PHARMACOPCEIA OF ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 329 
contra de plusieurs Absynthes, la terebinthine de la plupart 
des Pins, ainsi I'histoire mieux connue de la gomme adragant 
nous montre qu'on la tire de plusieurs astragales epineux: il 
en est de meme de la gomme arabique qui de-coule de plu- 
sieurs Acacias." In fact, what had the framers of the Pharma- 
copoeia to do with these disputed points ? That which they 
should have done, they have left undone; i. e., to furnish a 
complete list of drugs, with a description of the varieties 
which are proper to be kept in apothecaries' shops; thus, they 
mention aloes, sarsaparilla, opium, &c., without affording any 
clue to the kind which ought to be preferred, although it is 
notorious, that the varieties met wdth in commerce differ in 
a most remarkable degree. We have at present two specimens 
of sarsaparilla root before us, the one with a light brownish 
cuticle, rather thick, with a considerable layer of amylaceous 
substance between the epidermis and the woody centre. The 
other, with a cuticle of a much darker brown, a very thin, 
reddish layer placed between it and the central wood. The 
first produces an infusion similar to turbid beer; the latter, 
when infused, gives the water the clear, deep red of the best 
brown stout. Now which of them are we to employ? The 
College gives us no directions. The best Turkey opium 
usually yields twenty pounds of extract from twenty-eight 
pounds used. We have known dry Egyptian opium to give 
more than its own weight; but it is quite a matter of indiffer- 
ence to the College of Physicians. 
We find scammony, sometimes, as light and porous as a 
pummice stone; at others, dense, heavy, and dark coloured. 
The one is as good as the other, in the estimation of the 
Pharmacopoeia. Here are two varieties of senna leaf ; the 
one requires much more to be employed, in making an equally 
dark coloured decoction, than the other; whilst its smell is 
most nauseous and unpleasant, that of the other being aromatic 
and agreeable. We are left quite in the dark which of them 
to prefer. Now, when it is recollected that this is the very 
purpose for which a Pharmacopoeia is intended, this negligence 
is most reprehensible. We hope to see, in future Pharma- 
