PHARMACOPEIA OP THE UNITED STATES. 
123 
of the former into primary and secondary lists, the alphabeti- 
cal arrangement, and general system of nomenclature, have 
been retained ; the alterations made involve details solely, and 
are in accordance with the experience that ten years has com- 
municated, and with the advance of scientific information. 
In the Materia Medica lists, the changes that have been 
deemed expedient are, the introduction of new substances into 
one or the other, as they presented claims, founded upon their 
so far ascertained comparative merits, and the ejection of 
others which have been proved to possess no determinate 
value, the elevation from the secondary to the primary list of 
such as have come into more general use, and consequently 
have an increased importance, the degradation from the pri- 
mary to the secondary list of those which have been ascer- 
tained not to be worthy the position they held, and lastly, the 
removal from the Materia Medica to the class of Prepara- 
tions, of substances which more properly belong to this head. 
It appears upon inspecting the appended tables, that 32 intro- 
duced medicines are named, 19 of which belong to the prima- 
ry and 13 to the secondary list ; the number that have been 
dismissed amount to 7 ; the articles that have been transferred 
to the primary list are calamus, cimicifuga, and lactucarium ; 
those removed to the secondary are mucuna and iris floren- 
tina ; two substances have been placed among the prepara- 
tions, acetate of potassa and ferrocyanuret of iron. 
There is no greater evidence of theirnprovement of modern 
pharmacy than that presented in the character of the additions 
which have been made to the number of preparations, most of 
which have arisen from the progressive perfection of chemical 
knowledge, and its happy adaptation to pharmaceutical pur- 
poses. No fewer than eighty have been introduced into the 
present edition of the Pharmacopoeia, which the demands of 
medicine have required, and which have not only been sanc- 
tioned by their position in European authoritative works of the 
same kind, but have been shown, by their general employ- 
ment, to have more than ordinary pretensions to notice — most 
of them are essentially simple, or if compound, in strict re- 
vol. viii. — wo. II. 16 
