NOTES ON THE PHARMACOPOEIA. 
521 
spirit of wine. Then pour in the water, and agitate until a homogeneous muci¬ 
lage is obtained.* 
Otto vice Essential Oil. —There is one change in nomenclature I would 
like to suggest. The terms oleum and oil are applied indiscriminately to fixed 
and volatile oils. Now these fluids possess few characters in common, except 
that neither are soluble in water, but the same may be said, in common parlance, 
of chalk and cheese. In several of the Continental Pharmacopoeias eelheroleum 
is used to designate volatile oils, but it is not a very euphonious term. Mr. 
Piesse, in his 1 Art of Perfumery’ suggests, with some show of reason, that the 
term otto should be made generic for these oils, instead of being applied exclu¬ 
sively to otto of rose. We would thus have otto lavandulce and otto of lavender , 
in place of oleum lavanelulce and oil of lavender. There ought to be some dis¬ 
tinction made between a fixed and a volatile oil, as in some cases confusion is 
likely to be created. To give an instance, a pharmacist might have to dispense 
a prescription for an ointment, in which olei amygdalce q. s. was ordered. The 
question would naturally arise in his mind, is it intended to perfume it, or to 
enable me to mix some dry powder more thoroughly with the basis of the oint¬ 
ment ? I scarcely expect such a radical alteration in nomenclature to be adopted, 
but throw out the idea for your consideration. 
I agree with Dr. Redwood, that we must try to follow “ the spirit of the in¬ 
structions in the Pharmacopoeia,” but in some instances the language is so autho¬ 
ritative, that it is impossible to be both loyal and practical. I allude more par¬ 
ticularly to the mode directed for making the ordinary tinctures. How many 
pharmacists are always loyal in making these ? I grant there is a difficulty in 
giving directions for their preparation, which will yield them always uniform, 
and, as many of them are very active medicinal agents, there should be as little 
variation in their strength as possible. I like percolation pure and simple, but 
it is percolation of my own kind. 
The tendency of modern therapeutics is to rely on the action of definite reme¬ 
dies and simple preparations, rather than on complex mixtures, and in this di¬ 
rection there is still room for improvement. For what purpose is such an ex¬ 
pensive colouring-agent as saffron still retained in many formulae? It should 
be remembered that it is suffering humanity the medicines are intended to cure 
or relieve—not to act as placebos merely. They are for the poor as well as for 
the rich, and the Pharmacopoeia should be national in every sense of the word, 
so that the dispensary and hospital could be just as loyal to it as the West-end 
chemist. 
University College Hospital, February 2nd, 1870. 
Mr. Williams said that in the course of his experience he had had samples 
of solution of atropia in sulphuric acid returned, which had been declared to 
give great pain when applied to the eyes. He thought the use of sulphate of 
atropia preferable, for when a solution was made in that way there was less 
pain in using it than when atropia was dissolved in sulphuric acid. 
Mr. Martindale remarked that he always got his solution by aid of sulphuric 
acid perfectly neutral. 
Mr. Haselden hoped he might be excused if he referred to a part of the 
* This mucilage on account of its greater viscosity would suspend the chalk in mistura 
cretce much better than mucilage of gum arabic, but gum arabic may have a therapeutic action 
in the mixture which the other would not. 
Should it be thought that a dispenser, according to the strict letter of the Pharmacopoeia as 
it now stands, would not be justified in making the above addition of spirit, any spirit or tinc¬ 
ture which might be prescribed along with the mucilage in a mixture, will answer the purpose, 
even if it be a proof spirit tincture, provided this be put into the bottle first, and the powdered 
gum added and thoroughly diffused through it before the addition of water. 
VOL. XI. 2 M 
