*SsiSt£n}      Review  of  Chemistry  of  the  U.S. P.  5" 
OFFICIAL  DEFINITION. 
This  important  feature  of  the  U.S. P.  is  a  vast  improvement  over 
the  preceding  edition — for  chemicals  at  least.  The  1890  said: 
"Sodium  nitrate  should  be  kept  in  well-stoppered  bottles."  The 
U.S.P.,  VIII,  says :  "  It  should  contain  not  less  than  99  per  cent,  of 
pure  sodium  nitrate  (N02ONa),  and  should  be  kept  in  well-stoppered 
bottles."  That  old  bottle  of  the  1890  was  truly  a  queer  vagary  ;  at 
first  sight  that  was  the  all-important  thing  for  the  druggist.  The  fine 
print  was  an  incidental,  thrown  in  for  good  measure  and  not  im- 
portant. Maybe  this  feature  has  had  something  to  do  with  the  apathy 
of  the  druggist  to  test  his  products.  What  is  worth  printing  in  a 
work  of  this  kind  is  worth  printing  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  easily 
legible. 
A  very  peculiar  feature  of  the  new  edition  is,  it  demands  a 
strength  which  chemicals  shall  attain,  but  nowhere  in  the  text  can 
the  method  of  verification  be  found.  This  is  not  noted  in  the 
above  case  only,  but  generally.  In  this  instance  there  is  not  even  an 
implied  method  of  assay,  as  there  is  under  sodii  boras.  Under  the 
latter,  deportment  towards  heat,  it  is  stated :  "At  red  heat  the  salt 
fuses  to  a  glass  and  loses  47  per  cent,  in  weight."  There  are  too 
many  of  such  instances  in  the  U.S. P.,  VIII.  In  some  cases  the  im- 
plied assay,  for  example  under  alumen,  cannot  be  said  to  be  in  any 
way  approaching  accuracy. 
The  worst  feature  of  the  implied  assay  is  that  all  the  data  given 
presuppose  a  strength  of  100  per  cent.  They  are  based  on  the 
chemical  formula  and  the  "official"  atomic  weights.  If  the  defi- 
nition is  correct  the  fine  print  data  are  wrong.  If  the  fine  print 
is  correct,  the  definition  is  incorrect.  The  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm. 
readers  may  choose  either  proposition. 
The  descriptions,  as  a  rule,  are  to  the  point.  Here  and  there  an 
incorrect  use  of  terms  is  made,  however.  For  example,  under 
potassium  permanganate  we  are  informed  of  a  blue  metallic  lustre. 
This  is  the  first  time  I  learn  that  lustre  has  color. 
Solubilities  are  given  now  at  25 °.  This  makes  a  difference,  as  a 
rule,  from  the  1890  data  of  about  5  per  cent,  on  amount  dissolved. 
The  fusing  and  boiling  points  are  similar  to  the  old  work.  Of 
what  use  to  the  druggist  is  it  to  find  that  sodium  nitrate  fuses  at  3 1 2° 
C?  Certainly  he  cannot  verify  this  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction. 
The  data  of  a  pharmacopoeia  should  be  such  as  to  admit  of  easy 
