124 
PHARMACOPCEIA OF THE UNITED STATES. 
lation with the principles of chemical combination. The most 
striking feature of pharmacy at the present day, is its extreme 
simplicity, exhibiting a vast difference in this respect from 
the polypharmacy of the last and preceding centuries. A 
still further enlargement of the catalogue of preparations 
might, we conceive, have been advantageously ventured up- 
on. Of the 27 preparations dismissed, several are, no doubt 
worthy the fate appointed them. As this is a point, how- 
ever, about which there is most difference of opinion, we 
question whether the repudiation in all instances will meet 
with entire approbation. 
We have long regarded the nomenclature of the United 
States Pharmacopoeia as chaste and classical, without redun- 
dancy, yet not meagre, always clear and expressive. Bor- 
rowed as it must be from the tributary sciences of botany, 
chemistry, mineralogy and zoology, the alterations that have 
been made in it, have originated from the improvements and 
discoveries engrafted on them by the most distinguished 
savans of the age. For an explanation of the principles which 
constitute the basis of the system adopted, with an able and 
satisfactory exposition of its merits, we recommend not only 
the perusal, but the attentive study of that portion of the pre- 
face of the edition of 1830, appropriated to this topic, to 
every physician and apothecary. The improvements made 
in it are strictly in accordance with the principles first laid 
down, and consist of alterations of names to those now adopted 
generally, or rendered expedient by their brevity ; thus ce- 
traria has been assumed for lichen, mucuna for dolichos, and 
acacia for acacias gumrni, creta for calcis carbonas, marmor for 
calcis carbonas durus, &c. A marked improvement is also evi- 
dent in the designation of the portion of plants which afford or 
yield medicinal articles, as, for instance, in the case of the um- 
belliferous plants, the" fruit" of which are designated instead 
of the inaccurate expression " seeds." 
With respect to what we regard an improvement on the 
old Pharmacopoeia, it will suffice to present a quotation from 
the preface as follows: — "Another novel feature in the pre- 
