84  Progress  in  Pharmacy.  {ApebiSSyfi9£m" 
these  able  and  disinterested  workers  have  called  attention  to  many 
crude  as  well  as  refined  methods  of  contaminating  drugs  and  food- 
stuffs with  inert  and  sometimes  dangerous  materials.  One  of  the 
most  abominable  and  despicable  methods  of  adulterating  or  cheap- 
ening galenical  preparations  is  by  the  substitution  of  methyl  alcohol 
in  some  of  the  preparations  generally  sold  for  domestic  consumption. 
We  will  have  more  to  say  on  this  subject  later  under  the  title  of 
Methyl  Alcohol. 
Pharmacopoeias,  representing  as  they  do  the  sum  total  of  prog- 
ress or  research  available  to  the  respective  revision  committees,  or 
commissions,  are  always  objects  of  considerable  interest  to  the 
scientific  pharmacist ;  and  especially  is  this  true  of  us  at  the  present 
time,  for  we  are  all  more  or  less  interested  in  the  revision  and 
improvement  of  our  own  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  and  the 
scientific  or  practical  success  or  failure  of  other  pharmacopoeias 
may  indicate  subject-matter  to  adopt  or  avoid  in  our  own. 
Among  the  pharmacopoeias  more  directly  interesting  to  us  is  that 
of  the  other  half  of  the  English-speaking  world,  the  British  Pharma- 
copoeia. The  field  of  usefulness  for  this  work  has  been  extended 
by  the  republication  and  elaboration  of  the  Indian  and  Colonial 
Addendum.  This  may  be  considered  as  the  forerunner  of  the 
proposed  British  Empire  Pharmacopoeia.  This  addendum  includes 
122  titles:  fifty-three  of  vegetable  origin;  two  animal  (Hirudo  Aus- 
tralis  and  Mylabris);  one  chemical  (Pyrogallol),  and  sixty-five  galeni- 
cal preparations.  Articles  designed  for  a  particular  colony,  and  dif- 
fering from  the  same  class  or  kind  of  article  official  in  the  body  of  the 
pharmacopoeia,  are  only  to  be  used  in  the  colony  or  zone  for  which 
they  have  been  designed,  and  are  not  to  be  used  or  dispensed  in 
any  other  portion  of  the  empire  unless  especially  ordered. 
To  avoid  misunderstandings,  the  empire  has  been  divided  into 
seven  districts  or  zones:  (i)  India,  (2)  African  Colonies,  (3)  Aus- 
tralian Colonies,  (4)  Eastern  Colonies,  (5)  Mediterranean  Colonies, 
(6)  North  American  Colonies,  (7)  West  Indian  Colonies. 
"  The  Pharmacopedia,"  by  Edmund  White  and  John  Humphreys, 
is  a  commentary  on  the  British  Pharmacopoeia.  This  book  has 
been  ably  reviewed  in  the  January  (1902)  number  of  the  American 
Journal  of  Pharmacy,  and  deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice. 
Pharmacopoeias  of  all  lands  are  apt  to  be  rather  above  the  capacity 
and  abilities  of  the  average  pharmacist,  and  it  is  for  commentaries 
