154 Dispensatory of the United States, 



a priori pledge of their ability and fitness for the task. In short, no 

 well grounded expectation could be formed of such a work, unless 

 it were undertaken by persons at once skilled in the details of chem- 

 istry, and conversant with medical practice in the foremost circles of 

 the profession. We therefore felt an assurance, when we found that 

 this work had issued from the combined talents and industry of two 

 of the professors of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, one of 

 them known to be an accomplished chemist and the other of high 

 standing as a practical physician, that it would not disappoint the 

 hopes of the profession ; and this assurance was by no means di- 

 minished by the acknowledgment of the authors, that they had re- 

 ceived assistance from the president of the College, whose attain- 

 ments and judgment, in all that relates to the business of a scientific 

 apothecary, our pages (already referred to) bear testimony. 



The Pharmacopcfiia of the United States has been adopted as the 

 basis of the work before us, but in the selection and concoction of 

 their materials, the authors have availed themselves of all the infor- 

 mation obtainable, not only from the Dispensatories of the late Dr. 

 Andrew Duncan and Dr. A. T. Thomson, each of them standard works 

 in their respective countries, but from the best pharmaceutical works 

 of the European continent. " The pharmacy of continental Europe," 

 they observe, " is ground which has been almost untouched, and much 

 information in relation to the natural history, commerce and manage- 

 ment of our own drugs, has lain ungathered in the possession of in- 

 dividuals, or scattered in separate treatises and periodicals, not gen- 

 erally known and read." "The Pharmacopoeias of London, Edin- 

 burgh and Dublin have been incorporated in all their essential parts. 

 Their officinal titles are uniformly given, but always in subordination 

 to those of the United States Pharmacopoeia, when they express the 

 same object; but in chief, when, as often happens, no corresponding 

 medicine or preparation is recognised by our national standard." 

 " Besides these officinal substances, some others have been descri- 

 bed, which, either from the lingering remains of former reputation, 

 or from recent reports in their favor, or from their important relation 

 to medicines in general use, appear to have claims upon the attention 

 of the physician and apothecary." 



" In the description of each medicine, if derived immediately from 

 the animal, vegetable or mineral kingdom, the attention of the authors 

 has been directed to its natural history, the place of its growth or pro- 

 duction, the method of collecting and preparing it for market, its 



