729 
NOTES ON THE BRITISH PHARMACOPEIA. 
mixture ; it reads more like the production of one under the influence of “ night¬ 
mare’’ than anything else. We have a preparation, in local use here under the 
name of tinct. sinapis comp., far more rational, consisting of 
Sem. Sinapis Nigr. 
Had. Armoracise 
Cort. Mezerei 
Spt. y. T. 
Is not the tincture of arnica prepared from flowers preferable, as an external 
application, to that prepared from root? My own practical experience says, yes. 
Root is ordered in the new Pharmacopoeia. 
Tincture of sumbul is a very desirable addition, and so would have been the 
ethereal tincture, had it been so fortunate as to gain admittance, the latter being 
by far the better preparation of the two. 
Fabse physostigmatis and their extract may be fairly suspected of having a 
“ friend at court.” They are doubtless very excellent remedial agents, but cer¬ 
tainly not yet sulficiently popular to claim a place in the Pharmacopoeia. 
The cataplasmata are so very rarely prescribed that one feels surprised to see 
them again ; however, they do no harm. 
One very curious fact is the absence of an aperient pill without aloes; surely, 
if only in charity to the very numerous hsemorrhoidal patients, something 
might have been devised, say, equal weights of ext. coloc. simpL, ext. jalapae 
(or ext. rhei), and ext. hyoscyami. 
Soda-water would have been better left to Schweppe or Webb, or other well- 
known makers. 
The most important changes are those of name and strength, and very for¬ 
tunately these are few in number. Of course our poor old friend calomel, and 
his elder brother, corrosive sublimate, have undergone another, and let us hope a 
final metamorphosis. Oh ! if Ovid had only lived in our day, there would here 
have been at least fifty more lines for him.! However, as subchloride and per- 
chloride of mercury are the really true names respectively of calomel and corrosive 
sublimate, every one will be pleased to see them so labelled. Dr. Odling, in his 
lectures on Animal Chemistry, delivered before the Royal College of Physi¬ 
cians, says, “ The formula for corrosive sublimate, HgC]2, in the old Pharma¬ 
copoeia, is right, while that in the British Pharmacopoeia (1864), HgCl, is in¬ 
disputably wrong. In the present state of knowledge, the matter no longer 
admits of any doubt.”* There is no other alteration of name which can pos¬ 
sibly lead to serious results. 
The principal alterations of strength are the solutions of morphia, now assimi¬ 
lated to the E. and D. formulse, viz. half a grain in a fluid drachm, or half 
the strength of P. L. Liq. arsen. hydrochlor. now has nearly three times the 
strength of P.L., and is made to contain an equal amount of arsenious acid to 
liq. arsenicalis. 
Tincture of aconite has now one-third the strength of P. L. 
Tincture of belladonna has now one-half the strength of P. L. 
Lin. opii has double quantity of tincture of opium. 
These, then, are the chief alterations, to be borne in mind both by physi¬ 
cians and dispensers ; they are certainly important and serious, but the immense 
advantage in having standard and uniform formulae throughout the kingdom, 
for such powerful remedies as these, far outweighs any little inconvenience that 
may at first arise from the change. 
Our sons will hardly believe, that so late as 1867, it was possible to have the 
same prescription dispensed in England and Scotland in two distinct ways,—in 
. * Lectures on Animal Chemistry, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, by W. 
Odling, M.B., F.E..S. Longman and Co., 18G6, 
VOL. VIII. 3 c 
