2 
THE BRITISH PHARMACOPOEIA, 1867. 
was undertaken, are entitled to great credit for the very judicious manner in 
which they have removed the objections which prevented the adoption of the 
previous edition. This Committee was happily constituted ; indeed, a better 
selection of medical authorities for the purpose for which they were appointed 
could not have been made. Not only were the several branches of know¬ 
ledge involved in the production of a Pharmacopoeia ably represented, but 
impartiality with regard to national bias was well provided for by a judicious 
adjustment of English, Scotch, and Irish representatives. With such a Com¬ 
mittee to control and direct the work of reconstruction, the duties of the 
editors must have been rendered comparatively easy, and to the joint labours 
and united judgment of Committee and Editors must be ascribed whatever 
success may have been obtained. Very strong testimony has been borne to 
the fact, that the work has been carefully and well prepared, and that it is, 
on the whole, a decided success. The testimony to this effect, which has been 
given by the Medical Council, the Medical Journals, and members both of the 
Medical and Pharmaceutical professions, whose qualifications to judgeare above 
suspicion, stand unchallenged, as far as we know, by any adverse opinions. 
So favourable a judgment having been pronounced on the merits of the 
new Pharmacopoeia, it is very desirable that it should be placed in its right 
position with as little delay as possible, and that the hitherto existing causes 
of confusion and uncertainty, with reference to the composition of medicines, 
should be at once removed. It will still of course be necessary, in dispensing 
old prescriptions, to use preparations made according to the instructions 
authorized at the time the prescriptions were written; and it will also be the 
duty of the pharmaceutist in all cases, when instructed to that effect by the 
prescriber, to use other preparations than those made according to the legally 
authorized formulae. But w T hen nothing appears to the contrary, the rule 
should be invariably adopted, that prescriptions written after the 14th of June 
are to be dispensed according to the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867. 
It would ill become the pharmaceutist to dictate to medical men what or 
how they should prescribe, his duty being faithfully to carry out the inten¬ 
tions of the prescriber according to the best construction he can put upon the 
words of the prescription. The pharmaceutist may nevertheless greatly 
contribute to the general adoption of the new Pharmacopoeia by representing 
in the most simple manner the relations existing between the old and new 
preparations. We have seen some brief statements, emanating from phar¬ 
maceutical establishments, which have been printed and circulated among 
medical men, showing the comparative strength of preparations of the New 
British and of the London Pharmacopoeias. These statements are calculated 
to do much good, and we would strongly urge the desirableness of making 
them as brief and simple as possible, omitting all non-essential points. Me¬ 
dical men would thus see at a glance how few the instances are in which the 
preparations of the new Pharmacopoeia differ to any appreciable extent from 
the corresponding preparations of the London or either of the other phar¬ 
macopoeias from which the formula) may have been taken. It will be found 
that generally the differences are not greater than would probably have been 
made in bringing out a new edition of either of those pharmacopoeias. 
One of the objects aimed at in preparing the new Pharmacopoeia has ob¬ 
viously been to meet the requirements of all classes of prescribers, by pro¬ 
viding such a set of formula) as shall leave no excuse for referring to 
Pharmacopoeias which have been long ago superseded. Remedies which had 
been omitted in the Pharmacopoeia of 1864, and the omission of which caused 
so much dissatisfaction among medical men who had been accustomed to 
prescribe them, have been restored ; the strength and composition of some 
popular medicines, which had been so altered as materially to interfere with 
