Am3toSh,i£m'}      Editorial  Notes  and  Comments.  141 
while  the  Latin  titles  of  the  formulas  are  retained,  a  system  of 
English  abbreviations  has  been  adopted  in  indicating  the  names  and 
quantities  of  the  ingredients.  The  reason  given  for  such  a  step  is 
to  diminish  the  false  readings  in  prescriptions  by  the  pharmacist. 
The  plan  that  has  been  followed  in  the  Formulary  has  been  to  give : 
(1)  the  class  of  medicinal  products  to  be  used,  followed  by  (2)  the 
specific  member  of  the  class.  Thus  Calomel  is  written  :  "  Mercurous 
Chloride,  Mild  ;"  and  Corrosive  Sublimate  is  written :  "  Mercuric 
Chloride,  Corrosive;"  or,  "  Vallet's  Mass"  is  given  as :  "  Mass, 
Ferrous  Carbonate,"  or  Mucilage  of  Acacia  as  :  "  Mucilage,  Acacia ;" 
or  Aromatic  Sulphuric  Acid  as:  ''Ac.  Sulph.  Arom.;"  or  Com- 
pound Fluid  Extract  of  Sarsaparilla  as :  "  Ext.  Sarsap.  Comp. 
Fl,"  etc. 
There  are  two  objections  to  this  system  as  followed  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Hospital  Formulary:  (1)  Inconsistency  in  nomenclature  ot 
title  (in  Latin),  and  names  as  well  as  quantities  of  ingredients  (in 
English).  (2)  The  important  benefit  from  the  universal  compre- 
hension and  interpretation  cf  Latin  has  been  entirely  disregarded. 
This  latter  feature  is  one  reason  that  calls  for  a  more  ex- 
tended use  of  Latin  and  of  the  metric  system  in  the  United  States, 
where  not  only  English  is  spoken,  but  all  the  other  languages. 
A  Science  Crippled  by  Words. — Perhaps  no  one  subject  has 
been  placed  in  such  a  false  light  and  has  yielded  so  little  returns  to 
the  pharmacist  as  the  study  of  botany.  A  number  of  causes  have 
been  at  work,  and  Walter  Bryan1  believes  it  to  be  due  to  the  use  of 
such  a  large  number  of  foreign  descriptive  words.  Mr.  Bryan  sug- 
gests that  these  words  be  exchanged  for  English  words,  and  believes 
that  botany  would  be  more  readily  assimilated  and  practically 
applied  by  the  student  and  pharmacist.  It  is  furthermore  suggested 
that  the  U.S.P.  substitute  English  descriptive  words  for  the  foreign 
botanical  terms.  This  is  a  matter  for  serious  consideration,  and  we 
cannot  but  agree  with  the  author  to  a  certain  extent.  We  miy 
discuss  this  subject  later  in  some  of  its  various  aspects. 
THE  IDEAL  PHARMACOPCEIA. 
Much  has  already  been  written  upon  the  coming  U.S. P.,  and  the 
editor  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Review1  makes  some  very  pertinent 
1  Paper  read  before  the  King's  County  Pharmaceutical  Society,  and  con- 
tributed to  the  Pharm.  Era,  1899,  p.  570,  for  publication. 
2  Pharm.  Review,  1900,  p.  57. 
