152 Dispensatory of the United States. 



* 9 



count of his " sal mirabile," without a smile at the lofty tone and 

 self congratulations of these enthusfests ; and yet, without a portion 

 of enthusiasm, who would have braved the ridicule, and endured the 

 toil and labor of these distinguished alchemists- When we con- 

 sider, also, the immense amount of benefit which the world has de- 

 rived from the depletive virtues of these compounds, who would 

 venture to pronounce a sentence of condemnation on the extravagant 

 anticipations of their discoverers ? 



But the multiplicity of active and valuable medicines with which 

 •modern chemistry has enriched the pharmacopoeia, is a proof that 

 health, as well as other physical comforts, is not to be left to the way- 

 ward influences of time and chance, but to be brought within the 

 domain of sound and rational science. 



Pharmacy, therefore, when it advances beyond the mere art of 

 arranging and preparing its simple Galenicals, and aspires to the dis- 

 tinction of a science, must array itself in the garb of chemistry and 

 conduct its operations agreeably to the genuine principles of induc- 

 tive philosophy. It will then steadily march forward in the track of 

 improvement, abandoning all empiricism, and rejoicing in the lights 

 and ameliorations which scientific research confers upon it. 



It is but recently that the Pharmacopoeia became an object of at- 

 tention to those who were qualified, by their attainments in chemis- 

 try, to divest it of its charlatanry, and to point out the numerous in- 

 consistencies with which it abounded. The basis of a good, reno- 

 vated treatise on the materia medica was laid by Lewis, who brought 

 to bear upon the subjects on which he wrote, all the advantages which 

 an accurate acquaintance with the science of his day, enabled him 

 to apply. Much was left, however, in this extensive garden, for 

 modern chemistry to weed out, and abundant room for the trans- 

 plantation of new and valuable materials. Medical men, allied to 

 the different schools of Europe, in proportion to their acquaintance 

 with chemistry, perceive the fallacies of the books most in vogue, 

 and as every country affords some specific contributions to the arts, 

 it is by no means surprising that local peculiarities should become 

 obvious in medical formularies. London, Edinburgh and Dublin 

 has each its Dispensatory, and, on the continent of Europe, treatises 

 on pharmacy, more or less extensive, are sufficiently numerous. 



The state of medical and pharmaceutical knowledge in this coun- 

 try seemed loudly to call for a national work, that might justly serve 

 as a standard amid the conflicting claims of European treatises, and 



