TIIE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
SECOND SERIES. 
VOL. IX.—No. I.—JULY, 1867. 
THE BRITISH PHARMACOPOEIA, 1867. 
The new British Pharmacopoeia, the distribution of which commenced in the 
early part of May, having now passed into the hands of most of our readers, 
it is desirable that there should be a general understanding with regard to its 
adoption in the dispensing of medicines. Strictly speaking, the publication 
of the work took place on the 14th of June, on which day it was advertised 
in the ‘ London Gazette and in accordance with the Acts of Parliament 
under which it is produced, it became from that day the only legal pharma¬ 
copoeia throughout Great Britain and Ireland. 
One of the duties assigned to the General Council of Medical Education 
and Registration by the Act known as the Medical Act of 1858, was that 
they should “ cause to be published under their direction a book containing 
a list of medicines and compounds, and the manner of preparing them, to¬ 
gether with the true weights and measures by which they are to be prepared 
and mixed, and containing such other matter and things relating thereto as 
the General Council shall see fit, to be called British Pharmacopoeia and 
by a subsequent special Act of Parliament it is enacted, that the British. 
Pharmacopoeia or any new or altered edition thereof, when published, shall, 
for all purposes, be deemed to be substituted throughout Great Britain and 
Ireland for the Pharmacopoeias previously in use, and “ any Act of Parlia¬ 
ment, Order in Council, or custom relating to any such last-mentioned Phar¬ 
macopoeias shall be deemed, after the publication of the British Pharmaco - 
poeia, to refer to such Pharmacopoeia.” 
Early intimation of the official publication of the Pharmacopoeia was given 
by letter addressed to every member of the Pharmaceutical Society by the 
President and Vice- President of the Society, who at the same time indicated 
the course which they recommended to be adopted in carrying out the inten¬ 
tions of the Medical Council and the provisions of the law. 
The importance of having, throughout the British Empire, one uniform 
standard and guide, whereby the nature and composition of substances to be 
used in medicine may be ascertained and determined, is admitted by every 
one acquainted with the subject, and especially by those who have experienced 
the evils resulting from a want of uniformity in this respect. The first 
attempt to establish such a standard having failed, a new source of incon¬ 
venience and danger arose from that cause, in the existence of a work which 
legally superseded those previously in use, but which was not practically 
adopted as an approved substitute. Hence the evils previously existing be¬ 
came augmented instead of being removed, and it was more than ever neces¬ 
sary, in the interests of medicine and of those concerned in its administration, 
that a new effort should be made to accomplish what was so much required. 
The result of this effort—the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867—has thus far 
been received with much favour, and there is every prospect of its accomplish¬ 
ing the desired object. The Committee, by whom the task of its production 
VOL. IX. B 
