THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
JUNE,  1906. 

AMERICAN  PHARMACOPOEIA. 
THE  PHARMACOPCEIA   OF  THE    UNITED   STATES    OF    AMERICA,  EIGHTH 
DECENNIAL  REVISION. 
A  Contribution  from  Schimmei,  &  Co.,  Leipzig.1  ^ 
The  new  edition  of  the  American  Pharmacopoeia  has  deservedly 
met  with  general  approbation.  There  are  everywhere  evidences  of 
a  serious  effort  to  make  the  widest  possible  use  of  the  achievements 
of  science ;  particularly  is  this  the  case  in  the  directions  for  testing. 
This  also  applies  especially  to  the  essential  oils,  which  are  mostly 
described  in  detail  in  such  manner  that  the  American  Pharmacopoeia 
may  in  this  respect  be  characterized  to  a  certain  extent  as  typical. 
This  favorable  opinion  of  the  whole  does  not  preclude  that  some 
statements  made  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  are  not  correct,  and  also  that 
several  directions  for  testing  call  for  criticism.  For  the  sake  of  ex- 
pediency, we  will  first  of  all  discuss  the  specific  gravities  required 
"by  the  Pharmacopoeia,  in  a  connected  form,  and  then  deal  with  the 
oils  themselves. 
As  already  mentioned  by  us  in  our  Report  of  October,  1905,  p. 
74,  the  new  American  Pharmacopoeia  does  not  indicate  these  spe- 
1  ^° 
cific  gravities  of  the  essential  oils,  as  is  usually  done,  at  ~-Q,  but  at 
— This  rule  has  induced  us  to  determine  for  all  essential  oils 
250 
included  in  the  Pharmacopoeia,  the  differences  existing  between  the 
specific  gravities  at        and  at  — so  as  to  form  an  opinion  whether 
15  2  5 
Y 
xPrinted  from  advance  sheets  of  the  Semi-annual  Report  of  Schimmel  &  Co., 
April-May,  1906. 
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