344  The  Pharmacopoeia  of  Switzerland.    { Am  jJu°iy*i£08arm' 
The  book  comprises  a  total  of  672  pages,  34  of  which  are  devoted 
to  the  introductory  chapters  and  517  to  the  description  of  the  853 
officially  recognized  articles.  Compared  with  the  previous  third 
edition,  we  find  that  151  articles  have  been  added,  while  no  less 
than  95  have  been  discontinued,  leaving  a  net  gain  of  56. 
Simple  figures,  however,  give  but  an  inadequate  indication  of  the 
amount  of  work  that  was  involved  in  the  revision  of  this  book,  par- 
ticularly in  view  of  the  fact  that  every  monograph  in  the  Pharma- 
copoeia was  rewritten  and  elaborated  on  for  this  particular  edition. 
The  provisions  of  the  International  Conference  for  the  Unification 
of  Formulae  for  Potent  Medicaments  have  been  included  in  their 
entirety,  as  a  portion  of  the  introductory  chapter,  and,  in  the  body 
of  the  book,  the  names  included  in  the  protocol  are  invariably  given 
as  synonyms  of  the  official  title,  followed  by  the  designation  (P.  I.) 
Prescription  or  Protocol  International. 
The  general  adoption  that  has  been  accorded  to  the  provisions  of 
the  Brussels  Conference  must  be  a  matter  of  considerable  satisfac- 
tion to  the  men  who  took  part  in  that  conference.  Commencing 
with  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States,  which,  it  has  been 
estimated,  complies  with  but  27  per  cent,  of  the  requirements,  prac- 
tically all  of  the  other  pharmacopoeias  published  by  countries 
represented  in  the  Brussels  Conference  include  the  greater  number, 
if  not  all,  of  the  provisions  recommended  in  the  Protocol.  The 
pharmacopoeias  so  far  published  include  the  Spanish,  Belgian,  Dutch, 
Austrian,  Danish  and  Swiss.  The  introductory  chapter  of  the  Swiss 
Pharmacopoeia  contains  a  rather  interesting  definition  for  medicines, 
as  follows : 
U  Medicaments — medicinal  substances  are  substances  or  mixtures 
that  are  used  for  the  prevention  or  removal  of  abnormal  conditions 
or  processes  in  the  human  or  animal  organism,  or  for  the  ameliora- 
tion of  disturbing,  disagreeable  or  dangerous  manifestations." 
This  definition  is  then  further  elaborated  into  forms  of  medicines 
and  their  method  of  application  or  use. 
A  chapter  on  "General  Directions"  includes  definitions  for  and 
descriptions  of  a  number  of  terms,  processes  and  methods  not  de- 
scribed in  detail  in  connection  with  the  several  monographs  in  the 
book  itself.  Thus  we  find  a  general  definition  for  what  is  meant 
by  warm  or  hot  water  and  by  ordinary  or  medium  temperature. 
We  also  find  directions  for  the  determination  of  the  specific  gravity, 
