28  Pharmacopoeial  Nomenclature.  {Am,jaT'is94arm* 
which,  from  this  very  use  of  this  name  is  liable  to  be  confounded 
with  the  chemically  closely  allied  "  calomel "  (as  this  is  also  a  sub- 
limate), and  in  this  form  is  even  the  true  original  medicinal  calomel  ? 
But  every  one  would  at  once  remember  that  the  word  indicates  the 
poisonous  mercuric  chloride,  and  would  be  so  understood  over  the 
whole  civilized  world. 
As  I  have  said,  I  would  of  course  not  think  of  suggesting  this 
name  as  a  title  for  mercuric  chloride,  as  scientifically  it  lacks  diag- 
nostic character ;  but  I  know  of  no  other  example  which  would 
show  in  a  more  convincing  manner  the  value  of  brevity  and  the 
force  lying  in  usus  tyrannus,  which  cannot  be  over-estimated.  And 
with  this  in  view  I  recommend  the  adoption  of  such  names  as  the 
following  : 
Alumen  for  Potassii  et  Aluminii  Sulfas. 
Borax  for  Sodii  Biboras. 
Cerussa  for  Plumbi  Subcarbonas. 
Kermes  for  Antitnonii  Oxysulfidum. 
Tartarus  for  Potassii  Bitartras. 
Tartarus  ammoniatus,  natronatus ,  ferratus ,  stibiatus,  for  the  well- 
known  compound  names,  which,  in  spite  of  the  greatest  endeavor, 
could  not  be  brought  into  general  use.  And  if  this  suggestion 
should  find  no  favor,  they  might,  at  least,  be  entered  in  alphabeti- 
cal order,  not  only  in  the  index,  but  also  in  the  text,  as,  for  instance, 
Alumen,  vide  Potassii  et  Aluminii  Sulfas,  etc.;  for  by  their  explicit- 
ness,  brevity  and  long  use,  they  have  won  for  themselves  an  incon- 
testable position  in  the  medical  language  which  cannot  be  denied 
them  by  any  law. 
I  wrill  make  my  next  proposition  interrogatory :  By  what  title 
should  substances  such  as  Gummi  Arabicum,  Radix  Scillce,  or  Folia 
Coca,  etc.,  be  entered  ? 
In  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  rule  was  adopted  by 
the  Pharmacopoeia  gallica,  bavarica,  saxonica,  and  borussica,  iv.,  to 
give,  in  the  case  of  medicaments  derived  from  the  vegetable  king- 
dom, the  name  of  the  botanical  source,  as,  for  instance,  Arnicae 
flores,  Arnicae  radix,  and,  indeed,  upon  the  suggestion  of  Link,  who 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  teachers  in  medical  pharmaceutical 
schools  of  the  present  century,  it  was  decided,  in  cases  where  there 
was  a  difference  between  the  official  botanical  name  and  the  system- 
