The pharmacopoeia of the Royal College of Physicians of London, MDCCCIX

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1650,-I677, -l720,-l745,-l787;-whichliave successively Contributed to the improvenient of PharmaCy, and have accommodated it tothe progress of generat science. Nor vilithos exvlio Consider the vast increase of our klio vied gein practical medicine, Chemistry, and bota Iab , with in the last twenty years, thin k that the Colleges has been hasty in deterinining upon anotherre vision at the present period. Nei ther pharna Cy, nor any other branch of human knowledge,

ed to atta in persection; this edition, there re, like iis predecessors, must hereas ter give Wayin iis turn, although the College have hoped, that, by associat ing it more ivitii the collat erat sci

Tho College determine d upon the present vork at their Comitia majora on September 30, 805, and then delegated the prosecution os it to

caiis et deperditis membris mutilum et mancum, in publicum prorepsisSe, convocatis ad se Collegis, totum opus qu1 potuit diligentia ad incudem denuo revocavit; secandamque editionem maturavit: quae nunc demum in lucem prodit a mendis purior, remediis locupletior: quae et Celicior est futura, si illam candor tuus et frons benigna cohonestent. Dec. 7, IOIS.

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liave proceeded regularly, Willi intervals during three of the summer monilis, to the present time, in the follo Uing order. Considering in the fit si place the Pharmacopoeia os l787, they inere destrous of obtaining the opinions of the profession at large, as Weli as of the individualsivlio attended the committee, respecting anychanges whicli mighibe thought necessary there-in, in order that they might have before thein the most generat anil comprehensive vie v of the subject in discussion ; and for this pur- pose they stat ed their intention to every member of the College, and to tho Royal College of Surgeons, and Societ y of Apothecaries, and caused it to be generat ly undet stood thatthey should thani fully receive suggestions Domany other individuals, who avere practicatly Conversant Willa the subjeci. In COnSequeiace of these requests, they didac cord ingly receive numero iis communications,

Which were arrange i and considered under their proper heads. Their nexi care Has to estabiisti certain generat principies, and then to considerand discuss the whole Pharmacopoeia, arti cleby articie, With ait the adventit totis aliis theirown industry and knowledge, and the sugge8t

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iaaci been done in a former instance, a most important intercourse with the Society of Apothe CarieS, Who appotu ted a committee froin theirbody for the pui pose of co-operatin g, in thel se of their extensive laborato , and in bringingto tho test of that sori os experiment upon a Jarge scale, M latch could alone render the suggestions os science practi catly usetat, the Severat processes Which vere communicated by the College. Aster having made vario iis alterations, the Committee Went a seconci time through theu hole, under What appeared to them to be amore Convenient anil scienti sic mode of arran gement than that of the eclitions of Ι 87 and 2745, and then printed a Specimen, Containing the result of their en quiri es. This first Specimen was distributedat theend of April, I 808, to ea hos their o vn members, and also to others vlio haneither interes ted thenaseives in the furtiteran Of the work, or 3vere thought weli qualisied togive an opinion iapon it, and it Was made publicin every possibie Way, With a request that the co- pies inus distributed and any rem artis thereon, should bo returned by the 25th of June following. Ot two hundred and fifty coples thias circulated, Sixty only vere actualty sent back; and

there Was also reason to Complain that somo

vhicli rem ained had got into improper hantis, for

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their contents were very unlairly incorporaledas the ne in London Pharmacopoeia, With sonae publications of the ilay. Many, hoWever, Ofthoso who did comply with thu wisti of the College, and re turn their copies, had examine the contenis With that geni sor the ad vance-ment of their prosession whicli it was the wishof the committee to excite, and the annotations avere consequently both numerous and valvabie.

It seemed that for the purpose of examining, arran ging, and determining upon these communications the fixed attention os a sin alter numberthan had usualty composed the generat Committe would be preserabie. I his part of the workWas the refore gi ven to a Sub-committee offour of the Fellows only, Who were authoriged toprepare a se ond Specimen, With such alterations of the former as might be further suggested by the subjeci itself, considereii as a WhOle, as wellas by the observations which had been received. This specimen having been sirsi submitted to, and approved by the generat Committee, Wascirculated among the Fellows resident in London only, and it Was again requested that the specimens should he returned, and the former sub-committee again undertook thetask of examining such remariis as might boossered thereia pon. The sinat ropori Was madeto the College at the Comitia majora, held

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TO THE TRANSLATION.

Marcii 25, I 809, which was adopted, and the

Pharna acopoeia thus completed was ordei ed tobu published accor lingly. The superintendaneo of the publication was committed to the President, Treas urer, and four of the Fellows, anditie work is no v b ore ille public. Tho objects of a Pharna acopoeia se em to bc, to direct what simple medicinal substances ought to be found in the sti ops of Apothecaries, and to describe such preparations or compositions of these, as cannot be made Without longilios time, b et a re osten Nanted for immediate use,

and therei ore ought to be Lept in ima liness; and this lat ter division will of coui se requiret, that thearticles directed si iouid not undergo any changeor alteration in their composition, is kept for areason able tength of time. There is stili athird class of preparations, Which be long ra-ther to eX temporaneo u S prescripti OD, Whi Chrequire to be made at the time, and On the oC-casion for whi Ch theyare Wanted, and ille introduction of whicli into a Pharna acopoeia is ra-ther a matter os convenience than os positive

necessi ty. Some indeed may thin k it dou bifullio v far sueti a division ought to be received a tali, bucause no bouia is Can be set to the numberos articles a Pharmacopoeia may contain, isit be on e allowed to encroach upon the bus iness of extemporaneolis prescription ; for the

formula: used in this Way ati different perio is,

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PREFACEand preserred by different individuals, have va- Iied extremely according to the fashion of the lay, and multiplied almost to infinity. The dixection, hoWeVer, of Sucti articles to a certain

extent is sanctioned by use; it facilitates very considerably the bus iness of proscription, itfXes also a Cortain Standard of proportions whicli is convenient in professional interco urse, and it has, for these reaSonS, been rather eX-

tended than abi id ged in the present Pharna

Although it lias been the long establislicd

practice upon the continent for different Pharmacopasiae to be compiled by disterent univer- Sities, and authorigod With in the jurisdiction ofalmost every different state; although the fame praetice has prevalled in these Lingdonas, and tho Colleges of Physiciaris of London, Dublin, and Edinburgh, have eacli issued Pharmaco.

