512  Review  of  Chemistry  of  the  U.S. P.      { ^vlmle^X' 
confirmation  and  be  of  practical  value.  The  above  is  neither.  Under 
other  salts  we  find  temperatures  given  at  which  fusion  takes  place 
up  to  yoo°.  Certainly  such  data  belong  to  a  text  book  or  reference 
book,  such  as  the  U.S.D.,  and  not  to  a  pharmacopoeia. 
The  tests  for  purity  and  identity  are  given  in  the  verbose  style  of 
the  former  edition.  The  statements  are  too  involved  for  the  chem- 
ist and  hardly  explicit  enough  for  the  druggist.  Here  the  commis- 
sion could  have  well  followed  the  British  Idea,  plain  and  few  tests, 
but  tests  of  practical  value.  Lastly,  the  official  tests  as  made  could 
have  been  grouped  together  in  the  back  of  the  book  (see  the  B.P.). 
Is  not  the  overwhelming  appearance  of  the  fine  print  frightening 
the  average  druggist  from  attempting  a  chemical  test  ?  If  he  knew 
the  simplicity  of  the  practice  he  would  not  be  so  apathetic.  In  a 
second  paper  I  shall  take  up  the  testing  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  in 
detail,  touching  on  the  directions  for  manipulation,  tests  of  faulty 
nature  and  some  important  data  that  have  been  omitted. 
THE  TABLES. 
First  Atomic  Weights  Table.  It  appears  an  attempt  is  made  to 
throw  dust.  The  "International"  for  1 904  gave  both  H  equal 
I-OOO  and  O  equal  16-000.  In  1905  both  were  given,  but  no 
hydrogen  standard  will  be  issued  in  1906.  So  the  U.S. P.  will  stand 
for  years  to  come  as  a  relic  of  the  past. 
Thermometric  tables  are  as  usual.  I  should  be  very  much  pleased 
to  see  a  thermometer  that  can  bite  the  ten  thousandth  of  a  degree. 
These  tables  could  have  been  very  much  contracted  if  they  had  been 
made  practical.  There  is  no  use  going  beyond  that  which  can  be 
detected  with  certainty.  Chemists  are  happy  if  they  get  the  tenth 
of  a  degree  with  certainty. 
The  specific  gravity  tables  are  sensible.  The  idea  of  taking  specific 
gravity  at  150  and  referring  that  to  water  of  40  was  very  pharma- 
ceutical, to  say  nothing  of  reducing  the  results  to  vacuo.  The 
U.S.P.,  VIII,  has  the  gravity  taken  at  250,  we  compare  this  with  the 
weight  of  an  equal  bulk  of  water  at  the  same  temperature.  This 
temperature  corresponds  more  closely  to  our  condition  of  living  than 
does  the  old  150  of  the  Europeans.  The  normality  introduced  will 
prove  practical  for  the  determination  of  the  strength  of  weak  solu- 
tions of  acids  and  alkalies,  not,  however,  for  the  higher  strengths 
above  10  per  cent. 
