Am'juiy?i908arm'}     The  Pharmacopoeia  of  Switzerland.  345 
melting  point,  boiling  point,  solubility  and  ash  content  of  substances. 
Also  detailed  descriptions  of  maceration,  percolation  and  steriliza- 
tion. 
Altogether,  these  general  directions  include  twenty-eight  headings 
and  contribute  much  to  the  avoidance  of  unnecessary  repetition  of 
details  in  connection  with  the  several  monographs  in  the  body  of 
the  book. 
The  descriptions  of  chemical  substances  are  terse,  direct  and 
readily  understood.  All  of  the  descriptions  are  systematically 
arranged,  and  include,  as  headings,  the  Latin  title,  followed  by  the 
official  German,  French  and  Italian  titles.  The  descriptions  them- 
selves include  an  enumeration  of  the  physical  properties  and  a 
number  of  qualitative  tests.  These  are  followed  by  tests  for  purity, 
the  limit  of  contamination  and  an  enumeration  of  the  minimum  per 
cent,  of  chemically  pure  substance  that  is  indicated  by  the  com- 
pliance with  the  several  tests. 
Whenever  necessary,  this  description  is  further  augmented  by 
directions  for  keeping  and  an  enumeration  of  the  maximum  single 
and  daily  dose. 
Wherever  the  composition  or  the  physical  properties  of  a  chem- 
ical substance  depend  on  the  method  of  preparation,  a  formula  and 
the  directions  for  making  the  substance  have  also  been  included. 
Thus  the  Swiss  Pharmacopoeia  contains  formulae  and  directions  for 
the  several  subsalts  of  bismuth,  many  of  the  salts  of  mercury  and 
also  a  number  of  the  preparations  of  iron. 
The  recognition  of  patented  articles  presents  difficulties  that  are 
not  readily  met  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  and  this  new  Swiss  Phar- 
macopoeia offers  nothing  new  in  this  respect.  All  of  the  older 
synthetics,  such  as  salol,  phenacetin  and  sulphonal,  are  admitted 
under  Latinized  titles  of  the  well-known  trade  names  ;  the  newer  pro- 
ducts, however,  products  that  are  still  protected  by  patent  or  trade 
rights,  have  been  included  under  their  chemical  names,  with  the 
trade  names,  as  synonyms,  enumerated  in  the  index. 
While  such  names  as  acidum  acetylsalicylicum  (Aspirin)  and  aci- 
dum  diaethylbarbituricum  (Veronal)  may  be  practical,  it  is  indeed 
doubtful  if  any  appreciable  number  of  medical  men  would  take  kindly 
to  trimethylbenzoxypiperidinum  hydrochloricum  (Eucaine). 
The  descriptions  of  the  crude  drugs  are  collected  and  classified 
under  the  parts  of  plants  represented,  with  the  prefix  itself  restricted 
