80  The  U.S. P.  as  a  Legal  Standard.     { A^bnmrVPSf1' 
The  last  convention  provided  for  supplements  to  the  Pharmacopoeia, 
but  this  will  only  afford  slight  relief.  It  will  be  five  years  until  a 
thorough  revision  can  be  undertaken  and  it  may  be  a  dozen  years 
before  the  revision  appears,  for  the  revision  of  1890  appeared  in 
1893,  that  of  1900  in  1905,  and  at  this  rate  the  issue  of  1910  will 
be  due  in  1917. 
Among  the  special  features  that  are  deserving  of  strong  disap- 
proval are  the  introduction  or  structural  formulas  and  the  use  of  the 
hydrogen  system  of  atomic  weights. 
What  possible  advantage  can  accrue  to  any  user  of  the  book  from 
the  introduction  of  such  an  expression  as  CO.(OLi)2  ?  Many  trained 
analysts  will  be  obliged  to  look  twice  before  recognizing  lithium 
carbonate  under  this  hodge-podge.  The  force  of  pedantry  run  mad 
could  hardly  go  beyond  2(C2H2(OH)2(COOK)  COOSbO)  -}-  H20  or 
CH202.  •  C6H3  .  CH  :  CH  .  CH  :  CH  .  CON  .  C5H10.  The  first 
is  tartar  emetic.  If  any  one  recognizes  it,  this  is  probably  on  ac- 
count of  the  symbol  Sb  and  not  for  any  understanding  of  the 
formula.    The  second  formula  is  piperin. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  under  whose  mismanagement 
these  abstruse  and  useless  formulas  were  introduced. 
By  the  adoption  of  the  hydrogen  standard  for  atomic  weights,  all 
quantitative  measurements  are  put  out  of  accord  with  those  in  the 
preparation  of  standard  solutions  as  given  in  the  official  bulletin  of 
the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  and  of  the  numerous  depend- 
ent experiment  stations  and  many  analytical  manuals. 
A  commendable  reform  has  been  made  in  the  use  of  "  hydrochlo- 
ride "  instead  of  "  hydrochlorate "  for  alkaloidal  salts.  Similarly, 
the  restoration  of  the  proper  spelling  of  naphthol  and  naphthalene 
is  to  be  commended.  It  would  have  been  well  if  the  spirit  of  reform 
in  spelling  had  stirred  the  committee  more  deeply  and  secured  the 
elision  of  the  useless  final  "  e"  in  halogen  salts  and  names  of  alka- 
loids, but  we  must  be  thankful  for  small  favors. 
Ittis  to  be  regretted  that  the  spirit  of  classicism  was  so  strong 
that  words  such  as  "  methyl "  and  "  kaolin  "  were  not  made  inde- 
clinable. The  Latin  terminology  of  pharmacy,  slight  as  it  now  is, 
is  burdensome,  and  there  is  good  precedent  for  simplifying  along 
this  line.  The  whole  genitive  construction  of  binary  compounds 
might  have  been  sent  by  the  board.  This  has,  in  fact,  been  done  in 
many  English  names ;  why  should  it  not  have  been  done  in  the 
