the 
mixture. 
In Syrup of Wild Cherry the glycerin is excessively increased, and 
is now part of the menstruum and not added to the percolate. We 
cannot approve this formula, as the resulting syrup is more remark- 
able for increased astringency than for improved flavor. 
Syrup of Rhubarb is a decided improvement over the formula of 
1880, and yields a more stable preparation. 
In Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla the suggestion of Oldberg to 
omit both the guaiac wood and pale rose has been adopted, and oils 
of sassafras and gaultheria have again taken the place of their respec- 
tive drugs directed in the Pharmacopoeia of 1880 The use of fluid 39 
extracts of sarsaparilla, glycyrrhiza and senna in the preparation of 
this syrup is another innovation. 
For preparing Syrup of Senna, Alexandria senna only is rightly 
directed to be used. In the direction for this preparation we are 
instructed to prepare 600 cc. of infusion. " Strain this, and, when it 
is cold, mix it with the alcohol (150 cc.) in which the oil of coriander 
(5 cc.) has previously been dissolved. Set it aside until the pre- 
cipitate has subsided, then pour off the clear liquid, filter the 
remainder, and pass enough water through the filter to obtain 5 50 cc." 
It is to be noted that 755 cc. of liquid is to be filtered, and the fil- 
trate to be made up to 550 cc. by washing the precipitate. The pre- 
cipitate cannot occupy the space of 205 cc. of the liquid. The 600 cc. 
of infusion should be directed to be evaporated to 400 cc., and then 
the alcohol and oil of coriander added and the process continued as 
in the official direction. 
The tinctures as a class show a decided improvement. With but 
one exception, and that, most likely unintentional, the formulas are 
given for the uniform quantity of 1 liter of product. In Tincture of 
Aconite the suggestion of Tscheppe to reduce the alcoholic strength 
of the menstruum has been accepted and 7 vols. alcohol, 3 vols. 
water now are directed in place of alcohol of the previous edition. 
In Tincture of Aloes, liquorice root is now directed in place of 
the extract and percolation is ordered instead of maceration. 
Liquorice root is likewise added to the Tincture of Aloes and 
Myrrh, an unnecessary addition. I would prefer maceration to per- 
colation in both of these tinctures. 
In Tincture of Arnica the arnica flowers in No. 20 powder are to 
be packed into a cylindrical percolator, without previous moistening. 
We cannot see why this exception should be made to the generally 
adopted rule of moistening the powder before packing. 
The adoption of alcohol in place of diluted alcohol for Tincture 
of Calendula is a change that cannot be approved. Diluted alcohol 
even of the strength of the Pharmacopoeia of 1880 extracted this 
drug and yielded a permanent tincture. The use to which this pre- 
paration is generally applied, namely, external application to wounds, 
bruises, etc., makes strong alcohol undesirable as the menstruum. 
The Pharmacopoeia of 1880 reduced the strength of Tincture of 
Indian Cannabis and it now suffers another reduction of nearly 5 
per cent, in the amount of the drug used, equivalent to a reduction 
of nearly 25 per cent, in strength. 40 
Tincture of Cinnamon is now to be made from the Ceylon cinna- 
mon and contains 5 per cent, by volume of glycerin. 
In Tincture of Cubebs the menstruum becomes alcohol in place 
of diluted alcohol and the drug strength is doubled. Both of these 
are good changes. 
In the formula given for Tinctures of Fresh Herbs, the amount of 
product to be obtained is not stated. This would vary with the 
amount of moisture present in the various herbs. It evidently was 
the intention to direct that the so-called 50 per cent, tincture should 
be obtained, that is 50 gm. of the fresh drug to be represented by 
IOO cc. of the finished tincture. In order to attain this object but 
900 cc. of alcohol should be directed to be used in the maceration 
and then the residue after expression and the filter washed with 
sufficient alcohol to obtain 1,000 cc. of tincture. 
