82     Microscopic  Examination  of  Vegetable  Drugs.    { A™ebruarVTf m?' 
(3)  What  the  next  Committee  of  Revision  will  probably  do,  and 
why. 
I.     FOREIGN  PHARMACOPOEIAS. 
The  fourth  edition  of  the  German  Pharmacopoeia  appeared  in 
1900.  In  the  preface  it  is  stated  (page  xv)  that  for  practical  reasons 
the  description  of  crude  drugs  has  been  considerably  changed,  the 
thought  being  that  as  the  majority  of  the  drugs  used  to-day  by  the 
apothecary  are  in  a  comminuted  or  powdered  condition,  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  more  important  drugs  should  be  enlarged  and  histologi- 
cal characters  introduced.  From  a  half  to  two-thirds  of  a  page  is 
usually  given  to  the  definition  and  description.  There  is  no  separa- 
tion into  paragraphs  of  the  definition,  and  the  macroscopic  and 
microscopic  descriptions.  Apparently,  it  was  thought  that  the 
histological  characters  should  be  taken  into  account  not  only  in  the 
examination  of  powdered  drugs,  but  also  in  the  examination  of 
comminuted  drugs  where  it  would  be  necessary  to  make  sections, 
as  well  as  of  crude  drugs  where  a  microscopic  examination  in  many 
instances  would  help  very  considerably. 
As  showing  the  idea  of  the  revisers  of  the  German  Pharma- 
copoeia we  may  select  the  description  of  ipecac,  omitting  the  method 
of  alkaloidal  assay. 
Radix  Ipecacuanhae— 33re$touraeL 
S)te  getrocfnete,  tierbicfte  SJBurgel  von  Uragoga  Ipecacuanha. 
2)ie  3Bur§eI  ift  Ijfidjft-enS  5  mm  bid  unb  burdj  2Bulfte  ber  ctufsen 
bunfelgrctubrctunen  9tinbe  geringeft,  iDeldje  fie  tnefjr  ober  tueniger 
toeit  umfaffen.  SDic  innett  roetjtfidje  Slinbe  ift  rjon  einer  braunen 
$orffd)id)t  bebecEt  unb  beftefyt,  attfjer  ben  ©iebrbfjren,  nur  cms 
^arendjpt^etten,  toelcfye  tneift  gufammengefe^te  ©tarfeforner  unb 
Siinbel  von  nabelforntigen  Dsalatfrrjftallen  entljalten. 
2E)a3  fjarte,  tjetfgelbe  §o!g  befteljt  allein  au3  ben  in  ber  Sangs^ 
rtd)tung  ber  2Bur§eI  gefirecften,  bidftoanbigen,  t>erfjoI$ten  @rfa^ 
fafern,  mit  f$rag  geftellten,  fpaltenformigen  SCitpfeln  unb  au3 
S£rad)een,  beren  ©lieber  ben  ©rfa^fafern  af)nlic£),  jebod)  befjoft 
getlipfelt  unb  tneift  burd)  runbe,  feitlid)  unb  ben  Snben  genct^ert 
liegenbe  Soaker  uerbunben  finb. 
