268  United  States  Pharmacopoeia.  {AmjTu0ne?i9oh2arm 
this  attempt  at  popularizing  the  Pharmacopoeia.  Among  other 
things  he  induced  the  publishers  to  materially  reduce  their  expected 
profits,  and  this,  with  the  reduction  in  the  size  of  the  book,  enabled 
the  publishers  to  offer  it  for  sale  at  the  remarkably  low  price  of  one 
dollar  a  copy.  While  actual  figures  are  not  obtainable,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  this  and  the  one  immediately  succeeding  were  the 
two  most  popular  and  most  widely  used  of  any  of  the  editions  of 
the  United  States  Pharmacopoeias. 
The  edition  of  iSyo  retained  many  of  the  features  of  the  fourth 
decennial  revision,  and  despite  the  fact  that  the  price  was  materially 
increased  it  still  remained  a  popular  book.  This  popularity  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  for  years  after  it  had  gone  out  of  date 
it  was  still  on  sale  through  the  usual  channels,  and  even  to-day  it 
may  be  found  on  the  shelves  of  many  pharmacies  among  the  books 
that  are  consulted  and  used  in  the  everyday  work  of  the  dispensing 
counter  or  laboratory. 
The  revolution  that  was  wrought  in  the  make-up  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia by  the  Revision  Committee  for  1880  is  of  comparatively 
modern  date.  This  was  really  the  first  book  that  made  any  preten- 
tions to  be  in  line  with  advanced  work  and  ideas.  The  old  classifi- 
cation into  a  primary  and  secondary  list  of  materia  medica,  and  a 
separate  list  for  preparations,  was  abandoned,  and  in  its  place  we 
find  an  alphabetical  arrangement  of  all  drugs  and  preparations. 
While  many  of  the  old  and  practically  useless  drugs  had  been 
dropped,  there  still  remained  a  goodly  number  of  little  used  or 
obsolete  drugs.  Many  of  you  will  remember  how  the  majority  of 
the  reviewers  of  the  day,  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the  late  and 
much  lamented  Dr.  E.  R.  Squibb,  called  attention  to  the  unpopular- 
ity of  the  first  or  opening  title  in  the  book,  Absinthium.  This  bookr 
however,  had  many  excellent  features,  and  we  can  here  call  atten- 
tion to  but  a  few  of  them. 
The  descriptions  of  the  crude  drugs  were  elaborated  so  as  to 
include  structural  peculiarities  that  could  be  made  out  with  a  pocket 
lens  having  a  magnifying  power  of  ten  diameters.  All  of  the  chem- 
icals had  tests  for  their  identity  or  purity  added,  and  many  of  them 
had  added  volumetric  estimations  of  allowable  impurities.  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  reliable  assay  processes  were  given  for  at  least  two  of 
the  alkaloidal  drugs. 
The  exclusive  use  of  the  apothecaries'  system  of  weights  and 