The increase in alcoholic strength of the menstruum used for Tinc- 
ture of Galls and the reduction in that directed for Tincture of Gel- 
semium are both good changes. 
In the Compound Tincture of Gentian, it is to be noted that the 
amount of Cardamom has been reduced one-half. We doubt if too 
much aromatic material could be introduced in this preparation. 
Tincture of Lactucarium is introduced solely for the purpose of 
making therefrom the syrup. As a substitute for the unsatisfac- 
tory and difficult to prepare fluid extract of 1880, it is a welcome 
addition. 
Elsewhere, the writer has called attention to the impossibility of 
preparing Tincture of Musk, containing 10 per cent, of musk, as 
directed by the Pharmacopoeia of 1880, and attempted to prove 
that even in a tincture containing 2 per cent, of pure musk it was 
not completely extracted. In the new edition, the first proposition 
appears to be recognized, and now the tincture is directed to be 
made 50 gm. in 1,000 cc., about 5 per cent. To have made it 2 per 
cent, would have brought it in harmony with the German Pharma- 
copoeia and as strong as a tincture of pure musk can be made. 
If the official directions for preparing Tincture of Nux Vomica 
are followed, using only extract of nux vomica corresponding 
to the official requirements, an active remedy must result. In 
future, tincture of nux vomica from all sources should be uniform. 
The formula for Tincture of Opium is likewise excellent, and 
with the morphine strength of powdered opium, as limited by 41 
the Pharmacopoeia, there remains no excuse for the want of uni- 
formity in this preparation as supplied by different pharmacists. 
Tinctures of Physostigma and Stramonium Seed have been 
increased nearly 50 per cent, in strength, there now being 150 gm. 
of the drug in 1,000 cc., instead of 10 per cent. This strength 
has been adopted for many of the tinctures of poisonous drugs. 
Tincture of Quillaia is a new addition, being a concentrated 
decoction, with the addition of 35 per cent, by volume of alcohol 
as a preservative. 
For Tincture of Rhubarb, a menstruum containing 60 per cent, 
of alcohol by volume and 10 per cent, of glycerin, has been adopted, 
and percolation completed with alcohol 60 volumes, water 30 vol- 
umes. For Aromatic Tincture of Rhubarb and for Sweet Tincture 
of Rhubarb the menstruum contains 50 per cent, by volume of 
alcohol and 10 per cent, of glycerin, and percolation is continued 
with diluted alcohol. The amount of glycerin is excessive, and 
we see no reason why the same menstruum should not have been 
adopted for all three, especially as the former contains less aromatic 
material. 
The introduction of acetic acid in preparing Tincture of Sanguin- 
aria is good. Acetic acid appears to be peculiarly adapted for 
extracting this drug. 
The menstruum for Tincture of Squill now becomes the same as 
that for the fluid extract, being 3 vols. alcohol, 1 vol. water. 
Tincture of Strophanthus is one of the newer remedies that has 
merited recognition by the Pharmacopoeia. It is regretted that in 
the official formula no instructions are given for removing the oil 
from the powdered seed before percolation. This oil of an exceed- 
ingly disagreeable character, will average 30 per cent, of the weight 
of the seed and is easily removed by ether or purified benzin or 
even largely removed as directed in the German Pharmacopoeia by 
expression. By the use of a weaker alcoholic menstruum than that 
originally proposed for this preparation, the Pharmacopoeia evidently 
aims to diminish the amount of oil extracted. The alcoholic 
strength of the menstruum adopted, 65 per cent, of alcohol, U. S. P., 
by volume corresponds closely to the diluted alcohol adopted in 
the German Pharmacopoeia (68 per cent, by vol. Ph. G.) 
Tincture of Sumbul remains 10 per cent, of sumbul, while the alco- 
holic strength of the menstruum is reduced. This tincture is too 42 
weak to be very active. It should contain at least 25 per cent, of the 
drug or be entirely dismissed and a fluid extract of sumbul intro, 
duced. 
The formula for Trituration of Elaterin should have been omitted 
as the general formula for triturations is sufficient and more exact 
in the directions. 
