-January 25, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
597 
Pharmacopoeia of 1867, as that was to the fourth 
American Pharmacopoeia. 
As our readers already know, the task of producing a 
pharmacopoeia in the United States is committed to de¬ 
legates appointed by the incorporated colleges of phar¬ 
macy as well as medicine. In the present case eighteen 
medical colleges, associations or universities each sent 
one, two or three delegates, while eight colleges of phar¬ 
macy contributed representatives, as seen in the follow¬ 
ing list:—Prom the Maryland College of Pharmacy, 
Messrs. Thompson, Faris Moore and Dohme ; from the 
St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Drs. Potter and Pruin, 
^nd Mr. Massott; from the Chicago College of Pharmacy, 
Messrs. Ebert, Biioth and Diehl; from the Massachu¬ 
setts College of Pharmacy, Messrs. Markoe and Colcord; 
from the New York College of Pharmacy, Messrs. liege¬ 
man, Neergaard and Bedford, Drs. Squibb and Manlius 
;Smith representing the medical interests; from the 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, Messrs. William 
Proctor, jun., J. M. Maisch and A. B. Taylor, 
Drs. G. B. Wood, Bridges, and Horatio C. Wood 
Being medical delegates; from the College of Phar¬ 
macy of Baldwin University, Drs. Clarke and 
Murray; and from the Pharmaceutical College ^ of 
Harvard University, Drs. Loomis and Purves. The 
Convention first met in May, 1870, under the Presidency 
of Dr. Joseph Carson; manuscript contributions in 
furtherance of revision were presented from four phar¬ 
maceutical and two medical colleges, the plan of revision 
discussed, and a Committee of Revision appointed, con¬ 
sisting of fifteen gentlemen, including such well-known 
names in pharmacy as Alfred B. Taylor, John M. Maisch, 
Robert Bridges, Manlius Smith, Albert E. Ebert, J. 
Paris Moore,"and G. F. H. Markoe. In June, 1870, the 
Committee commenced its labours, and, we are assured 
in the preface, continuously worked until the recent 
completion of the volume. Besides attending the meet¬ 
ings, individual members of the Committee seem to have 
given much time to personal experiment and research, 
and a recommendation is appended that reports con¬ 
tributed by pharmaceutical and medical bodies to. the 
Convention should in future he made full and explicit in 
•details, and to the Committee be left the task of verifying 
and testing rather than that of original investigation. 
Some such course is, no doubt, desirable, for although the 
expenses of the Committee are paid from the income of 
the copyright, much delay must occur when the neces¬ 
sary experimental work has to be done after instead of 
before the meeting of the Convention. Would not a per¬ 
manent paid small sub-committee best do such work 
during the intervals of issue of the pharmacopoeia F 
Among the resolutions adopted by the Convention for 
the guidance of the Revising Committee was one of quite 
n new character, and such as is likely to influence con¬ 
siderably the character of future pharmacopoeias : 
“ Resolved , that if, in the judgment of the Committee of 
Revision, it should become necessary before the meeting 
of the Convention of 1880 to revise its labours, it is 
hereby authorized to publish a new edition.” This 
course has, obviously, advantages and disadvantages. 
Hitherto the medical men and pharmacists of America 
Rave associated a new pharmacopoeia with a new decade. 
Having accomplished the not always pleasant, but in¬ 
evitable, task of mastering the novelties and changes of 
£l new pharmacopoeia, their minds have been at rest in 
respect of such matters for at least ten years, but under 
the present arrangement, omissions, additions or altera¬ 
tions of more or less importance are liable to be made at 
any time, resulting in the possible production of un¬ 
desirable variations in the practice of medicine and phar¬ 
macy. On the other hand, it is advantageous that addi¬ 
tions to the materia medica of a country should receive 
official recognition as soon as they have become generally 
accopted, and that in other ways a pharmacopoeia should 
follow not closely, but not too remotely, in the path of 
pharmaceutical progress. 
