PHARMACY. 



felt themselves called upon to make, at 

 the present time, by the vast improve- 

 ment in the several branches of science, 

 with which pharmacy is more especially 

 connected, since the year 1787, and they 

 think it proper to state, generally, the 

 principles upon which various altera- 

 tions have been adopted in the present 

 instance. 



These alterations are referable to the 

 several heads of nomenclature, weights 

 and measures, arrangement, processes, 

 the omission of former articles, and the 

 introduction of new ones. 



To each of these it will apply as a ge- 

 neral observation, that practical applica- 

 tion and convenience have been assumed 

 as fundamental points, which the Commit- 

 tee have endeavoured constantly to keep 

 in view. 



1. Nomenclature. At the time of the 

 publication of the last Pharmacopoeia, mo- 

 dern chemistry was in its infancy, its lan- 

 guage, (which professed to describe, and 

 not merely to designate a substance by its 

 name) was new in principle, and the ap- 

 plication of it not generally received. 

 Various terms, therefore, of that -Pharma- 

 copoeia differ essentially from those which 

 have since been established in the science, 

 and it has been incumbent upon the Com- 

 mittee to consider, in the present in- 

 stance, whether the nomenclature of 

 chemistry might be still further and 

 more minutely adopted. As far as ar- 

 bitary names (to which common consent 

 has affixed precise ideas) go, and also in 

 compounds consisting of two ingredients 

 only, or where different portions ot the 

 same constituent parts are to be express- 

 ed, it has been thought proper to receive 

 those terms which general chemistry em- 

 ploys ; but as a large proportion of phar- 

 maceutical preparations consist, strictly 

 speaking, of more complex combinations, 

 which cannotbe expressed correctly with- 

 out periphrasis and inconvenience, and are 

 therefore but ill suited to the purposes of 

 perscription, the Committee have judged 

 it sufficient to designate these, without 

 attempting at the same time to describe 

 their composition ; and whether the 

 name has been drawn from some circum- 

 stance of preparation, or quality, they 

 have cautiously endeavoured to make 

 such distinctions as may be least liable to 

 error in the ordinary method of practice, 

 said may not contradict the received che- 

 mical doctrines, or mislead in their appii- 

 cation. 



The names of vegetables have also been 

 accommodated to the latest systems of bo- 



tany, so that they may not hereafter cn- 

 tradict the terms of that science, or de- 

 ceive the practicioner in his references 

 thereto. Many names of medicinal plants 

 were in the earlier periods of botany 

 drawn from those of families to which 

 modern system does not admit them to 

 belong*, but have been retained in phar- 

 macy, though wholly at variance with the 

 improved state of science. The Commit- 

 tee trust they have been able to remedy 

 this inconvenience, without very frequent 

 violence to the names commonly employ- 

 ed. They have thought it most conveni- 

 ent, and fully sufficient, to express each 

 article in general by a single wordf, and 

 have retained the former one wherever 

 it accorded either with the generic or 

 specific name of Linnaeus, both of which, 

 however, it has been necessary to em- 

 ploy, for the purpose of distinguishing 

 between them, when more than one 

 species is taken from the same genusi. 

 There being some vegetable substances, 

 the names of which are in a manner inde- 

 pendent of botanical nomenclature , no 

 alteration with respect to these seemed 

 necessary, for in fact they are not at va- 

 riance with modern science. Intending, 

 moreover, that the pharmaceutic name 

 shall, where a part of a plant is used, re- 

 fer to that part only, they have transferred 

 the term expressive of such part from 

 the first column of the catalogue, in which 

 it formerly stood, to the second. 



2. Weights and Measures. From the 

 great uncertainty of the customary mode 

 of dividing by drops any quantities ot 

 liquids of less bulk than a drachm, and 

 the increase of that uncertainty by the 

 late introduction, into some shops, of 

 measures applying to liquids of different 

 densities, the bulk of a drop of water as 

 a standard, the Committee have been led 

 to consider the subject more particularly, 

 and to adopt means for the removal of 

 tins uncertainty in the exhibition of many 

 active remedies for the future. They 

 have, for this purpose, adopted the 

 graduated measure of the late Mr: Lanej 

 which is founded upon an accurate divi- 

 sion of the exchequer wine gallon down 

 to the one-sixtieth part of a drachm, and 

 which is equivalent to a drop of water. 

 Of course it is their intention, that the 

 common method of dropping liquids of 



* Cicufa, Hellebnrm albus. 

 f Aconitum. Cascanttu. 

 \ Rosa Gallica. Itosa canina. 

 *drubicutn gummi. 



