NOMENCLATURE,  ETC.,  IN  THE  MATERIA  MEDICA,  U.  S.  P.  519 
ON  THE  NOMENCLATURE  AND  SOME  DEFINITIONS  IN 
THE  MATERIA  MKDICA  LIST  U.S. P. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
If  we  compare  our  present  Pharmacopoeia  with  former  editions 
of  the  same  work,  it  is  gratifying  to  notice  the  evident  progress 
as  manifested  in  the  processes  of  the  numerous  pharmacial  and 
chemical  preparations.  The  list  of  materia  medica,  as  far  as  the 
vegetable  products  are  concerned,  is  a  well  selected  enumeration 
of  those  in  general  use  in  this  country,  and  comprises  also  such 
indigenous  drugs  as  are  used  in  some  localities  or  deserve  the 
notice  and  investigation  of  the  physician  and  pharmacist.  • 
The  nomenclature  adopted  in  our  Pharmacopoeia  is  the  same 
which  had  been  used  by  the  three  Pharmacopoeias  formerly  in 
use  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ;  the  generic  or,  in  a  few  in- 
stances, the  specific  botanical  name  is  given,  and  this  is  then  ex- 
plained to  mean  a  certain  part  of  the  plant.  In  those  cases 
where  our  Pharmacopoeia  recognizes  as  officinal  two  different 
parts  of  the  same  plant,  the  name  thereof  is  usually  given,  and 
this  is  preceded  by  the  botanical  name  in  the  genitive  case.  The 
officinal  names  are  arranged  in  alphabetical  order,  and  consequent- 
ly articles  which,  at  least  as  far  as  their  pharmacognostical  rela- 
tions are  concerned,  ought  to  be  in  close  juxtaposition,  may  be 
widely  separated  from  each  other,  as  for  instance  Krameria  and 
Ilubus,Cimicifuga  and  Helleboros,  Buchu  and  Uva  ursi,  Hyoscya- 
mus  and  Stramonium,  Prunus  Virginiana  and  Sassafras,  Anthe- 
mis  and  Matricaria,  &c. ;  on  the  other  hand,  drugs  which  have  no 
external  resemblance  are  placed  side  by  side  merely  because  they 
are  received  from,  the  same  plant,  as  the  roots  and  leaves  of 
aconite  and  belladonna,  the  leaves  and  seed  of  stramonium,  &c. 
Aside  from  this  consideration,  such  a  system  universally 
adopted,  would  be  productive  of  mistakes,  frequently  very 
serious,  if  a  prescription  written  in  one  country  would  be  put  up 
in  another,  as  is  now  so  frequently  the  case  with  the  increased 
facilities  of  travel.  Aconitum  may  mean  the  leaves  in  one 
country,  while  in  another  the  tubers  only  are  recognized  as 
officinal.  Conium  may  stand  for  the  fruit  in  one  place,  while 
another  might  have  the  herb  officinal  under  the  same  name  ;  stra- 
monium might  be  the  term  for  the  seeds  or  the  leaves  in  two 
adjoining  cotmtries. 
