^iiSSyTSoT'}     The  U.S.P.  as  a  Legal  Standard.  79 
They  are  not  only  interesting  relics  of  past  methods,  but  they  are 
perhaps  advisable  as  aids  to  memory.  The  analytic  notes  and  com- 
ments should  have  been  given  in  concise  and  simple  language ; 
**  iteration  "  should  have  been  avoided.  In  any  scientific  work,  effort 
should  be  made  to  avoid  multiplication  of  terms.  The  terminology 
of  science  grows  fast  enough  from  unavoidable  causes.  He  that 
introduces  two  terms  where  one  would  serve  let  him  be  anathema. 
The  framers  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  have  violated  this  rule  in  several 
ways.  For  years,  chemists  have  found  such  expressions  as  "  normal 
silver  nitrate,"  '■'  decinormal  potassium  hydroxid,"  or  their  obvious 
abbreviations:  N  ;  N/10,  sufficient  for  descriptive  purposes,  yet  the 
Pharmacopoeia  must  introduce  the  cumbersome  "  tenth-normal  silver 
nitrate,  V.  S.,"  a  tautology,  at  the  least,  for  tenth-normal  can  be 
nothing  else  but  a  volumetric  solution. 
The  work  has  been  encumbered  with  a  list  of  "  test-solutions  " — 
distinguished  by  the  abbreviation  "  T.  S."  Many  of  these  are  the 
ordinary  reagents  of  the  laboratory  the  exact  strength  of  which  is 
of  minor  moment,  and  the  preparation  of  which  does  not  need  de- 
scription for  either  pharmacists  or  analysts.  The  preparation  of 
starch  solution  is  given  in  awkward  form  ;  it  is  much  more  convenient 
to  stir  the  starch  in  cold  water  and  add  this  to  the  boiling  water, 
than  to  reverse  the  process.  Moreover,  attention  is  not  called  to  the 
tact  that  starch  solution  can  be  preserved  for  a  considerable  time,  as 
Moerk  has  shown,  by  the  use  of  a  little  oil  of  cassia.  All  the 
descriptions  of  the  preparation  of  test  and  volumetric  solutions  are 
prolix  and  on  the  style  of  an  elementary  manual.  The  Pharmaco- 
poeia is  a  book  for  persons  more  or  less  experienced  ;  this  elementary 
instruction  is  redundant,  adding  to  the  bulk  and,  therefore,  to  the 
cost. 
A  serious,  inherent,  defect  of  the  book  from  the  analyst's  point  of 
view  is  the  infrequency  of  publication  and  the  complicated  system 
by  which  any  revision  must  be  brought  about.  It  has  long  been 
evident  to  many  that  the  ten-year  interval  is  too  long  for  even  the 
needs  of  general  medicine  or  pharmacy,  but  it  is  absurdly  long  for 
a  book  that  relates  to  practical  analysis.  This  department  of  science 
goes  on  by  leaps  and  bounds.  A  manual  that  applies  to  it  should 
be  under  the  supervision  of  very  few  persons  and  should  be  issued 
in  limited  editions  that  will  permit  of  frequent  revisions.  Two  years, 
or  at  most  three  years,  is  the  efficient  life  of  an  analytical  manual. 
