Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  )  Some 
Aug.  19 1 7.  ' 
363 
SOME   PHARMACOPEIAL  ENGLISH.1 
By  George  M.  Beringer,  Jr.,  P.D. 
The  writer's  attention  was  recently  directed  to  the  following 
advertisement  which  appeared  in  a  leading  New  York  daily : 
"  Girls  wanted  to  sew  buttons  on  the  second  floor." 
Still  more  recently,  he  has  been  amused  to  find  English  of  the  same 
character  scattered  throughout  the  Pharmacopeia. 
In  the  preface,  the  statement  is  made  that 
"  The  Convention  recommended  the  insertion  of  microscopical  descrip- 
tions of  powdered  drugs." 
What  a  joy  such  descriptions  would  have  been  to  students  looking 
for  "  short  cuts."  What  is  meant,  however,  is  that  the  Conven- 
tion recommended  the  insertion  of  descriptions  of  the  microscopical 
characteristics  or  elements  of  powdered  drugs. 
We  are  told  that  trichloracetic  acid  contains  not  less  than  99 
per  cent,  of  C2H02C13  "  when  dried  in  a  desiccator  over  sulphuric 
acid."  To  the  novice  it  would  appear  that  the  desiccator  and  not 
the  drug  must  be  placed  over  the  acid.  It  would  have  been  better 
to  have  said :  when  dried  to  constant  weight,  over  sulphuric  acid, 
in  a  desiccator. 
Adeps  lanse  is  directed  to  be  the  "  purified  fat  of  the  wool  of 
the  sheep  (Ovis  aries  Linne,  Fam.  Bovidse)  freed  from  water." 
Are  the  sheep  to  be  freed  from  water  or  is  it  the  fat  that  is  to  be 
so  freed?  If  the  sentence  read:  the  purified  and  water-freed  fat  of 
the  wool  of  the  sheep,  there  could  be  no  doubt. 
Likewise,  adeps  lanse  hydrosus  is  stated  to  be  "  the  purified  fat  of 
the  wool  of  the  sheep  (  ),  combined  with  not  less  than 
25  per  cent,  nor  more  than  30  per  cent,  of  water."  The  sheep  would 
hardly  combine  with  such  an  amount  of  water,  therefore,  it  would 
be  better  to  say :  a  combination  or  mixture  of  not  less  than  25  per 
cent,  nor  more  than  30  per  cent,  of  water  with  the  purified  fat  of 
the  wool  of  the  sheep. 
In  giving  directions  for  the  testing  of  ether  for  peroxides,  the 
operator  is  instructed  to  "  shake  the  ether,  ,  . ,  in  a 
1  Read  at  the  meeting  of  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
Hotel  Breslin,  Lake  Hopatcong,  June  14,  1917. 
