288 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
this new compilation was effected, offers us an assurance that 
it represents faithfully the present advanced stage of pharma- 
cology; indeed it was in order to bring the National Codex up 
to the condition of chemistry and medicine at the present day, 
that the revision of the former edition of 1S18 wa£ so strongly 
insisted on, and that the government ordered the present work 
to be undertaken. The authors, in their preface, intimate the 
great difficulty under which they labored, and the embarrass- 
ment to which they were subjected in the progress of their 
work, but having carefully and conscientiously sought every 
means of elevating it to the present standard of chemical and 
pharmaceutical knowledge, they submit it to the profession, 
if not entirely free from reproach, at least as a sure guide for 
the practical man, since it contains no formula whose direc- 
tions cannot be executed. 
The Codex presents, at its commencement, a catalogue of 
simple medicines, which enter into its formulae, and which 
are in habitual use; and those, especially, which are required 
to be kept in every apothecary shop, are indicated by an 
asterisk attached to the officinal name. 
This catalogue is arranged alphabetically, and each sub- 
stance has its officinal name, its systematic name, if a Vege- 
table, the natural order to which it belongs, and the part of 
the plant which is used as a medicine. 
Mineral Substances have their officinal title, Latin syno- 
nym, and familiar vernacular synonym. 
•Animal Substances have their officinal name, their sys- 
tematic name, natural order, and the part of the animal em- 
ployed. We select, at random, three or four substances illus- 
trative of the nature and character of the catalogue. 
* Aloes. Jlloe soccotrina. Liliacees. 
Sue epaissi, (inspissated juice.) 
* Acetate de Plomb cristallise. Jlcetas plumbicus. 
Sel de saturne, (salt of lead.) 
* Cire. Apis mellifica. Insect, hymenopteres. 
Matiere grasse, (fatty matter.) 
