190  New  York  College  of  Pharmacy.  {AmAP™f;i^arm- 
have  jotted  down  now  may  be  of  no  value,  and  may  not  accord  with 
the  ideas  of  others  altogether. 
Pharmacy. — (1)  The  art  of  preparing  and  compounding  drugs  for 
use  as  medicines.  (2)  The  occupation  of  an  apothecary.  (3)  The 
place  of  business  of  an  apothecary. 
The  use  of  the  word  in  the  third  of  these  senses  is  recent,  and 
should  be  discountenanced. 
Pharmacology. — That  branch  of  science  which  relates  to  drugs, 
including  their  origin  or  source,  the  history  of  their  medicinal  use, 
their  recognition  in  the  several  pharmacopoeias,  etc.  Some  recent 
writers  have  used  the  word  in  a  restricted  sense  as  the  science  of 
the  action  of  medicines,  which  is  properly  called  pharmacodynam- 
ics. In  the  larger  meaning  the  word,  no  doubt,  according  to  its 
etymology,  might  include  both  pharmacodynamics  and  pharmacog- 
nosy. It  is  better,  in  my  judgment,  to  confine  the  use  of  the  word 
to  the  range  indicated  in  the  above  definition.  This,  I  think,  is  in 
accordance  with  common  usage. 
Pharmacognosy. — -That  knowledge  of  drugs  which  may  be  de- 
scribed as  a  practical  acquaintance  with  them  as  objective  things. 
Materia  Medica. — In  its  original  and  restricted  sense,  simply  an 
enumeration  of  those  articles  employed  as  medicines,  or  as  remedial 
agents.  The  term  is,  however,  very  commonly  used  in  these  days 
as  a  general  one,  including  everything  that  belongs  to  a  knowledge 
of  drugs,  so  that  pharmacology,  pharmacognosy  and  pharmacody- 
namics are  but  branches  of  "  Materia  Medica."  Such  a  use  of  the 
term  is,  however,  not  in  accordance  with  etymology,  and  a  purist 
would  incline  to  make  pharmacology  the  general  word. 
I  have  not  consulted  dictionaries  in  the  foregoing  definitions,  but 
endeavored  to  state  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the  accepted  and 
approved  usage  in  literature. 
Very  truly  yours, 
A.  B.  Lyons. 
Detroit,  Mich..  March  4,  1904. 
COLLEGE  OF  PHARMACY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK. 
The  affiliation  of  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  on  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  College,  with  Colum- 
bia University,  on  the  same  basis  as  Barnard  College  and  Teachers 
