Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  > 
July  1, 1874.  J 
In ternationa I  Pha rrnacopoe ia . 
317 
A  UNITED  STATES  AND  BRITISH  INTERNATIONAL  PHARMA- 
COPOEIA. 
By  Prof.  Chas.  Hermon  Thomas,  M.  D. 
There  is  something  more  than  a  sentimental  relation  suggested  by 
the  fact  of  our  speaking  the  same  tongue  as  the  British  nation.  To 
the  physician  and  pharmacist  this  is  a  matter  of  everyday  recogni- 
tion. The  professional  text-books  and  journals  of  both  countries., 
devoted  to  medical  science,  are  used  in  common  in  their  colleges  and 
public  and  private  libraries,  and  in  all  departments  but  one — and  that 
confessedly  of  prime  practical  importance — the  terms  used  by  authors 
convey  a  precise  and  identical  meaning  ;  while  in  that  of  materia 
medica,  including  pharmacy,  the  proper  English  and  Latinized  names- 
employed  are  permitted  to  convey  different  meanings  when  used  in 
the  two  countries,  notwithstanding  the  liability  to  fatal  mistakes  added 
to  the  confusion  thus  engendered.  If  the  same  disparity  of  defini- 
tions of  techicnal  terms  had  existed  in  chemistry,  anatomy,  surgery,, 
gynaecology,  etc.,  that  is  found  in  materia  medica,  arising,  as  is  does., 
out  of  the  different  proportions  of  constituent  materials  used  in  the 
medicinal  preparations,  common  by  name — but  by  name  only — to 
both  the  United  States  and  British  Pharmacopoeias,  there  never 
would  have  arisen  that  constant  useful  interchange  of  thought  and 
experience  which  now  exists;  and  if  it  were  possible  to  introduce  such 
a  disparity  in  the  ideas  conveyed  by  like  words  into  other  depart- 
ments of  scientific  literature  as  exists  in  this,  it  would  undoubtedly 
prove  a  barrier  to  communication  scarcely  less  formidable  than  a 
total  difference  in  tongue  or  race. 
The  British  and  Foreign  Medico  Chirurgical  Review  for  January,, 
1874,  contains  an  article  on  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia,  which,  while 
giving  us  credit  for  introducing  certain  improvements,  such  as  the 
class  of  glycerites,  closes  with  the  following  suggestive  paragraph  : 
"  There  is  almost  a  constant  departure  from  the  directions  given 
in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  in  the  matter  of  proportion  of  ingredi- 
ents used ;  so  that  whilst  many  tinctures  and  infusions  are  consider- 
ably stronger  than  ours,  there  are  many  weaker.  Thus,  for  exam- 
ple, the  infusions  of  calumba,  cascarilla  and  senna  are  made  only  of 
half  strength,  whilst  those  of  digitalis  and  gentian  are  considerably 
stronger,  the  former  being  of  double  strength. 
"Likewise  in  the  matter  of  tinctures,  we  find  the  tinctures  of  aconite, 
belladonna,  nux  vomica  and  cantharides  made  double  strength,  while 