The official troches as a class are sadly neglected by the medical 
profession, and from a pharmaceutical standpoint they are badly in 
need of a more thorough revision than they have obtained in this 
edition. But one actual dismissal has been made, that of Troches of 
Magnesia. The substitution of Troches of Santonin for Troches of 
Santoninate of Sodium was but a correction of this at once acknowl- 
edged error of the Pharmacopoeia of 1880. We are of the opinion 
that Troches of Chalk and Troches of Ipecac have become obsolete 
and should be omitted, and as the preparation of peppermint and 
ginger lozenges appears to be left to the confectioner, these likewise 
could be spared from the official list. We are disappointed in not 
finding, as additions to the class, some of the frequently used 
troches, such as those of benzoic acid, cocaine, guaiac and its com- 
pounds and kino. 
The compressed lozenge, although almost universally used, is not 
officially recognized. It could have been adopted in place of the 
■mass lozenge for most of those in the official list. As a class the 
official troches are not in harmony with that marked spirit of 
progress that characterizes the volume generally. The most 
displeasing feature is the absence of any uniformity in the size of 
the finished products. They vary from -42 Gm. in Troches of 
Cubeb to 1-56 Gm. in Troches of Potassium Chlorate. The latter are 
unnecessarily large, the former too small. Between these extremes 
we find all sizes. They could readily have been classed under not 
more than two sizes: r Gm. and *7 Gm. or -75 Gm. 
With the exception of Troches of Santonin, Troches of Ammo- 
nium Chloride is the only one exhibiting any improvement. The 
popular muriate of ammonium and licorice lozenge has been intro- 
duced, but the quantity of ammonium chloride has been reduced to 
•1 Gm. in each instead of about -15 Gm., as generally made. 
The official ointments exhibit but few changes of note. Oint- 
ment would have been improved by substituting benzoinated lard. 
Ointment of Carbolic Acid and Chrysarobin Ointment are both 43 
reduced to five per cent, instead of ten per cent. Of the three 
astringent ointments formerly official, the Ointment of Gallic Acid 
has been dismissed and the Ointment of Tannic Acid and the Nut- 
gall Ointment have been both increased to 20 per cent., just double 
the strength of those official in the Pharmacopoeia of 1880. 
The formula for Ointment of Rose Water now given yields a 
rather odd amount of product 985 to 990 Gm. With the substitu- 
tion of stronger rose water for rose water in this preparation, it has 
been deemed advisable to reduce the amount. If 200 cc. had been 
directed in place of 190 cc., the product would have been about one 
kilogramme. The addition of borax materially improves the appear- 
ance of this ointment. The directions for the addition of the rose 
water are that the entire amount is to be added to the waxes and oil 
previously melted and poured into a mortar, " without stirring and 
then to stir rapidly and continuously until the mixture becomes 
uniformly soft and creamy." The addition of 20 per cent, of water 
to the melted fats must necessarily cause congealing of the wax 
and separation in masses, which it would be nigh impossible to 
beat to a smooth mass. The rose water should be directed to be 
warmed to the temperature of the fusing of the waxes before being 
added. 
The directions given under Iodine Ointment and Iodoform Oint- 
ment that they should be freshly made when required might like- 
wise have been applied to such ointments as those of tannic acid, 
potassium iodide and the mercuric oxides. 
The addition of castor oil in Ointment of Red Mercuric Oxide 
serves well both as an aid in triturating the oxide and in preserving 
the ointment from oxidation. 
A mixture of yellow wax and lard replaces suet in Tar Ointment. 
A mixture of wax and lard is less easily absorbed than suet and 
as the stimulating effect resulting from this absorption is desired 
we would prefer the old formula. 
Sulphur Ointment is now directed to be prepared with washed 
sulphur instead of sublimed sulphur. The small amount of acid 
present in the latter from oxidation has heretofore been looked 
upon rather as desirable in this ointment. 
