ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A PHARMACOPOEIA. 
571 
4. Medicines having a claim to Recognition in the Pharmacopoeia. —With every 
new edition of the Pharmacopoeia the question must arise, what medicines are to be 
included in its descriptions ? Some persons seem to think that the Pharmacopoeia 
ought to contain a selection only of the best and most approved medicines, 
while others contend that all drugs and preparations established in use by legally- 
qualified medical men ought to be recognized in a national Pharmacopoeia. It 
may be inferred, from the general character of the complaints made when new 
editions of the Pharmacopoeia are brought out, that the latter opinion prevails 
over the former, and that it would be better and safer, with a view to popula- 
rity, to err on the side of a liberal introduction of established medicines rather 
than on that of too critically investigating the merits of suggested remedies with 
a tendency to their exclusion. The official publication of well-devised forms for 
the administration of medicines in common use cannot be otherwise than useful, 
tending, as it must tend, to maintain uniformity in the composition of medicines, 
and to enable medical men more correctly to trace effects to their true causes. 
There are many medicines now in use that are not at present included in the 
Pharmacopoeia, and men having the experience possessed by some of our mem¬ 
bers might contribute important information by showing the position of such in 
medical estimation, and the claims they have for official recognition. Nor is 
this the only sort of assistance that pharmaceutists are capable of rendering in 
preparing for the publication of a Pharmacopoeia. There is something to be 
done in suggesting improvements in the forms for the administration of medi¬ 
cines, for we surely have not attained to perfection in this respect. Are we 
always to be restricted to the old forms of greasy ointments, fat unctuous plasters, 
inelegant confections and boluses, unstable infusions and offensive liniments, or 
may we not look for improvements upon these and other forms of administra¬ 
tion ? I have heard the opinion expressed by some distinguished physicians, 
that the efficacy of medicines might be greatly increased, and their use extended, 
by giving them a less repulsive character,—in fact, by depriving them as much 
as possible of the qualities which in past ages characterized most pharmaceutical 
preparations. Much improvement has already been effected in this direction, 
but much still remains to be done. 
May we not look upon the use of medicines as bearing some analogy to the use 
food, as far as regards the relation of effects to forms of administration ? 
We know that the same amount of food may be made to produce very different 
effects according to the processes to which it has been subjected and the forms 
in which it is administered, and does not the same hold good with reference to 
medicines ? In therapeutics, as in dietetics, there is not only the choice of ma¬ 
terials, but there is a very important art to be exercised in giving to these 
materials the plastic condition upon which their efficacy greatly depends. In 
some respects, indeed, dietetics and therapeutics are closely allied, so that it 
would be difficult to say where the one ends and the other begins; but the art 
of preparing food has certainly been carried to a higher state of perfection than 
that of preparing medicines. How great is the influence often of the skilful 
exercise of the culinary art! Most efficient means are thus provided by which 
exhausted animal powers are restored, and new strength and vigour given where 
these have failed. In the study of the combinations by which these effects are 
produced, is there no instruction to be gained that may be turned to profitable 
account in the improvement of the art of pharmacy ? 
But if the improvements in the pharmaceutic art have not been all that we 
could wish, still some progress has been made, and some new forms for the ad¬ 
ministration of medicines have been introduced into practice, although not yet 
made officinal. Thus, we have the effervescent , and the granular , and the gra¬ 
nular effervescent forms, in which many medicines are now administered; but I 
cannot say in all cases with what amount of success or advantage as compared with 
