Am,ja°n"'Sarm"}   Revision  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia.  19 
I  see  no  reason  why  the  official  directions  should  not  order  that  the 
medicinal  ingredients  be  incorporated  with  all  the  cacao  butter,  it 
being  grated  and  added  in  portions,  and  the  resulting  mass  melted 
on  a  water-bath,  and  poured  into  moulds  as  melted. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  in  Suppositories  of  Glycerin  the  formula 
directs  68  gm.  "  to  make  ten  rectal  suppositories."  There  will  be 
some  loss  of  water,  of  course,  in  the  preparation.  A  trial  of  this 
formula  yielded  65  gm.;  but  this  would  yield  suppositories  Of  6-5  gm. 
each,  if  made  into  ten  suppositories,  as  directed.  On  the  other  hand, 
one  gramme  rectal  suppositories  of  glycerin  are  too  small  except  for 
infants.  These,  as  generally  supplied,  are  from  2  gm.  to  2-5  gm. 
each.  The  direction  that  they  should  be  freshly  prepared  when 
required  is  unnecessary  and  impractical.  The  permanence  of 
glycerin  suppositories  is  a  practical  test  of  their  quality.  . 
The  process  of  cold  percolation  is  for  the  first  time  officially 
applied  to  the  preparation  of  syrups. 
The  exact  instructions  for  carrying  out  this  process,  given  under 
Syrupus,  on  p.  387,  should  be  sufficient  for  all  intelligent  phar- 
macists, and  there  should  be  no  necessity  for  a  repetition  of  the 
instruction  in  each  of  the  other  ten  syrups  in  which  this  process  is 
officially  permitted.  The  statement  that  the  solution  of  the  sugar 
may  also  be  effected  by  the  process  of  percolation  as  described  on 
p.  387  would  be  sufficient. 
The  formula  of  1880  for  Syrup  of  Acacia  is  maintained,  with  the 
exception  that  the  mucilage  of  acacia  is  directed  to  be  recently  pre- 
pared. The  mucilage  itself  is  very  prone  to  decomposition.  It  is 
regretted  that  the  formula  of  the  1 870  Pharmacopoeia,  which  yielded 
an  excellent  preparation,  that  properly  kept  remained  unaltered  for 
some  time,  was  not  again  introduced. 
In  Syrup  of  Citric  Acid  the  amount  of  spirit  of  lemon  is  greatly 
increased,  making  the  preparation  correspond  more  nearly  to  the 
lemon  syrup,  dismissed. 
The  formula  for  Syrup  of  Hydriodic  Acid  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of 
1880  is  discarded,  and  the  process  of  the  National  Formulary  is 
introduced.  In  the  official  formula  the  quantity  of  tartaric  acid 
directed,  12  gm.,  is  insufficient  to  decompose  both  the  potassium 
iodide  and  potassium  hypophosphite  directed  and  necessarily  a  por- 
tion must  remain  undecomposed  in  the  product.  To  ensure  entire 
decomposition  13-19  gm.  would  be  required.    The  tartaric  acid 
