26  Pharmacopceial  Nomenclature.  {Am'ja°n^iF£arm' 
in  the  pestle  head.it  is  then  pushed  down  to  the  bottom,  given  half  a 
turn,  when  the  sliding  nut  falls  into  the  grooves  The  head  pulling 
on  the  horizontal  groove  prevents  the  falling  out  of  the  screw.  The 
handle  is  then  screwed  on,  which  thus  completes  the  pestle.  A 
patent  has  been  applied  for  the  contrivance.  The  pestle  will  be 
placed  on  the  market  at  or  very  near  the  cost  of  the  old  style  pestle. 
PHARMACOPCEIAL  NOMENCLATURE.1 
Dr.  E.  Biltz,  Erfurt. 
The  programme  of  the  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress,  to 
be  held  in  Chicago  in  1893,  which  I  have  before  me,  divides  the 
subjects  for  discussion  into  four  sections,  and  submits  for  delibera- 
tion under  Section  3  the  so-called  Pharmacopceial  Questions.  In 
reply  to  No.  23  : 
What  improvements,  if  any,  are  desirable  and  practicable  in 
pharmacopceial  nomenclature  ?  Is  a  near  approach  to  uniformity 
possible  ? 
I  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  : 
The  object  of  the  pharmacopceial  nomenclature  is,  as  is  well  known, 
to  give  to  the  various  medicaments  titles  as  correct  as  the  require- 
ments of  the  scientific  standing  of  pharmacy  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  objects  of  the  medical  profession  on  the  other,  would 
seem  to  indicate  ;  they  should  be  scientifically  correct,  and  secondly, 
practicable — that  is,  easy  of  application,  comprehensible,  and,  above 
all,  concise. 
The  pharmacopoeias  of  all  nations  give  proof  of  the  frequency  of 
difficulties  met  with  in  endeavoring  to  unite  these  two  points  of 
view,  forcing  the  authors  of  a  pharmacopoeia  to  one-sided  decisions, 
and  the  question  in  this  connection  is,  above  all,  what  success  has 
been  scored  by  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  above-named  objects,  and 
also  which  names  have  received  not  only  popular  approval,  but  also 
the  sanction  of  custom  or  the  approval  of  the  medical  profession.  The 
entire  proposition  can  be  expressed  in  a  few  words  by  the  question, 
What  must  be  the  object  in  the  naming  of  medicaments  f  and  the 
answer,  the  greatest  possible  immunity  from  danger  in  the  treatment 
of  disease  by  the  combined  responsibility  of  the  physician  and  the 
apothecary  through  the  proper  compilation  and  the  correct  under- 
1  Read  at  the  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress,  at  Chicago. 
