328 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
the decoctions there is nothing, as a rule, to fix them in the memory, and when 
the proportion of ingredient employed in any decoction is asked for of a candi¬ 
date, it is clearly and absolutely an affair of memory, and he has to ask himself 
whether the proportions for that decoction are given for a twenty- or sixteen- 
ounce pint. This would certainly be rendered easier by making the proportions 
in every case for the imperial measure. 
This is not too much to ask on behalf of these candidates, when the number 
of subjects upon which they have to be examined, in a short time in one day, is 
taken into consideration ; and it is not to be w'ondered at if memory sometimes 
fail, and that which tripped so glibly off the tongue wTien questioned by a 
fellow-student, should be lost at the moment of trial. In attempting an im¬ 
provement in one direction, assistance may be given in another, and where it is 
not too much to say it is frequently needed. 
Having pointed out what to me appears a defect in the arrangement of the quan¬ 
tities prepared, and the time employed, I vrould now add some further remarks 
suggestive of improvement in a few of the decoctions. Without enumerating 
them separately, it may not be out of place to record the fact that no less than 
thirteen decoctions of the London, three of the Edinburgh, and six of the Dub¬ 
lin have been left out of the British Pharmacopoeia; three of them, namely, 
dulcamara, senega, and uva ursi, being transformed into infusions. I am not 
able myself to discover the advantages of this alteration, on the contrary, they 
take a longer time to prepare, which is often a serious inconvenience, and are 
no better for it; indeed, the uva ursi is, I think, less valuable, and for this 
reason,—in making the infusion, the leaves are not ordered to be 'bruised^ and 
in the decoction they were ; with the unbruised leaves a brighter preparation is 
produced, but, I feel convinced, a less active one. Let any one prepare the 
two, then compare and taste them, and there will be no hesitation in deciding 
between them. Uva ursi has been found useful in catarrh of the bladder, etc., 
its efficacy depending more upon its astringent property than its bitter, and by 
bruising the leaves, whether an infusion or decoction be made, more of that 
principle is obtained ; in the infusion of bucco, a remedy sometimes given in 
conjunction wdth the uva ursi, the leaves are ordered to be bruised. I cannot 
resist this opportunity of drawing attention to the alteration of decoctuin 
scoparii comp, to decoctum scoparii, the juniper berries and taraxacum root of 
the London Pharmacopoeia and the juniper tops and bitartrate of potash of the 
Edinburgh being left out; perhaps there was difficulty in choosing between 
taraxacum root and cream of tartai/, and juniper berries and tops, but I think 
it Avas a difficulty that might have been overcome if the ingredients Avere worth 
anything as remedies; for my part, I believe in the diuretic properties, at least, 
of all of them, and the combination 1 consider more grateful and palatable than 
the simple decoction ; besides, if the compound decoction be a superfluity, the 
simple, assuredly, seems so to be, as there is introduced, as a novelty, the succus 
scoparii, the purest form of preparation, ready to supply the place of a simple 
decoction. Perhaps I am making too free with the Pharmacopoeia, but, at any 
rate, it is a harmless species of freedom, and one to Avhich all pharmaceutists 
have to a degree been invited. 
In the two decoctions of sarsa, both simple and compound, more water and 
time for digestion might be resorted to AA’ith adA^antage; but both these pre¬ 
parations could be, and, I am inclined to think, A^ery generally are, superseded 
by the liquid extracts. The Pharmacopoeia provides a form for the simple fluid 
extract, and, if Avell and carefully prepared, it is a more reliable preparation 
than the decoction ; nevertheless, the decoction has this adA^antage, that it is 
AAuthin the means of every one to prepare his own, and thus ensure its genuine¬ 
ness, whereas the liquid extract, to be made to advantage, requires appurte¬ 
nances, not perhaps equally Avithin the reach of all. I should like to see the 
