AInJJu0J?r•lf8h6a^m•}  Official  Pharmacy.  327 
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circumstances,  its  acceptability  mainly  rests  on  the  intrinsic  merits  of 
its  character.  If  it  is  clear,  concise,  practical  and  withall  scientific — 
its  field  of  usefulness  and  consequent  authority  will  correspondingly 
expand  and  prevail.  If  it  is  hampered  by  uncongenial  methods, 
forms  and  superfluities — its  general  recognition  will  suffer  a  commen- 
surate retardation. 
Much  can  be  said  in  favor  of  the  new  Pharmacopoeia.  Its  general 
arrangement  is  simply  admirable.  The  introduction  of  chemical 
symbols  is  equally  commendable.  The  retention  of  the  old  notation 
along-side  the  new  is  a  feature  whose  force,  however,  is  not  apparent. 
Had  this  place  been  filled  by  the  so-called  constitutional  expressions 
of  the  previously  given  empirical  formula?,  the  scientific  and  practical 
character  of  the  work  would  not  have  suffered  thereby  in  the  least. 
The  descriptive  parts  are  not  new,  however,  and,  although  bettered, 
still  admit  of  great  improvement.  A  new  feature  of  a  rather  question- 
able nature  has  been  introduced.  This  is,  namely,  an  extension  of  the 
systematic  part  relative  to  biological  Materia  Medica,  Heretofore,  it 
was  deemed  all  sufficient  for  the  Pharmacopoeia  to  indicate  the  neces- 
sary relationships  of  biological  products,  by  simply  referring  them  to 
species  and  genus.  This  now  appears  to  be  insufficient,  and  hence, 
also,  order  and  class  is  given.  If  such  exact  discrimination  is  essen- 
tial, it  would  appear  that  strict  scientific  accuracy  demands  a  more 
particular  proceeding  than  the  one  officially  adopted.  A  description 
of  this  kind,  in  order  to  be  of  any  value,  requires  the  tracing  of  an 
unbroken  line  of  the  relations.  A  proper  systematic  arrangement 
must  include,  in  regular  gradation,  not  only  the  specifical  and  gene- 
rical  reference,  but  also  the  tribal,  ordinal,  cohortal,  classal,  etc. 
Also,  in  order  to  maintain  its  authority  unchallenged  the  Pharmaco- 
poeia should  forego  acknowledged  antiquated  forms  by  promptly 
assenting  to  standard  classification. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  contains  nearly  250  separate  items  of  systematic 
references.  The  class  Insecta  is  composed  of  four  very  characteristic 
and  distinct  sub-classes.  Three  orders  of  Insects  are  officially 
cited,  but  the  fact  was  omitted  that  they  belong  to  the  sub-class 
Hexapoda. 
According  to  standard  classification,  there  is  no  order  Sturiones. 
The  Acipenseridw,  or  Sturgeons,  constitute  only  a  group  or  family  of 
the  order  Chondroganoidei,  sub-class  Ganoidei,  class  Pisces. 
There  is  no  order  Teleostia,  as  officially  given  under  Oleum  Mor- 
