334  Reviews  and  Bihliographkal  Notices.  {'^''-ATyX^tir'^ 
officers  of  ihe  N.  Y.  College  of  Pharmacy.  Dr.  Doreinns  was  formerly  Profes- 
sor of  Chemistry  in  the  same  college.  We  know  nothing  about  Dr.  O'Lcary's. 
pharmaceutical  accomplishments. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLI06EAPHICAL  NOTICES, 
T/ie  Chemical  Nomenclature  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  ivith  Suggestions  for  its- 
Revision.  By  Professor  Attfield.  Including  opinions  on  the  proposed  sys- 
tem by  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  authorities;  and  additional  remarks  by 
the  author.  Reprinted  from  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  for  April  8th,  15th 
and  29th,  1871. 
The  subject  of  this  paper  is  an  important  one.  It  proposes  to  do  away  with 
the  necessity  of  changing  the  chemical  names  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  hereafter 
to  meet  the  chemical  views  and  theories  that  may  be  held  at  the  time  by  the 
majority  of  chemists.  The  author's  views  are  happily  expressed  in  the  follow- 
ing  passage  :  "  I  believe  the  time  has  come  when,  by  making  a  few  slight  alter- 
ations in  the  terminations  of  a  few  of  our  chemical  names,  we  shall  have  a  sys- 
tem of  pharmaceutical  nomenclature  which,  while  perfectly  harmonious  with^ 
is  quite  independent  of,  scientific  chemical  nomenclature,  and  which  therefore 
contains  greater  elements  of  permanence  than  any  yet  adopted." 
The  views  of  the  chemists  of  the  present  day  favor  the  unitary  system  of 
nomenclature  and  notation,  and  the  slight  changes  proposed  by  Dr.  Attfield, 
though  not  identical,  are  nevertheless  in  harmony  therewith,  and  would  be  con- 
sistent with  the  binary  system  if  chemists  should  ever  change  their  views  again 
in  favor  of  the  latter.  The  idea  underlying  these  propositions  is  the  uniformity 
of  composition  of  salts,  whether  the  acidulous  radical  contains  oxygen  or  not, 
and  that  the  basylous  radical  in  both  kinds  of  salts  is  the  same,  namely,  the 
metal,  and  not  the  oxide  of  the  metal.  Hence  we  shall  have,  according  to  Dr. 
Attfield's  proposition,  Sodii  sulphas,  just  as  we  now  have  Sodii  chloridum,  &c. 
The  proposed  changes  are  in  accordance  with  the  nomenclature  at  present  in 
use  in  our  Pharmacopoeia  for  the  salts  of  the  heavier  metals.  Here  we  have, 
for  instance,  sulphate  of  zinc,  and  not  sulphate  of  the  oxide  of  zinc,  as  it  now 
ought  to  be,  to  conform  with  the  corresponding  salts  of  the  alkalies  and  earths. 
It  will  be  seen  that  these  changes  merely  involve  an  alteration  in  the  termi- 
nation of  the  names,  and,  since  physicians  and  pharmacists  nearly  always  ab- 
breviate these  terms,  no  change  will  be  required  either  in  the  labels  of  the  shop 
bottles,  or  in  the  writing  of  prescriptions.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  they 
would  facilitate  to  the  pharmaceutical  student  the  understanding  and  appreci- 
ation of  the  chemical  processes,  composition  and  decompositions. 
We  also  agree  with  the  author,  that  the  present  pharmaceutical  names  of 
certain  chemical  compounds,  which  are  definite  and  universally  understood,  do 
not  require  any  change  to  indicate  their  chemical  composition  ;  thus  alum, 
chalk,  lime,  magnesia,  &c.,  are  proposed  to  be  retained.  Some  exceptional 
nomenclatures  are  also  considered,  and,  while  in  regard  to  these  the  views  may 
differ,  they  are  of  minor  importance  and  do  not  interfere  in  the  least  with  the  . 
adoption  of  the  main  principle  involved  in  these  propositions. 
