Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
December,  1900.  J 
German  Pharmacopoeia. 
565 
variety  of  wants  and  opinions.  One  interesting  item  of  this  table 
is  the  fact  that  the  actual  number  of  simple  animal  substances  is 
nearly  the  same  in  the  three  books.  In  explanation  of  the  above 
table  we  would  like  to  say  that  this  classification  is  necessarily  an 
arbitrary  one,  but  the  same  principle  was  followed  in  the  case  of 
each  book.  Thus,  for  instance,  all  compound  articles  for  which  the 
Pharmacopoeia  gives  a  formula  are  classed  as  galenical  preparations, 
while  articles  for  which  no  formulas  are  given  are  classed  according 
to  their  origin;  for  example,  dilute  acids  are  classed  as  galenical 
preparations,  while  wine  and  whiskey  are  classed  as  vegetable  sub- 
stances. 
The  following  table  will  give  the  proportionate  number  of 
times  that  the  various  titles  recur  in  each  book : 
Comparative  frequency  of  various  titles  in          G.P.  B.P.  U.S. P. 
Vegetable  substances  28*2  21T  257 
Animal  substances  2*4              i-8  .  1*9 
Chemical  substances  28*3  22*5  24-1 
Galenical  preparations  37*3  54"6  47  8 
General  directions  37  o*  0*5 
One  of  the  interesting  features  of  this  table  is  that  it  shows  the 
British  Pharmacopoeia  to  have  the  greatest  comparative  number  of 
galenical  preparations.  In  looking  through  the  book  this  seems  to  be 
explained  by  the  entire  absence  of  any  general  formulae.  These  latter 
are  most  numerous  in  the  German  Pharmacopoeia,  and,  as  a  practi- 
cal result  of  this,  we  find  that  this  book  has  the  smallest  num- 
ber of  galenical  preparations.  By  means  of  these  general  formulae 
and  directions  much  repetition  and  otherwise  useless  material  is 
kept  out  of  the  book,  and,  in  addition  to  this,  the  pharmacist  has 
an  official  authority  for  making  or  dispensing  various  preparations 
when  no  specific  instructions  to  the  contrary  accompany  the  order 
or  prescription.  This  same  general  plan  has  been  introduced  into 
our  own  Pharmacopoeia,  and,  according  to  their  instructions,  the 
Revision  Committee  is  allowed  to  still  further  increase  the  number 
and  scope  of  these  directions. 
The  next  table  of  some  of  the  more  popular  preparations  will 
give  a  good  illustration  of  their  comparative  frequency  in  the  three 
books : 
