12       UNIFORM  PHARMACOPOEIA  FOR  THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE. 
reputation,  or  in  view  of  their  being  frequently  referred  to  in  valu- 
able medical  works  of  English,  Scotch  and  Irish  authors.  So  long, 
therefore,  as  we  give  the  attention  to  the  medical  literature  of  Great 
Britain  that  it  deserves,  we  must  make  ourselves  acquainted 
with  the  officinal  medicines  and  preparations,  stamped  as  of  value  by 
the  authority  of  her  Colleges  ;  otherwise  her  medical  writers  would 
be,  to  some  extent,  unintelligible  to  us.  It  is  thus  clearly  shown 
that  we  are  necessarily  interested  in  British  pharmacology,  and 
in  those  meliorations  of  which  it  is  undoubtedly  susceptible.  But 
the  pharmacology  of  Great  Britain  is  mainly  embodied  in  her 
three  Pharmacopoeias,  each  emanating  from  an  authoritative  body; 
while,  evidently,  there  should  be  but  one  standard  for  the  whole 
British  empire.  The  evil  of  this  want  of  uniformity  is  put  in  a 
striking  point  of  view,  by  supposing  that  each  State  of  our  union 
had  a  separate  Pharmacopoeia;  but  the  evil  is  the  same  in  kind, 
only  less  in  degree,  that  a  separate  Pharmacopoeia  is  recognized, 
severally,  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
By  the  more  enlightened  nations  of  continental  Europe,  the 
interests  connected  with  the  preparation  of  medicines  are  better 
guarded  ;  as  in  France,  for  example,  where  but  one  standard  of 
pharmacy  is  allowable  by  law  for  the  whole  empire  ;  and  this 
standard  is  the  result  of  the  joint  labours  of  a  commission  of 
physicians  and  pharmaceutists,  appointed  by  the  government.  The 
evil  of  the  British  system  is  admitted  by  British  medical  winters  ; 
and  the  reform  is  delayed,  not  because  it  is  deemed  unnecessary,  but 
because  the  Colleges  cannot  agree  upon  a  single  standard,  chiefly 
on  account  of  their  local  prejudices  and  mutual  jealousies.  The 
British  Pharmacopoeias  contain  a  body  of  identical  or  equivalent 
medicines  and  preparations,  which  form  the  common  basis  of  the 
three  works.  In  relation  to  these  medicines  and  preparations,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  agree  upon  a  uniform  nomenclature,  and  upon 
uniform  formulas.  This  agreement  being  effected,  it  would  next 
be  a  question  in  relation  to  the  medicines  and  preparations  peculiar 
to  any  two  or  any  one  of  the  Colleges  ;  and  the  nomenclature  and 
formulas  of  these  should  be  made  to  conform  in  principle  with  those 
of  the  common  basis.  No  College  could  reasonably  object  to  the 
retention  of  any  medicine  or  preparation,  advocated  by  any  other 
College;  because,  although  the  article  may  be  uncalled  for  in  the 
