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

21쪽

TO THE TRANSLATION. xiii not necessary here to spe ah, be cause iis generali eception through Europe is a sum cient pro os ofiis excelleiace; but perhaps a langu age, Whenit professes to describe, as weli as designate iis Objecis, goes too far ; and is the theory of this science sbouid hereat ter change, a change in the

pany it; and this event may not appear very improbabie, When We Contemplate the late giganti ediscoveri es of Mr. Davy With respect to the al-kalies and eartiis, and the employment of a ne vanil po veri ut agent in Chemicat de compositioias: perhaps, therei re, it Would Θn every aC- count have been hetter is a set os arbitraryternas had been at onco invented and defin-ed, Without any Connection Whatever With thetheory of any particular period. For What is necessary to the perfection os a nomenclatui et As by nam es substances a re distinguisheu Domeach other, their essentiat properties ought to

distinct as not tb be liable to mistahes, antiabove ali convey no false ideas of the substancethey are intended to designate, suCh a nomen Clature may be considered as perfeci. The

principie too os explaining the composition ofa substance by aflixing to it a nam e formed ofiliose of iis constituent paris, is too limited in

22쪽

iis applicatiori; it may sussice for compotin iis ofa few constituent paris Only, but must bedropped in those numerous complex combinations whicli are dat ly presented to us by natureand ari; and on these accounts Minerat Ogy, whicli is but a branchos chemistry, has found thenecessi ty of adopting arbitrary te ruis to designate iis particular subjecis. Os ali these inconveniendos the College have felt the fuit force; hut they have sinalty judged it proper, for the sal eos uniformi ty and consistency, in adopting the

producis of cheinistry, to adopt also iis langu age, to go farther in this respect than the Pharmacopoeia of I787 had done, and to doaway those peculiarities of nomenclature whichwere then establis hed. There are stili, however, many nam es Whicli, chemicatly speaking, mill not be found to be correct; as in instances vliere the substances have been too complex tobe expressed without a periphrasis, Which Would render them but ili sui ted to the phii poses of

presCription, or Where the est ablished namenei ther contradicted the received doctrines of cliemistry, nor was liable to mi flead in iis application. The expression also of the telati, e proportioris of the Constituent paris of certam salts whicli unite in more than one, by presi X-ing Sub or Super, according to citcumstanceS, has been adopted in those cases only in Whichahe compo uiads of more than one proportion.

23쪽

TO THE TRANSLATIO N.

are u sed pharmaceriti catly; but these ternis have not been extended to other cases Whereno such listinction was requisite, although,

strictly speahing, they woulci in Dei belong to the particular substance. Another deviations rona chemicat usage has been made in placing the nam e of What is called the base of the saltsi si, insicad os last in order; this is, perhaps, a trising circumstance, and laard ly deseruingnotice, farther than to state, that it has pro- cee led frona caution rather than frona any Whim sical singulari . In the medicat application os a sali, the base is of primata import- ance, in Which any accidental mistahe wouldbe of far the greatest Conseque Iace in Compo in ling a medicine; and those Who are used to the subject well know the greater Value and force of the fit si, o ver any subsequent Word, used for a name, et ther upon the labet os a botile, or in the prescription Oi a physiciari. In mentio ning the probabi l ity of mistahes, I shali tali e leave incidentalty to state the inpoliance of a distinet, fuit, and legibie pre- scription, both to the physici an and his patient,

and to express my opinion ut on the neces8ityos Wnting each word at length, rather than toris k iis being misapprehended in the shop, bycontracting it; re practice Whicli Can Save veryli tile time to the prescriber, and may be productive os fatal estecis. It is not necessary tosti enUthen this assertiou by giving facts of

24쪽

tendino to the circumstance I have mentioned.

It will also be found among the alterationS, that the three former tities of Consersa, Electuarium, and Confectio, bet , een whicli there has never been any intelligibie differetice, have ali been consolidaled under one head, Confectio. The term tract also is farther extended, and Do v includes the articles Which were bes ore called inspissated Juices, and in one instance Elaterium), a peculiar substance, Whicli is pro- perly F ecula. The strict chemicat application of the term ha troci is very limited, and used toe X press only one constituent part of What is ob Atained from planis by the pharmaceutic processes; but in their mode of preparation these ac- cord sussiciently to justify the present arrangement under one head, for eaeli consists of paris separated sto in planis, Whicli paris are dissolve lin Water, ei ther naturalty present, as in fresti planis, or pui posely ad ded to dry ones. Those ternas no v sirst introduced whicli are draWn frona generat chemi Stry, are at ready familiar to the greater part of the profession, and Willbe east ly undet sto ad and reta in ed. There are, itis true, Some Unavo i dabie cviis connected Witha frequent change and diversity of names; oneos whicli is, that the great body of practical information contained in books, is thereby gradu atly rendered more and more inaccessible, to

25쪽

TO THE TRANSLATION

thos e who do not prosessed ly study the old vocabularies; and many an e Xcellent modern practitioner Would be puggled to eXplain Someformulae Whicli Were Writtera even as lately asiste time of Sydentiam; because they consist Orarticles Whicli are no v et ther beco me obsolete, or u hicli have Changed their Danaes so osten, that they cannot be recogni sed in their ancientdress without dissicut ty. In deed, it has ostenstructi me that a maia os moderate abilities an diligende Could not do a more acceptable Service to his profession, than by compiling a Dictio nary of Pharmacy and Maturia Medica, Whicli might cxplain the practice and prescriptions of the old Writers and Pharmacopoeiae, andrender intelligible that great mass of informationWhicli is no urendered usules s by obscurityos nomenclature and complexi ty of forna. Under this impression, I have myself made sonae collections to variis such a Work, and shali probably procedit With it, as I have time and opportuni ty; but whether I shali ever be able toad vatice far enougia, to satisfy mysulf, or to benesit my profesSion, is matter of great uncei

The necessi ty for sonae alteration in thedenominations of me his and Measi tres has long been apparent, and an attempi lias been made so obviato it in part in the two last

26쪽

Xxiii

menciura). An arbitrary and more distinctchange lias no v been made in the denominations o liquid meas ures, Whi Ch may at oncedis inguisti belween tho tWo, and in Whichthe least possibi e violetice lias been done tothose icims Whicli are est abli,hed by uso. It

ho vover, the legat nationat weighis and mea- Sures rem alia af they are, the College a re bouia lto adopi them ; and Would by no means bejusti lied tu creating that sori of confusion WhichInust necessarilyharise in practice sioni theemployment Os nexu canes, or the reduction othoth to one Common standarit.