Another capital resolution of the Convention was to 
the effect that, in the revision of the official list and for¬ 
mulae, the wants of the medical profession in all parts of 
the United States should be considered in reference to 
local peculiarities in climate and population, and that for 
these reasons the scope of the work should be extended 
rather than abridged. Accordingly, twenty-seven ar¬ 
ticles have been added to the materia medica, while only 
five have been omitted. Again, eighty-two new prepa¬ 
rations have been included, and only seven dismissed. 
The action of the Committee in this matter foreshadows 
difficulties that would attend the production of a true 
Universal Pharmacopoeia—one that should meet the re¬ 
quirements of medical practitioners in all countries. 
“ Local peculiarities in climate and population would 
probably prevent the exclusion of more than a very few 
official articles, or the alteration in strength of compounds 
to any useful extent. Hence the volume would, become 
little more than a mere reprint of pharmacopoeias of all 
ages of their brief existence, and would probably not be 
worth translation from the Latin or other original into the 
vernacular. 
Among the additions to the materia medica are car¬ 
bolic acid, nitrate of ammonium, hypophosphites of cal¬ 
cium, of iron, of potassium and of sodium, Indian hemp, ox¬ 
alate of cerium, chloral, iodoform and Calabar bean. Also 
“ Cinchona. The bark of all species of the genus Cinchona, 
containing at least two per cent, of the proper cinchona al- 
xaloids, which yield crystallizable salts:” this is in addition 
;o Cinchona fiava, Cinchona pallida, and Cinchona rubra. The 
ive articles dismissed are neatsfoot oil, star grass, angelica, 
Indian turnip and cotton-root. The new preparations 
include the benzoate, bromide, and iodide of ammonium, 
digitalin, citrate of iron and strychnia, oxalate of iron; 
cantharides paper and mustard paper {charted) ; gly- 
cerites ( glycerita ) of carbolic acid, gallic acid, tannic 
acid, tar, and borax; various suppositories and j uices; 
and twenty-two new fluid extracts, in the manufacture 
of the majority of which glycerine is employed as well as 
alcohol, and the latter thus economized. 
Respecting weights and measures, the Convention re¬ 
solved that measures of capacity be abandoned in the 
Pharmacopoeia, and that quantities be expressed both 
in weights and in parts by weight. The Committee, 
however, objected that the execution of such directions 
entailed the use of a metrical system not employed in 
the United States or England, and that therefore, espe¬ 
cially as the plan was not anticipated in the revisions 
handed to the Committee, such an expenditure of time, 
labour and cost would be involved in applying the system 
to the whole ground covered by the Pharmacopoeia as 
to render the plan impracticable. 
Both measures and weights are therefore retained. 
The measures are derived, as heretofore, from the u ire 
gallon of eight pints, each pint containing sixteen fluid 
ounces, each fluid ounce eight fluid drachms, or nearly 
456 grains, and each fluid drachm sixty minims. 
The weights are derived from the troy pound of 
twelve ounces, each ounce containing eight drachms, 
each drachm three scruples, each scruple twenty 
grains. It is greatly to be regretted that theumty 
of character of the Pharmacopoeias of the United 
States and Great Britain, elsewhere strongly appa- 
■ent in this elegant addition to the pharmaceutical 
r< 
literature of these two English-speaking countries, 
could not be extended in some way by mutual conces¬ 
sions to the weights and measures. When will these 
o-reat peonies face the difficulties of application and 
accept the enormous advantages of the metric decimal 
system ? At present the relation of weights to mea¬ 
sures and of these to coins and numbers are, if pos¬ 
sible, more complicated in America than m this coun¬ 
try. Thus the pound contains 5760 grams or 6067 
minims; the ounce weight is equal to l*0od S.uia 
ounces or 505 minims, or 480 grams. (Mercifully t e 
grain, and only the grain, is the same weight on cither 
