730 
NOTES ON THE BRITISH PHAEMACOPCEIA. 
one case, e.g. liq. morphige, twice the strength of the other, and this, too, in a 
very powerful remedy. 
On the whole, the present Pharmacopoeia of 1867 must be considered as 
an immense improvement upon all that has gone before, and will doubtless be¬ 
come the text-book for many years to come. Professor Redwood and Mr. 
Warington may well feel proud of their offspring, for it is undoubtedly the 
most rational and practical production we, in Britain at any rate, have had 
the good fortune to be possessed of, since Pharmacopoeias were first compiled, 
and nothing now remains but to set to work, and as soon as possible make 
ourselves thoroughly at home with it; and the sooner physicians fall in with 
it the better for all. 
To our local physicians we have proposed the first of June as the date 
after which all prescriptions will be dispensed according to this Pharmaco¬ 
poeia, unless especially stated to the contrary. 
Edward Smith. 
8, The Strand, Torquay, May 15, 1867. 
NOTES ON THE NEW EDITION OE THE BRITISH PHARMA- 
COPCEIA. 
BY B. S. PROCTOR. 
There are so many little points of detail which go to make up the total of any 
important work that it is scarcely possible to have all duly considered and at¬ 
tended to till it has been repeatedly criticized from all points of view, and re¬ 
peated efforts made to remedy such defects as a course of practical experience 
renders evident. In justice to the editqrs of the New British Pharmacopoeia, 
. it must be admitted that no undertaking requires more care and circumspection 
than that which they have now brought to so favourable an issue. While the 
work is under the scrutiny of a thousand critical eyes, I think it desirable to 
draw the attention of my pharmaceutical brethren to a series of questions 
which arose in ray mind as I looked over the proof copy some weeks ago. The 
same questions, together with some others (which it is unnecessary to repeat, as 
they have met with a practical answer in the corrected copy now before us), 
were submitted to the committee of publication during the final revision of their 
work. At that time it was perhaps thought too late to make changes for which 
there was not an urgent necessity, and too late also for those which involved 
any deliberate consideration. But if there is anything like uniformity of 
opinion upon points which involve no more serious consideration than the con¬ 
venience of pharmaceutists and a uniformity between law and custom, or be¬ 
tween domestic and professional remedies, these points will doubtless receive at¬ 
tention at a future time. 
Confect. SenncB .—There is an ambiguity in the direction for the use of 
tamarind and cassia pulp. Tamarind is defined to be “ pulp of the fruit,” but 
among its characters it is stated to contain fibres and seeds. When nine ounces 
of tamarind are ordered in the formula, is it to be nine ounces of pulp or nine 
ounces pulp, seeds, and fibres ? The same may be asked regarding cassia pulp, 
which they say “ usually contains the seeds and dissepiments,” but they appar¬ 
ently leave it to the choice of the pharmaceutist to weigh the nine ounces with 
or without these impurities. 
Decocta .—Decoctions should in all cases have a definite time to boil, and a 
definite quantity to be produced. The time is not definite in dec. granati. The • 
product is not definite in dec. hordei. 