It has further hcco me necessary that the College Shouul lix sonae rute for the division os quantities of liqui is of less bulli thana drachm, Which was the lowest in their formertable. Tho customary modo os essecting this by drops is undellain in iiscis, and has been late ly rendered stili more So by the introduc tion into sonae stiops of glass meas ures, Whichassume that a di op is the fixi leth part oi a

27쪽

TO THE TRANSLATION drachm by meas ure, be the densi ty of the liquid What it may, whilsi, in faci, the Sanae bulli os one liquid may require more than t vice

the number os drops that another dOeS, evenWhen ea li is di opped frona the sanae botile; but theseis mali quantities are usuallu giveus rom solutions of the most active substances in medicine, and ille ir accura cy is proportionablyimportant. Drops are at any rate in accurate, and insuenced by varie y of Circum Stances. Meas ut CS a re more unis orna, and insuencedflightly by temperature alone; the College havethere sore adopted the lalter, and - Wish to deprecate the employment of the former in every

In the severat Processes of the Pharmaco- pCesa, considerable alterations will be found tota ave been made. Expence in preparationought not to be balpiaced agaiust CorrectiaeSSand uniformi ty; and it is to be lamented that the des ire os prosit, and competition os trade, should laave led so many Chomisis to deviate frona the es tablis hed directions in preparations Sol l under the sanae nam es, and used as the Same articies. The College thorcsore have fulti laeuaselves obligeu lo attend, in Somo mURSUTO, to iliis prevat ling and bane fui practice, anil tota e away ali excuse for deviation, by not giv ing uia necessary trouble, or Crenting unueCeS-Sary e X pence; tliey have therei ore looked

28쪽

PREFACEchi est y to uniformi ty of strength, and cons

quent precision in the essects of medicines, ra-ther liuin to iliat degrest of puri ty Which Wouldbe required in the preparation os chemicat tests. Their directions are gi ven generalist, becausetho manipulations must vai v sonae What aCCord ing to the scatu on whicli the preparations aremade, and other Circumstances of Convenien Ceto the operator, and bucause the Pharmacopo ia is intended to dire et iliose Who are ut ready, by their education, instructed in ille practice of pharmacy. not as an elementary book toteach the art itself. The apothecary, who is veli educate J, Will have no diis cui ty in Working according to the formulae Whicli are gi ven ;and great attention has been pald to render

Those vague and complica ted forins -Os medicine which vere received frona the Arabians and Grecks on the revivat os learn in g, and whioli so naucli confused the ancient practice, havo been stili more simpli sed in the presentedition. Whcnce these arose in the si si instance is uncertain. They probably were founded originalty iapon an ini perfeci lino v ledge of the po vers of substances, and the liope that, in the accumulation os many things of similar virtu es, the most esse actous might be gi venamong tbem. I thin k it may be asserted, dith -

29쪽

ΤO THE TRANSLATION.

Out sear of contradiction, that no medicine, Compounded os sive or si v simple articles, has hi therioli ad iis potvers examine lin a rationat man- Der. In ans ver to thisit mav besaid, that thereis no necessi ty for mathematical accuracy in Such an en quiry, and that each article need notbe examine i individually, and in the severat relations in v teli it may stanti to every Separate part of the compo und ; that we conjecturuWhat will he the offecis of that compotin d fronto ur knowledge of the qualities of iis Constituent paris, and that experience aster variis CXamines and Consirnas their use Now, is iue areto begin conjecturing as to the esse cis of threeor four articles combine J, Where are Ne ni ter-Wariis to sto p Θ No botinus Can be set to th agen cyoffuch a principie, When onoe admitte ;and we shali spee lily arrive at compositions ofone hundred ingredients or more, such as Mithridate liud Theriaca have here tofore been

But the argument, that experien Ce has Con

30쪽

xxii PREEACEen Ce so variabie, mucti dependitia et cannot beplaced ; but, in truth, it has not been sober eκ- perie iace; that Same spirit os speculation and

conjecture whicli sit si formed the composition, Da ahes also the subsequent alteratioris in it;

and the simplification os iis instruments is Ono great proos of the in prouod statu of our sciciace, and wi li probab ly herea ter be carried to astili grearer extent cven thau it no v is. There are sonae Compo uniis into Whicli certain iurentities of the most aCtive substanees, Sueli as Opium and mea Cury, enter; and of

these the relative proportions have iii a feru instances hccn altercia. Where ver iliis has been dono, it lias been intende t to bring thein to aneven proportion, and to reniter their doses more casi ly calculate d. With respect to the omissions in the pre

is, Perhaps, no obiection to an extensive list os Materia Medica, but there a re many to a trising and inert one. Even sonae compotandraedicines, Whicli consist of te v arti Cles, and cun he bellor nai Xed extemporaneousi V, in Proportions sui ted to the circumstances of praC-tice, have in Some instances, on iliis accoulit, been omitte l. Different fornas of the Sanaoth in g, as the severat animal carbonates of limo,