Am.  Jour.  Pharni.) 
February,  1906.  J 
Doses  in  the  U.S. P. 
87 
tract  of  vanilla  "  is  not  referred  to  in  the  work  but,  nevertheless, 
maintained  that  it  was  covered  by  the  title,  and  secured  a  conviction, 
which  was,  however,  set  aside  and  a  new  trial  allowed.  The  Com- 
monwealth never  pressed  the  case  to  a  second  contest.  The  attitude 
of  the  judge  and  jury  in  this  case  was  evidently  due  to  the  factitious 
authority  that  had  been  acquired  by  the  work. 
DOSES  IN  THE  U.S.P. 
By  M.  I.  WiivBERT, 
Apothecary  at  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
For  the  second  time  in  the  history  of  our  National  Pharmacopoeia, 
doses  have  been  appended  to  the  monographs  or  descriptions  of  the 
official  substances.  The  first  attempt  in  this  direction  was  made 
in  connection  with  the  first  revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  published  in  New  York,  in  November, 
1830.  In  this  early  first  revision  of  the  U.S.P.  doses  were  appended 
only  to  the  articles  that  were  enumerated  under  the  heading  "  Mate- 
ria Medica,"  while  in  the  present  eighth  decennial  revision  doses 
are  appended  to  all  medicinal  substances  or  preparations  that  are 
intended  for  internal  use. 
One  other  difference  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  in  the  present 
edition  of  the  U.S.P.  the  figures  that  are  given  indicate  the  average 
adult  dose,  while  in  the  first  revision  the  usual  variation  of  the  doses 
is  indicated. 
The  National  Convention  for  revising  the  Pharmacopoeia  in- 
structed the  present  Committee  on  Revision  "  To  state  the  average 
approximate  (but  neither  a  minimum  nor  a  maximum)  dose  for 
adults,  and,  when  deemed  advisable,  also  for  children.  The  metric 
system  to  be  used,  and  the  approximate  equivalents  in  ordinary 
weights  or  measures  inserted  in  parentheses." 
In  following  out  these  instructions  the  members  of  the  Committee 
on  Revision  have  appended  average  doses  to  752  drugs  and  prepa- 
rations. Twelve  of  these  drugs  and  preparations  have  two  widely 
varying  quantities  appended,  thus  making  a  total  of  764  doses  in- 
cluded in  the  present  Pharmacopoeia. 
Of  these  764  doses  405  are  directed  to  be  given  by  weight,  342 
by  liquid  measure,  1  5  by  count,  while  two,  the  doses  appended  to 
antidiphtheric  serum,  represent  units  of  antitoxic  power. 
