346  The  Pharmacopoeia  of  Switzerland.     { Am7u0iJ'-1Sgfrm- 
to  the  singular.  Thus  we  have  flos,  folium,  semen  and  tuber.  Con- 
siderable care  has  been  exercised  to  differentiate  the  parts  of  plants 
more  accurately,  so  that  drugs  consisting  largely  or  entirely  of 
rhizomes  are  classed  as  such  and  not  as  roots. 
The  descriptions  of  crude  drugs  are,  as  a  rule,  exhaustive,  and 
include  not  alone  a  minute  description  of  the  botanical  characteristics, 
but  frequently  also  chemical  tests  and  microscopic  details. 
The  title  of  the  more  important,  or  potent  drugs  is  followed  by 
the  international  titles  as  synonyms,  and  then  the  official  German, 
French  and  Italian  titles,  in  the  order  given. 
The  monographs  usually  include  an  enumeration  of  the  source  or 
origin  of  the  drug,  the  botanical  description,  a  microscopical  descrip- 
tion and  an  enumeration  of  the  cells  or  cell  contents  that  are  indica- 
tive of  adulteration,  chemical  tests  for  identity,  assay  process  when 
adopted,  the  limit  of  ash  content,  and  an  enumeration  of  the  physi- 
cal properties,  such  as  taste  and  smell.  With  many  drugs  this 
description  is  further  augmented  by  directions  for  keeping,  an 
enumeration  of  the  maximum  daily  and  single  dose,  and  this  in  turn 
is  followed  by  a  list  of  the  official  preparations  that  are  made  from 
the  drug. 
Assay  processes  have  been  included  for  such  drugs  as:  Aconite, 
belladonna  leaf,  belladonna  root,  cantharides,  cinchona,  coca,  hyos- 
cyamus,  hydrastis,  guarana,  ipecac,  gelsemium,  kola,  nux  vomica, 
sabadilla,  stramonium  and  veratrum. 
For  a  number  of  other  drugs,  such  as  aloes,  frangula,  digitalis  and 
strophanthus,  qualitative  chemical  tests  have  been  included.  The 
drugs  of  animal  origin  have  been  augmented  by  vaccine  virus,  a 
general  description  of  serums,  and  specific  descriptions  of  antidiph- 
theritic  and  antitetanic  serums.  The  glandular  structures  of  the 
animal  organism,  and  the  many  derivatives  that  have  been  intro- 
duced do  not  appear  to  have  been  thought  of  sufficient  importance 
to  warrant  their  being  included  at  this  time. 
The  formula  and  directions  for  the  several  galenical  preparations, 
particularly  the  liquid  preparations,  are  usually  augmented  by  briefly 
stated  standards  for  color,  taste,  density  and  general  appearance- 
Not  infrequently  qualitative  and  at  times  quantitative  chemical  tests 
serve  to  further  complete  the  description. 
The  general  scarcity  of  complex  galenical  preparations  is  one  of 
the  features  that  must  be  particularly  gratifying  to  the  scientifically 
