EDITORIAL. 
297 
Trochisct.— Lozenges of Bicarbonate of Soda have been Introduced. 
Unguenta. — The manipulation in the process for Citrine ointment has 
been modified for the better. Stramonium ointment is now made from the 
extract. In making Iodine ointment, a little iodide of potassium is directed, 
which enables the apothecary to dispense it of a perfectly uniform consist- 
ence, without the presence of particles of undissolved iodine. 
Zincum. — The direction for purifying acetate of zinc has been improved 
by substituting the moist carbonate of zinc for chlorinated lime. And a 
formula has been given for Precipitated Carbonate of Zinc, which prepara- 
tion is used in making the oxide of zinc, and as a substitute for calamine. 
Whatever may be the opinions of pharmaceutists regarding particular 
items, we believe all will agree that as a whole the work embodies a fair 
representation of the more important improvements in Pharmacy as it now 
exists. We cannot leave the subject without recording our opinion in favor 
of a cheap duodecimo edition of the Pharmacopoeia, so that every apothecary, 
physician and medical student, can have a copy, and become familiar with 
the work. A large majority of physicians and apothecaries in this country 
know nothing of our Pharmacopoeia except as they learn it through the 
dispensatories, where it is so mixed up with the British Pharmacopoeias 
as to frequently confuse both physician and apothecary ; and whilst we 
unhesitatingly express the opinion that the United States Dispensatory is 
the most practically useful work of the kind in the English language, we 
would be glad to see our National Pharmacopoeia published with a special 
commentary, explanatory of hundreds of points of interest, which, owing to 
the dogmatical form of such works, are left unexplained. 
The Physician's Prescription Booh: containing a list of terms, phrases, contrac- 
tions, and abbreviations used in prescriptions, with explanatory notes; also 
the grammatical construction of prescriptions, etc. etc. To which is added 
a hey containing the prescriptions in an unabbreviated form, with a literal 
translation intended for the use of medical and pharmaceutical students. 
First American, from the tenth London Edition. Philadelphia, Lindsay & 
Blakiston. 1851. pp. 288. Duodecimo. 
We are glad to see this little volume. Although intended chiefly for the 
medical practitioner and student, it will be found oftentimes exceedingly 
convenient and useful by the apothecary. A large majority of the apothe- 
caries of this country have but a slight acquaintance with the Latin language, 
and those who have acquired some familiarity with it, as taught in school, 
are at fault among the terms and abbreviations peculiar to medicine. 
Most American physicians have abandoned the habit of clothing 
their prescriptions in a Latin garb, except so far as the Materia Medi- 
ca is concerned, and were it not for a few, whose love of the ancients in-„ 
duces them to affect a classical medium of communication with the apoth- 
cary, together with those foreign physicians who have settled among ug, 
and whose common habit has been to use the Latin tongue, we might almost 
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