/S&wTuwF}     The  U'S>P-  as  a  Legal  Standard,  77 
THE  U.  S.  PHARMACOPCEIA  FROM  THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 
OF  THE  ANALYST  AND  AS  A  LEGAL  STANDARD. 
By  Henry  LKFFmann,  Philadelphia. 
After  a  prolonged  and  wearying  delay, the  eighth  decennial  revision 
of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  has  appeared.  It  is  an  octavo  volume 
of  about  700  pages,  including  indexes  and  introductory  matter.  It 
is  not  apparent  to  the  outsider  why  such  a  work  required  five  years 
for  its  preparation.  There  may  be  safety  in  a  multitude  of  counsel- 
ors ;  there  is  apparently  not  celerity.  The  relation  of  the  Pharma- 
copoeia to  chemistry  has  been  growing  closer  with  each  revision. 
The  thin  duodecimo  volumes  that  appeared  in  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  wisely  avoided  the  battlegrounds  of  chemical 
notation  and  nomenclature.  Formulas  were  ignored;  distinctions 
between  such  bodies  as  mercurous  and  mercuric  chlorids  were  ob- 
tained by  the  simpler  and  safer  means  of  titles  suggesting  properties. 
The  growing  tendency  to  make  the  Pharmacopoeia  a  reference  work 
in  chemistry  cannot  be  regarded  with  indifference  or  approval. 
The  need  of  the  present  day  is  concise,  accurate,  reference  works. 
By  the  elimination  of  irrelevant  matter  the  book  might  have  been 
reduced  one-third.  By  a  corresponding  reduction  of  price,  an  in- 
creased circulation  might  have  been  obtained. 
The  Pharmacopoeia  is  in  some  respects  an  anomalous  work.  It 
is  primarily  intended  for  the  guidance  of  physicians,  yet  compara- 
tively few  see  it  and  still  fewer  study  it  carefully.  It  devotes  much 
attention  to  analytic  methods,  yet  it  is  but  little  used  by  those  in 
general  analytic  practice.  Its  date  is  always  a  misnomer :  the  present 
issue  is  commonly  called  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  1900,  but  went  into 
effect  on  September  1,  1905  ! 
To  those  who  have  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  chemistry 
and  pharmacy,  the  book  has  a  sentimental  interest  apart  from  any 
critical  interest  or  usefulness.  Its  monkish  Latin  preserves  the 
memory  of  a  time  when  that  language  was  the  established  channel 
for  the  distribution  of  scientific  data;  in  fact,  the  first  issue  (1820) 
was  bilingual,  the  formulary  being  in  Latin  and  English  on  facing 
pages.  Nothing  of  this  remains  but  the  titles,  but  even  these  give 
a  medieval  flavor,  and  suggest  faintly  the  Dryasdusts.  Enough  also 
remains  of  the  older  chemistry  to  recall  the  period  of  the  first  issue, 
when  the  imperfect  nomenclature  that  resulted  from  faulty  trans- 