The Pharmacopoeia of 1880 directed, that in Veratrine Ointment 
the veratrine should be rubbed up with alcohol before incorporating 
with the benzoinated lard. It was found that this always resulted 44 
in the production of a resinous mass which it was almost impossible 
to evenly disseminate. The Pharmacopoeia of 1890 directs six per 
cent, of olive oil in place of the alcohol. Both of these are unneces- 
sary additions and in summer time the latter especially would render 
the ointment too soft. The veratrine should be directed to be rubbed 
up with about one-tenth of the lard to a smooth paste and this then 
incorporated with the balance. 
The directions for Ointment of Zinc Oxide are to sift the zinc 
oxide through a No. 20 sieve upon melted benzoinated lard ; a 
number 40 sieve would be better. 
The required alcoholic strength of both white wine and red 
wine is changed to from 10 to 14 per cent, in place of 10 to 12 
per cent, and the method of determining the percentage of alcohol 
present incorrectly stated in 1880 is now correctly given. Stronger 
White Wine is dismissed and where it was formerly directed in pre- 
paring the official wines, white wine, with the addition of 15 per 
cent, by volume of alcohol, is now ordered. In addition to this the 
number of the official wines has been decreased by three other dis- 
missals, namely, Aromatic Wine, Wine of Aloes and Wine of 
Rhubarb. 
In the formula for Wine of Antimony IOI5 cc. of liquids is directed 
to yield 1,000 cc. of product. The quantity of white wine directed 
is 800 cc. instead of a sufficient quantity to make 1,000 cc. 
Wine of Ipecac has been increased in strength to 10 percent, by 
volume of the fluid extract instead of 7 per cent. The formula, 
however, fails to direct that the filter should be washed with suf- 
ficient white wine to make the product measure 1,000 cc. 
Nineteen pages are required for the very complete list of reagents 
and instructions for preparing the same. 
Twenty-seven pages are devoted to volumetric solutions and 
methods of analysis. We regret that this feature of the book has 
been marred by a statement made exactly 12 times in the 27 pages 
" that the figures given may be rounded off when a delicate balance 
and exact weights are not at hand." This is the more remarkable, 
as in the introductory note to this subject it is insisted that all 
volumetric solutions should be made and used at temperatures not 
deviating materially from the normal temperature, 150 C., and that 
all measuring vessels employed should agree among themselves in 
accuracy of graduation, thus avoiding the introduction of errors. 45 
What chemist can, with any satisfaction, make volumetric estima- 
tions, using an inaccurate balance and weights ? 
In a volume whose chemical requirements are so exacting, such 
slovenly methods should not be condoned. Especially is this to be 
condemned in the preparation of such volumetric solutions as those 
of oxalic acid and iodine used to standardize other solutions. 
Two pages are devoted to each of the following subjects, gaso- 
metric estimations, alkaloidal assay by immiscible solvents and deter- 
mination of optical rotation of organic substances. 
Eight pages are required for a list of chemicals and formulas. 
It will be thus seen that 60 pages, one-tenth of the entire volume, 
are devoted to purely chemical instruction in addition to the many 
pages already occupied in the tests appended to the official products 
in the preceding pages. The increase of 115 pages in the present 
edition, amounting to more than 20 per cent, in the size of the 
volume, is largely due to this source. This may well serve to illus- 
trate the present tendency of pharmaceutical training toward a 
more thorough education in chemistry. But it must not be for- 
gotten that if the same privilege be extended to pharmacognosy, 
pharmacology, botany in its various relations to organic materia 
medica and other allied sciences that has been assumed by chemis- 
try, the Pharmacopoeia would soon become a commentary upon 
itself. A volume so cumbersome as to be unsuited to its purpose 
and use. 
The Pharmacopoeia should not be converted into a text-book on 
any science. It is with regret that we observe that the present 
tendency is to forget entirely its legitimate character. The Pharma- 
copoeia is essentially a law book, a volume of statutes. As such, 
it should content itself with stating accurately the characters and 
requirements of the official products. Any deviation from this rule 
is a digression from its true scope. The official volume of the 
statutes enacted by a legislative body is unaccompanied by explana- 
tions and judicial opinions on the application of the laws. 
