Am/u°nue?i902frm'}        Descriptions  of  Cncde  Drugs.  271 
scientific  book,  one  that  the  present  and  also  future  generations 
of  pharmacists  may  point  to  with  pardonable  pride,  as  depicting  the 
sum  total  of  our  present  knowledge,  but,  what  is  also  to  be  desired, 
let  us  hope  that  the  committee  on  publication  sees  its  way  clear  to 
have  the  book  issued  in  such  shape  that  it  will  find  its  way  into 
every  shop  where  drugs  and  medicines  are  either  sold  or  prepared. 
Let  us  hope  that  they  will  issue  a  book  that  will  always  lay  open 
before  the  working  pharmacist  and  be  to  him  a  guide  and  a  refer- 
ence in  his  daily  work  ;  a  book  that  he  will  learn  to  cherish  on 
account  of  the  information  that  it  contains  ;  one  that  he  will  follow 
because  its  formulas  are  not  alone  simple  and  concise,  but  will, 
without  unnecessary  care,  give  preparations  that  compare  favorably 
in  appearance  and  efficiency  with  any  that  can  be  produced  by  the 
manufacturing  pharmacists.  In  short,  let  us  hope  that  the  present 
Revision  Committee  can  give  us  a  book  that  is  good  enough  and 
cheap  enough  to  appeal  to  the  physician  as  a  source  of  information, 
to  the  student  as  a  necessary  text-book,  and  to  the  apothecary  as  a 
manual  and  guide  in  his  everyday  work. 
THE  US.P.  DESCRIPTIONS  OF  CRUDE  DRUGS 
By  M.  I.  WiiyBERT. 
Apothecary  at  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
If  we  attempt  to  compare  the  crude  drugs,  of  vegetable  origin,  as 
they  are  found  in  the  pharmacies  of  to-day,  with  the  descriptions  of 
them  as  given  in  the  last  edition  of  the  U.S. P.,  we  will  find  that 
these  descriptions  do  not  describe  the  drugs  as  they  are  found  in 
the  ordinary  channels  of  trade. 
This  discrepancy  is  of  course  due  to  the  fact  that,  at  the  present 
time,  many  of  these  drugs  are  bought  and  sold  as  compressed  herbs, 
or  if  the  substances  are  to  be  used  in  the  making  of  galenical  prep, 
arations,  they  are  usually  bought  in  a  comminuted,  ground  or  pow- 
dered condition.  This  change  in  the  physical  characteristics  of 
these  various  vegetable  substances  would  appear  to  make  it  impera- 
tive that  the  coming  Pharmacopoeia  include  descriptions  and  tests 
by  means  of  which  these  drugs,  as  they  are  actually  found  on  the 
shelves  of  the  retail  pharmacist,  may  be  readily  recognized,  and 
any  probable  adulterations  or  sophistications  detected. 
For  this  particular  purpose  the  compound  microscope  offers  a 