poetae for the use of their respective Lingdonas, the tu o formur of which have been enlorced by Royal Proclamations ; yet in the interco ui se and union ulli ch no v subsistes heiuleen these Ling donas, it is to be lamented that a generat Pharmacopoeia Britannica is not established, a One common dictionary, to whicli piactitione isthroughout the whole empire may uniformiyrefcr With confidelice, and without the chance of mistat e ei ther in the nam e of an article orthe mode of iis preparation. In the execution

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TO THE TRANSLATION. ix Os a national Work of this sori great disti culties might and Would occur, pre judices and disserent modes of thought and practice Would probably create much differetice of opinion, butnone of these Would be insurino in table to menos sense and science, and I ana persuaded that sonae future age Uill See the ad vant e an deven necessi ty of me attempl.

The Arrangement of a Pharmacopoeia is arbitrary and of litile importance, Such a Work is in faet Only a register of those medicines Whicli the Apothecary ought to prepare and Leep, and in Some instances simple alphabeti Cal order a lone has been thought susticient. That no v adopted lias for iis only advantages that it brings together more closely similar preparations under similarhea is, and is more accordant With the chemicat opinions of the present day. The Nomenclature, Whicli is the nexi generalpo in t for consideration, i S Os more ConSeque iace,

and it compriges bolla the subjects of natural liis-tory and chemicat composition. With respect tothe former, the planis originalty employed by the

Arabian and Greeian physicians 'vere very imperfectly understood by their sucCessors, and Seem most commonly to liave been applied by

ing in the V est. Stili, hoWever, the nam es theyhad used 3vere again employed and applied, and

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dicat pomers ; and illese for the most pari u eretranslations of the current nam es by whicli they vere known generally. These beingonce admit- ted in to the Pharmacopoeia, Were retained Without any desinition or certainty, untii the year 1720, when it Was found further necessary torefer illem, for the salie of accuracy, to the Standarit systematic Work of that time; and in the edition ilien published a correspondent column of SynonymS Was consequently gi ven Dona Bauhin's Pinax; the fame was continued

rat superiori ty, and the referen Ces vere, there Po, then made to his Species Plantarum, but occasional deviations frona it Were Some times admitted, Where more recent authorities Or more a Curate observation required them. In liis nomenclature Linnaeus h ad cndeavoured to incorporate received medicat ternas; but, vitii respectio articles of reigia production, his insopinat tori Was in many instances necessari ly deiective, such ternas there fore Were of Courso Osten miS- applied ut si St, and have stili continuod to beso, uniit at last the es tablished botani cui and medicinal nam es have sonaetimes bouia found at direct variance With each other. As an OXample, the use of the terna Cicuta in medicine has

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TO THE TRANSLATION.

Been synonymous With a spec ies of the Lin- Maean genus Conium, and the word Cicuta is used in the sanae system to express a disterent genus. So great an inconvenience the Collegetiave no e remedi ed as far as Wos in their po ver, and with as litile violenco as possit, te to thenaines Coinmota ly emptob ed. Under this impression they have thought it most convenientand tui ly sufficient for the purpose of distinction. to express cach article in generat by a single word; and have retained the former terna, Wher ver it accorded, ei ther With the generio orspeci sic name of Linnaeus. Loth of these, however, it has been necessary to employ in those in Stances Where it Was requisite to distinguislibet Keen two species taken froin the Same genus and both used in pharina . In the Raarmacopoeia of Ι745, the nam e of the part os aptant Where a part only Was ta ken, Was, in thecatalogue os materia medica, ad ded in the nominative case to the nam e of the plant in thegenitive, and repented in ali the formulae in Whicli that article Was employed ; in that ofI787, the nam e of the plant itself was placedin the nominative case, and that of the partused was separated frona it by a comma, placedin the nominative also, and printed in a different character, but omitted entire ly in the subsequent formulae; so that in the body of the Pharmacopoeia the nariae of the Whole was used to

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x ie X press iis paris, as, for instance,&λὶ;ra for Senme folia. In the fit si specimen, this sanae practice vas adopted and farthor extended frona thepreparations, to the catalogiae also, in Whichthe ossicinal nam e of the plant alone occupied the si si column ; and the systematic generio arid specific ones, With the part used aflixed thereio, formed the seconii Colum n. It was

thought, however, on more mature Consideratiora, that this sacrifice of proprie ty to brevi tyWas improper; that no authori ty existed by Whicli the transfer of the nam e of the whole plant to one of iis paris could be justi sied ;and it was, therei ore, resolved to usu the nam eonly. vithout any addition, where the whole plant is used ; anil, Where paris are taken, to designate those paris and to incorporatu both in the fit si columia, as in the Pharmacopoeia of

In the nomenclature of chemicat substances and compositioris, there has been more dissicut tyin adopting generat principies, and at the fame time bearing in minit practical applicatiora;

here may, theres ore, be more grotin is perhaps for objection to What has been done. The founders of the French chemicat langu age bulli it up-on the basis of their own theory, and willed that the on should be an explanation of the Other. Oi the masterly maniter in whicli the foundationWas laid, and the Superstructure completed, it is