It is hoped that, in future revisions, that the plan adopted will be 
to leave the methods of testing and of proving the purity of the 
official chemicals to a special volume compiled if necessary by 
authorities recognized by the pharmacopoeial committee. A volume 
which shall be to the United States Pharmacopoeia what Pribram 46 
and Welden " Prijfung Artzneistoffe " is to the new German Phar- 
macopoeia. 
Thirty-seven pages are utilized for the various tables. Those for 
alcohol, the acids and alkalies and for equivalents of weights and 
measures being especially noticeable for completeness. Forty-two 
pages are devoted to the very thorough index, which is one of the 
most commendable features of the book. 
Viewed as a complete work the volume is remarkable for its 
advanced position; for the great progress which it indicates in the 
coming pharmacist. Its progressiveness and superiority from a 
purely scientific standpoint is admitted. The committee evidently 
had in mind a lofty ideal for their Pharmacopoeia. The book is at 
least a decade in advance of the scientific attainments of the aver- 
age American pharmacist and is likely to give the impression to our 
foreign professional brethren that he is the possessor of knowledge 
and standing, alas, too often lacking. We imagine that we hear 
many of the class who are more concerned over the commercial 
aspect than the professional side of their calling, repeat the words 
of the horse to his groom in Assop's fable : " Groom me less and 
feed me more." 
I firmly believe that this is a grand step and that it will mark a 
distinct epoch in American pharmacy ; that it will stimulate hosts 
of pharmacists to renewed efforts to maintain their educational and 
professional standing, and that it will compel many to obtain a more 
thorough education in order to stand on the same plane to which this 
volume will elevate the progressive pharmacist. It is a matter of 
profound regret that in a volume of such magnificent intent there 
should be so much to criticise adversely. 
In concluding this review the writer wishes to explain that it was 
undertaken in response to the request of the late editor of the 
American Journal of Pharmacy, Professor John M. Maisch, for a 
criticism to be published in parts commencing with the October 
number of the journal. 
In discharging this task, I have conceived it to be my duty as well 
as to the best interests of pharmacy to unhesitatingly express my 
views. It has been the aim to avoid all personalities, and if any one 
has been offended it has been unintentional. The writer has no 
axe to grind and is personally acquainted with but few of the com- 47 
mittee, nor has he any knowledge as to which members of the com- 
mittee the various parts of the volume can be attributed. I have 
naturally assumed the position expressed by Mr. Hosea Biglow's 
candidate: 
" There's nothin' thet my natur so shuns 
Ez bein' mum or underhand ; 
I'm a straight-spoken kind o' creetur 
Thet blurts right out wut's in his head, 
An ef I've one pecooler feetur, 
It is a nose thet wunt be led." 
Hardly had the introductory lines of this review appeared before 
the writer was criticised as a pessimist, and his review as being 
hastily written. In opposition to some of the views expressed very 
flattering reviews were quoted. I have no intention of replying to 
my critical friend who so evidently has misconstrued my position, 
nor is any defence needed. But I would assure him that it is much 
easier to flatter than to conscientiously criticise; to swim with the 
current than to stem the tide. But the latter may be the position 
of duty, and a review to be of any value must be the expression of 
independent thought, and devoid of flattery. 
I am aware that it has become fashionable for reviewers not to 
look much beyond the preface, and this is so well known that 
shrewd authors now so word their prefaces as to purposely give the 
flattering critic material for his adulation. The true friend is not 
the flatterer. 
I would also assure him that whatever progress is made by phar- 
macy, and introduced in the next Pharmacopceial revision will be 
the result of criticism and not flattery. 
I would finally assure him that the writer would assume a posi- 
tion not second to any one in desiring a true advance and a scien- 
tific elevation of pharmacy.