140 
A  Symposium. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(.      March,  1904. 
science,  however,  has  made  specialization  necessary ;  and  the  older 
generic  names  have  been  applied  to  these  specialties.  This  special- 
ization did  not  always  occur  along  the  same  lines  of  cleavage  ;  and 
the  use  of  the  terms  has  accordingly  been  rather  loose.  This  con- 
fusion was  enhanced  by  the  original  similarity  of  meaning,  which 
made  it  optional  to  use  one  term  or  the  other  for  any  of  the  very 
different  specialties.  At  present,  however,  the  use  of  these  terms 
has  become  fairly  definite,  at  least  with  specialists,  although  not  with 
the  general  public.  The  time  seems  at  hand  when  a  common 
agreement  to  their  definitions  could  and  should  be  reached. 
The  entire  branch  of  science  dealing  with  drugs  may  be  called 
pharmacology,  materia  medica  or  pharmacognosy.  To  avoid  con. 
fusion  with  the  restricted  meaning  of  these  words,  the  adjective 
"  general  "  may  be  prefixed.  Either  pharmacology  or  materia  medica 
may  be  preferred,  according  to  which  of  these  subjects,  in  their 
restricted  sense,  is  emphasized.  Pharmacognosy,  in  this  sense, 
appears  superfluous,  and  should  be  abandoned. 
The  specialization  has  occurred  along  the  lines  of  the  special 
objects  and  methods  of  the  study  of  the  science,  and  may  be  divided 
into  four  groups,  which,  together  with  the  terms  commonly  applied 
to  them,  are  briefly  as  follows  : 
(1)  The  action  of  drugs  on  living  structures:  Pharmacology. 
(2)  The  physical  and  chemical  characters  of  drugs :  Materia 
Medica. 
(3)  The  preparation  of  drugs  for  medicinal  use  :  Pharmacy. 
(4)  The  application  of  remedies  to  the  treatment  of  disease : 
Therapeutics. 
These  divisions  and  their  further  sub-divisions  can  be  conveniently 
presented,  as  in  the  following  table : 
Pharmacology 
(General). 
Synonyms  : 
Materia  Med- 
ica. 
(Pharma  cog- 
nosy). 
Materia  Medica. 
Synonyms :  Pharma- 
cognosy, Fharmacogra- 
phia  :  The  physical  and 
chemical  characters  of 
drugs  and  their  prepara- 
tions ;  their  constitution, 
structure,  history,  deriva- 
tion, dosage,  etc.  J 
Pharmacy  :  The  prep- 
tion  of  drugs. 
Pharmacology  (Physio- 
logic). Synonym  :  Pharma- 
codynamics. Reaction  be- 
tween drugs  and  living 
structures. 
Therapeutics:  The  medi- 
cinal application  of  reme- 
dial agents. 
Comprises  : 
Crude  Organic  Drugs. 
Organic  Chemic  Princi- 
ples. 
Inorganic  Chemic  Prin- 
ciples. 
Pharmaceutic  Products. 
Constitutes  : 
Organic  Ma- 
teria Medica 
(  s  y  n  o  n  y  m 
Pharm  acog- 
nosy). 
Includes  : 
Gross  Anat- 
omy. 
Histology. 
Che  m  i  c 
Character. 
