^aSsmK™*  }  Eighth  Decennial  Revision  of  Pharmacopoeia.  369 
mittedly  highly  scientific  character  of  the  chemical  pDrtions  of  the 
new  pharmacopoeia. 
A  number  of  new  reagents,  test  solutions  and  volumetric  solutions 
have  been  added,  and  several  of  the  more  obsolete  or  less  useful 
tests  have  been  omitted.  Numerically,  the  present  Pharmacopoeia 
has  sixteen  more  tests  and  reagents  and  four  more  volumetric  solu- 
tions than  were  included  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  for  1890,  which  con- 
tained a  total  of  135. 
Among  the  innovations  in  this  portion  of  the  book  is  a  time-limit 
test  for  heavy  metals.  "To  detect  the  presence  of  poisonous  or  un- 
desirable metallic  impurities  in  official  chemical  substances  or  their 
solutions."  The  test  is  designed  to  detect  objectionable  quantities 
ot  antimony,  arsenic,  cadmium,  copper,  iron,  lead  and  zinc,  and  is  re- 
ferred to  repeatedly  in  the  text  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  as  an  indica- 
tion of  the  permissible  limitations  of  these  substances. 
The  appended  tables  have  been  carefully  revised,  so  as  to  bring 
them  up  to  date  and  fully  in  harmony  with  the  changes  that  have 
been  made  in  the  text-book  itself.  One  additional  table,  a  table  of 
weight  and  volume  relations,  has  been  added. 
The  index,  which  is  also  considered  as  a  portion  of  this  appendix, 
consists  of  forty-four  double-column  pages,  and  contains  upwards  of 
3,500  references.  The  popular  synonyms  that  appeared  as  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  description  of  the  several  official  articles  in  previous 
editions  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  have  been  relegated  to  the  index, 
where  they  appear  as  cross  references,  being  printed  in  small  type 
under  the  official  Latin  titles,  and  in  the  ordinary  type  in  their 
alphabetical  order,  followed  by  the  official  Latin  title. 
The  Problems  Before  Us. — For  the  final  publication  of  the  new 
Pharmacopoeia,  and  for  all  material  advances  that  have  been  made 
in  connection  with  it,  we  are  indebted  to  the  members  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Revision.  They,  individually  and  collectively,  have 
devoted  to  the  work  a  considerable  amount  of  time,  thought  and 
labor  for  which  they  will  not,  and,  in  fact,  could  not,  be  adequately 
recompensed  by  any  profits  that  can  possibly  accrue  from  the  use 
or  sale  of  the  book. 
That  the  eighth  revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United 
States  of  America  will  be  the  most  popular  and  most  widely  used 
of  all  the  editions  of  the  book  so  far  published,  is  to  be  expected, 
and  is  in  a  measure  assured  by  the  increasing  sale,  use  and  popu- 
larity of  the  U.S.P.  in  recent  decades. 
