524  Revision  of  the  17.  S.  Pharmacopoeia.  {AmNSv*;5m?m' 
macopoeia  recognizing  remedies  frequently  prescribed  and  furnishing 
standard  formulas  for  the  same,  applies  forcibly  to  the  class  of 
elixirs.  The  course  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  on  this  subject,  has  been 
erratic.  In  frequency  of  use,  elixirs  rank  with  tinctures,  fluid 
extracts,  syrups  and  aromatic  waters  and  attention  has  been  repeat- 
edly directed  to  the  necessity  for  official  formulas  for  the  most  popu- 
lar. Statistics  compiled  in  1888,  show  that  Elixir  of  Calisaya  was 
prescribed  in  about  3  per  cent,  of  the  prescriptions  written  in  the 
United  States  and  that  the  class  was  represented  in  from  54  to  108 
out  of  every  1,000  prescriptions  in  various  localities  (see  Amer. 
Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1888,  p.  283),  and  their  popularity  seems  still 
to  be  on  the  increase.  The  Pharmacopoeia  of  1880  recognized  this 
demand  by  introducing  Elixir  Aurantii  as  a  simple  elixir  or  basic 
elixir,  and  this,  using  a  vulgarity,  "  took  well."  In  the  Pharma- 
copoeia of  1890,  this  is  dismissed  and  two  formulas  are  introduced, 
one  for  Aromatic  Elixir  and  another  for  Elixir  of  Phosphorus.  The 
former  of  these,  we  presume,  is  intended  as  a  substitute  for  the  sim- 
ple elixir  of  the  previous  edition.  If  this  was  intended,  it  should 
have  been  given  the  synonym  of  basic  elixir.  The  latter  is,  in 
this  section  of  country,  but  very  little  used  and,  surely,  no  one  can 
contend  that  a  solution  of  phosphorus,  even,  when  in  55  per  cent, 
glycerin,  will  be  a  permanent  preparation.  We  cannot  explain 
what  influence  it  has  exercised  in  the  minds  of  the  committee,  to  be 
thus  recognized  and  the  frequently  used  Elixirs  of  Cinchona,  Iron, 
Quinine  and  Strychnine,  Potassium  Bromide,  etc.,  remain  forgotten. 
The  practical  pharmacist,  in  answer  to  his  appeal  for  bread,  has 
received  not  a  stone  but  a  couple  of  small  and  dry  bones. 
The  change  in  the  formula  for  Belladonna  Plaster,  is  to  be  noted. 
In  the  previous  Pharmacopoeias,  it  was  directed  to  be  made  from  a 
specially  prepared  extract  of  the  root,  made  by  extracting  this  with 
alcohol.  It  is  now  directed  to  be  prepared  from  the  extract  of  the 
leaf  and  one-half  of  the  resin  plaster  is  substituted  by  soap  plaster. 
In  Mercury  Plaster  and  likewise  in  the  Mercury  Ointment,  the  mer- 
cury is  disseminated  by  trituration  with  oleate  of  mercury.  Lead 
Plaster  is  directed  to  be  boiled  in  a  "  bright  copper  boiler."  Why 
not  use  an  enamelled  or  porcelain  or  other  boiler  ?  In  the  official 
emulsions,  the  formula  for  Emulsion  of  Chloroform  is  very  different 
from  that  previously  adopted  for  mistura  chloroformi.  The  quan- 
tity of  chloroform  is  somewhat  reduced  and  the  camphor  is  omitted 
