256  The  Forthcoming  Pharmacopoeia.  {Amju°nUe?i904arni' 
tions  which  can  be  controlled  by  standards  or  an  official  description, 
and  leave  no  room  for  evasion.  This  will  require  more  care  on  the 
part  of  physicians  in  writing  their  prescriptions.  The  extension  of 
the  list  of  synonyms,  particularly  with  pharmaceutical  preparations, 
will  often  prove  a  hardship  to  the  druggist.  If,  for  instance,  Turl- 
ington's Balsam  is  recognized  as  a  synonym  for  compound  tincture 
of  benzoin,  any  druggist  selling  Turlington's  Balsam  not  made 
strictly  by  the  new  Pharmacopceia,  will  be  liable  to  prosecution, 
and  the  sale  of  Turlington's  Balsam  made  by  any  other  process 
would  invite  prosecution.  Care  in  the  selection  of  synonyms  is, 
therefore,  very  important.  One  of  our  Judges  in  a  Western  court 
decided  that  a  grocer  who  made  essence  of  lemon  by  a  process 
other  than  that  of  the  U.S.P.,  1890,  although  it  yielded  a  finer 
product,  was  liable  to  damages,  and  he  was  accordingly  mulcted. 
This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  U.S.P.,  1890,  inserted  as  a  syno- 
nym under  Spiritus  Limonis  the  words  "  Essence  of  Lemon."  This 
will  be  controlled  in  the  new  Pharmacopceia  by  inserting  the  follow- 
ing declaration : 
li  The  standards  of  purity  and  strength  prescribed  for  any  article 
in  the  text  of  this  Pharmacopceia  are  intended  to  apply  to  such 
article  only  when  used  for  medicinal  purposes,  and  when  professedly 
bought,  sold,  or  dispensed  as  such." 
Again,  much  annoyance  has  been  experienced  through  the 
requirement  of  pharmacopceial  standards  when  applied  to  articles 
used  for  technical  purposes  or  in  the  arts,  as  in  the  case  of  muriatic 
acid  and  similar  products.  It  is  a  manifest  absurdity  to  apply  phar- 
macopceial standards  to  such  products. 
The  subject  of  weights  and  measures  has  attracted  some  attention 
recently,  and  the  introduction  of  alternative  quantities  into  the 
Pharmacopceia  has  been  advocated  by  some  writers.  There  may 
be,  of  course,  two  opinions  upon  this  subject,  but  the  instructions  of 
the  Pharmacopceial  Convention  are  mandatory,  and  the  President  of 
the  Convention  has  sent  to  the  pharmaceutical  journals  the  follow- 
ing communication : 
To  the  Pharmaceutical  and  Medical  Professions  of  the  United  States  : 
So  many  communications  have  been  received,  either  through  the  mail  or 
through  the  columns  of  various  pharmaceutical  journals,  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopceia,  concerning  the  introduction  of  alternative 
formulae  into  the  Parmacopoeia,  and  so  wide  a  misunderstanding  apparently 
exists  concerning  the  functions  of  the  trustees,  that  it  seems  necessary,  as 
