110 
OUR  NEXT  PHARMACOPCEIA. 
If  placed  in  contact  with  the  blue  portion  of  any  ordinary  gas- 
jet,  they  will  first  shrink  to  about  one- third  of  their  bulk,  from 
apparent  fusion  of  the  silky  fibre.  After  a  short  time  they  begin 
to  glow  with  dazzling  brightness.  A  small  cluster  of  the  crys- 
tals should  be  stuck  on  the  point  of  a  common  steel  pen,  and 
held  against^  but  not  inside  of,  the  blue  flame. 
If  decomposed  by  a  boiling  solution  of  potassa  a  precipitation 
occurs,  and  if  muriatic  (or  perhaps  any  strong)  acid  is  added, 
solution  will  be  effected.  Strong  alkaline  solutions  will  again 
precipitate,  and  acids  dissolve,  alternately  for  a  great  number  of 
times. 
Oxalic  acid  precipitates  the  solution  last  spoken  of. 
The  color  produced  in  a  blue  flame  is  reddish. 
The  crystals  are  sparingly  soluble  in  cold  water  or  dilute  acids, 
quite  soluble  in  strong  hot  muriatic  acid.  Tasteless  before  burn- 
ing, but  alkaline  after  having  been  in  a  strong  heat. 
In  composition  it  is  probably  a  silicate  of  lime  (is  it  ?). 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  Jan.  28,  1870. 
OUR  NEXT  PHARMACOPCEIA. 
By  Hiram  Yan  Sweringen,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 
Our  Pharmacopoeias  and  Dispensatories  have,  as  a  general  thing, 
cautiously  kept  pace  with  the  scientific  progress  of  the  age ;  and 
in  tracing  them  from  their  origin  to  the  present  time,  while  it  is 
gratifying  to  observe  the  gradual  influence  of  knowledge  in  re- 
ducing the  number  of  their  articles, — simplifying  the  composition 
of  their  formula, — and  improving  the  processes  for  their  prepa- 
ration, it  seems  necessary  that  considerable  precaution  should  be 
exercised  in  reference  to  the  rapidity  with  which  such  reduction 
is  being  made,  a  consideration  of  the  position,  merits  and  de- 
merits, of  those  articles  to  be  expelled  and  the  reasons  for  their 
expulsion. 
In  Dr.  E.  R.  Squibb's  report  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
upon  the  revision  of  our  national  Pharmacopoeia,  which  was  read 
in  Chicago  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association,  it  appeared  to  me,  that  he  made  a  furious  attack  at, 
and  picked  to  pieces  our  present  standard  of  medicinal.prepara- 
