48 
possible advantage can accrue to any user of the book from the intro- 
duction of such an expression as CO.(OLi) 2 ? Many trained analysts 
will be obliged to look twice before recognizing lithium carbonate 
under this hodge-podge. The force of pedantry run mad could 
hardly go beyond 2(C 2 H 2 (0H) 2 (C0QK)C00Sbd)-|-H 2 0 for tartar 
emetic. It would be interesting to know under whose mismanage- 
ment these abstruse and useless formulas were introduced. — Ibid., 
v. 78, p. 80. 
3. NONPHARMACOPCEIAL STANDARDS. 
1. NATIONAL FORMULARY. 
Diehl, C. Lewis, discusses the object as well as the content of the 
Xational Formulary, the need for such a book, and the attitude to 
preparations with fanciful titles. He points out that while the 
real need for “ poly-pharmacal “ articles is debatable, it is certainly 
desirable to establish uniformity in formulas for all medicinal prepa- 
rations likely to be prescribed bv physicians, so that they may arrive 
at a definite knowledge of composition and a reasonable interpreta- 
tion of possible effect. He discusses the origin and the evolution of 
“ pharmaceutical proprietaries “ and points out that so long as a 
formula or process is not vested in private ownership by right of 
patent there can be no objection to the Committee on Xational Formu- 
lary developing or constructing formulas for any preparation whose 
use warrants the establishment of a generally accepted standard. — 
J. Am. M. Ass., 1906, v. 47, j)p. 1826-1828. 
Hallberg, C. S. X., discusses the practical value of the X. F. to the 
retail druggist, points out the reason for the book and the propriety 
and uses of the formulas that it contains. — Bull. Am. Pharm. Ass., 
1906, v. 1, p. 386. 
Wilbert, M. I., outlines the history of the X. F., the preliminary 
work in connection with which he traces to 1856, when a committee 
was appointed b}^ the American Pharmaceutical Association to com- 
pile unofficial formulas in use by physicians in several sections of the 
country. — Drug. Circ. & Chem. Gaz., X. Y., 1906, v. 50, p. 397. 
A review of the X. F. says : 
Mingled feelings of pleasure and regret come o’er us as we take up the new 
X. F. and turn its pages ; pleasure at realizing that tlie book is at last out and 
presents suck a neat and healthy appearance ; regret that there are still some 
druggists in the country so blind to their own interests as to make it appear 
desirable for the publishers of the formulary to take a step which puts the 
1906 edition of that book behind the editions of 1888 and 1S96 in so far as the 
matter of weights and measures is concerned. The new edition gives weights 
and measures in both the apothecary's and the metric system when “ parts ” 
are not employed, as in the formulas for the ointments. — Ibid., v. 50, p. 303. 
