March 8, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
705 
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SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1873. 
Communicationsfor this Journal, and books for review, etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
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Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, W. Envelopes indorsed u Fharm. Journ .” 
THE PROPOSED APPENDIX TO THE BRITISH 
PHARMACOPOEIA. 
Professor Uedwood’s remarks on the necessity 
for an Appendix to the British Pharmacopoeia were 
characterized by his usual sagacity, and they will 
doubtless be read with much interest. Therapeutical 
remedies are multiplying in such a ratio as to make 
the interval of ten years between successive editions 
of the Pharmacopoeia far too long for the scientific 
pretensions or practical usefulness of that work. 
Since the jmblication of the last issue numerous re¬ 
medial agents have been discovered or invented; 
their virtues tested and approved ; and their exist¬ 
ence made known throughout the medical and 
pharmaceutical professions by the various periodicals, 
English and foreign. Not only so ; but better modes 
of preparing drugs already in use are from time to 
time being suggested and adopted, to say nothing of 
alterations in the doses according to the varying 
types of disease and the practice of physicians. To 
insist on having a new edition of the Pharmacopoeia 
on every occasion when a useful accession has been 
made to its subject matter would, of course, be 
absurd. Even to abridge by a few 3 r ears the ten- 
year interval between successive editions, for the 
embodiment of new matter, would be attended by 
many [inconveniences. But the occasional issue of 
an appendix is open to no objection whatever; while 
the benefits it would confer on practitioner and 
paaraiacist alike are as great as they are incontest¬ 
able. 
We need not follow Professor Bed wood into his 
observations on the new preparations. In many cases 
their addition to the Pharmacopoeia requires no 
justification. In others, the disposition stare vias 
super antiquas may prompt resistance to innovation; 
and that conservatism which has its legitimate place 
in science as well as politics may evoke defenders of 
old usage even in the face of justice and convenience. 
All this may be looked for in the discussion which 
will take place on the Professor’s remarks at the 
next meeting, But no divergence of opinion pre¬ 
vails as to the necessity for supplementing the 
Pharmacopoeia from time to time, so as to make it 
a fair reflex of contemporary pharmacy. Nor should 
this be deferred till the admission of new drugs and 
new modes of preparation is forced into recognition. 
A vigilant look-out should be kept on the progress of 
pharmacy,'whether continental, transatlantic, or co¬ 
lonial. Every suggestion or well-founded criticism 
should be welcomed at head-quarters. Pharmacist 
and physician should be in constant and amicable 
communication for the common benefit of the work, 
until an amount of matter has been accumulated 
sufficient to justify the issue of a supplement or ap¬ 
pendix. 
“ Altcrius sic 
Altera poscit opem res et conjurat atnic6.” 
While no limit should be put to the number of co- 
operators in the work; while information or criti¬ 
cism should be courted from every good quarter ; it 
would be a mistake to spread the responsibility for 
the issue of an appendix, or of a new edition, over 
too great a body of men. The present Pharmaco¬ 
poeia Committee of the Medical Council is suffi¬ 
ciently, though not more than sufficiently, numerous; 
and the principle on which it has been composed— 
that of leaving the responsibility for the work in as 
few hands as is compatible with efficiency—will be 
endorsed by every candid and intelligent well-wisher 
to the cause of sound pharmacy and therapeutics. 
At the approaching meeting of the General Medical 
Council, the issue of a supplement to the Pharmaco¬ 
poeia will be discussed; and while it is difficult to 
suppose that the necessity for such an issue will not 
be admitted and practicalty recognized, there is no 
doubt that the Council will have been materially 
assisted towards such a conclusion by the able re¬ 
marks of Professor Redwood. 
THE SALE OF POISONS. 
When we referred to the proceedings of the White¬ 
haven chemists and druggists a fortnight since, as 
being calculated to ensure the sellers of vermin 
poison against those annoying and perhaps injurious 
expressions of censure which we have had so fre¬ 
quently to record as coming from magistrates, coro¬ 
ners and juries in cases of poisoning, we believed that 
the desirability of preventing the recurrence of such 
incidents would be sufficiently obvious to all who 
were engaged in dealing with these commodities, and 
that they would both understand as well as appreci¬ 
ate the idea that the action taken by our brethren at 
Whitehaven was commendable as a politic means of 
self-protection. But the letter of Mr. Tibbs, which 
will be found at page 710, shows that we were to 
some extent mistaken in this belief; and since there 
may be others who take the same view of the matter 
that he does, it will not be superfluous to state more 
specifically the grounds on which we base the views 
which have caused him so much surprise, and at the 
same time to point out some grave misconceptions 
under which our correspondent labours. 
First, then, r 4 let us repeat that in recommending 
