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ART. II.-Pharmacopeia Collegii Regü Medicorum Edinbur gensis. 800. 6s. Boards. Robinsons. 1803.

THE eighth edition of this Dispensatory was published in 1792; and we noticed it, at some length, in the seventh volume of our new series. The Edinburgh college, it seems, purpose to re-publish their national Pharmacopoeia every ten years a practice which has its advantages and disadvantages. If the changes be considerable, if an innovating spirit be suffered to wander without restraint, the new lesson can be scarcely learnt, before another will succeed; and the practitioner will err, not only in the title, but the proportions. If the changes be slight, and new medicines only be introduced, still shorter intervals might be highly advantageous. We have an example, in our own college, which will explain our meaning. The changes in the last London Dispensatory were so numerous, and sometimes so trifling, that they could not soon be comprehended, or were quickly disregarded. At this moment, among the older practitioners in the country, the new nomenclature is seldom employed. If then, at the end of ten years, the innovation was to be again complete, the directions would be little attended to. On the other hand, new medicines are introduced in practice, which have not the sanction of the college, and preparations, which have no certain standard. The tincture of digitalis, employed by Dr. Beddoes, varies from that recommended by different practitioners, who, in turn, vary from each other: and the preparation at Apothecaries'-Hall is not exactly the same with any of them. Though therefore, on the whole, we do not approve of this decennial system, yet we think an appendix should appear at even shorter intervals, and each succeeding appendix include the foregoing. The changes, in these, should be the essential ones only, and the additions such as experience seems to have sanctioned. The expense could be no objection, for a single sheet would often contain them: it should be published, at the same time, in quarto and duodecimo. To return to the present work: we shall select a passage or two from the preface.

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• Nova quædam, vel propriâ experientiâ vel gravissimis clarorum virorum testimoniis, nobis commendata, in numerum medicamentorum accepimus. Nonnulla, majorum credulitate, forsitan et superstitione, invecta, resecuimus. Si quid vero hujusmodi adhuc supersit, id posteris delendum reliquimus; præstat enim, ut nobis videtur, copiâ quam penuriâ premi.

Multorum medicamentorum nomina antiqua et vulgaria, monentibus botanice et chemiâ nuper adeo feliciter cultis, cum aliis commutavimus; quo facilius et promptius ex ipsis nominibus vera eorum natura et compositio innotescant.

In hoc opere, consilium nobis et quasi lex fuit, animalia et vege.

tabilia, quæ simplicia medicamenta præbent, iis solis nominibus indicare, quibus appellantur ab optimis historiæ naturalis et botanica scriptoribus: quâ in re scripta summi Linnæi nobis maximæ fuerunt auctoritatis. Übicunque aliis scriptoribus fidere oportebat, auctores sedulò indicavimus. Tamdiu verò sub prelo versatus est hic liber, ut non mirum fuerit si quædam ad hanc operis nostri. partem spectantia detecta sint, postquam catalogus Materia Medicæ typis fuit totus impressus. Hoc, ut accepimus, jam factum est de ipecacuanhâ; quam clarus felix Avellar Brotero, botanica in academiâ Coimbrensi professor, accuratè descripsit nomine callicoccâ ipecacuanhâ, et icone illustravit. Si fortè idem acciderit de aliis quorum notitia nondum huc pervenerit, auctores speramus nos habituros esse excusatos, qui non aliam ob causam eos non ut decuisset citavimus.

• Gravior autem labor nos haud parum moratus est in describendis variis præparatis et compositis quæ inter medicamenta recensentur. Hæc omnia propositum fuit iis solis nominibus definire quæ jam apud optimos hujus seculi chemicos invaluerunt. Horum sermo novus et quasi proprius, etsi nondum omnibus suis numeris et partibus absolutus, tamen ad scientiæ usus videtur accommodatissimus; et adeo necessarius, ut non dubitemus eum, ut jam a junioribus receptus est, ita ob omnibus medicis et medicamentariis brevi receptum iri. Horum sermo in re medicamentariâ olim receptus, non alius erat quàm vetus chemicus igitur, ut nobis videtur, æquum est eum medicinâ exulare, qui jam in chemiâ prorsus obsolevit.

Metuentes vero ne quorundam medicamentorum tituli nimis verbosi et incommodi forent, si omnes vel minutissimas partes denotarent quæ iis inessent, contenti sumus per titulos indicâsse præcipuas tan◄ tum eorum partes, unde, ut nobis videtur, vires et usus compositionum pendent. Ob eandem causam, simplicia quædam, in frequentissimo usu, et omnibus bene nota, præcepimus vulgaribus ipsorum nominibus; cujusmodi exempla sunt opium, moschus, castoreum, crocus Anglicus: sat esse rati indicâsse, in catalogo Materia Medica, animalia et vegetabilia unde obtinentur.' P. xiv.

We have quoted this passage, to introduce some remarks on the conduct of the college in respect to titles.--Pharmacy is indeed a branch of chemistry; but it is also a distinct science; nor can we allow that what may be proper in chemistry should be transferred to its scyons. A title of a preparation is a short designation of its nature; and, if custom have affixed a correct idea to a single word, why should it not be applied? and, if practitioners have entertained a just view of the nature of a medicine, the descriptive title is useless and tedious. Crocus is certainly an improper appellation, and hepar an indefinite one; yet they are short and commodious. Antimonial powder a term not descriptive of the chemical nature of the medi cine: but it is given with the same certainty and success, as o.xidum antimonii cum phosphate calcis. The conduct of naturalists, in other branches of science, is very different. Linnæus rejected Bauhine's specific characters, and adopted trivial names, for which he has been universally commended. To

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come nearer the point, Hauy, in mineralogy, has adopted short generic and specific appellations. The college, in their prescriptions, always preserve the trivial names of the plants; but this is equally tedious and improper. The Materia Medica is the proper place for pointing out the nature of the vegetable employed. The title there adopted says, explicitly, this species we mean to employ, and no other. The circuitous titles give the appearance of accuracy, without attaining the end, and disgust by their constant repetition. Let us copy, for a moment, the receipt for the spirit of lavender. It fills a page, very nearly, of the work.

SPIRITUS LAVANDULÆ SPICE COMPOSITUS.

R. Spiritûs lavandula spicæ libras tres,

Spiritûs rorismarini officinalis libram unam,
Corticis lauri cinnamomi unciam unam,

Pericarpii immaturi caryophilli aromatici drachmas duas,
Nucis myristica Moschatæ unciam dimidiam,
Ligni pterocarpi Santalini drachmas tres.

• Macera per dies septeni, et cola.' P. 106.

The arguments, also, of Mr. Kirwan-and we perceive similar ones in the lectures of Dr. Black-deserve particular attention. If we learn only these new appellations, we shall have another task-viz. to acquire the old-or we must resign many of the old chemical works; so, in pharmacy, Hoffman, Valerius, Cordus, Mesne, and many others, will soon become unintelligible, without a glossary.

On turning to the list of the Materia Medica, we find a very striking inconvenience from these innovations. It is a puzzle to try the ingenuity of the reader; for he must look at other works to discover what medicines are included in this Dispensatory. We thought that the common axunge was omitted, and we could not find it in the list; the index afforded no assistance, and it at last occurred under sus scrofa. Few know that mastiche is taken from the pistachia lentiscus, that the oleum cajeput is from the malaleuca leucadendron, manna from the fraxinus ornus, the palm-oil from cocos butyracea, &c. &c.; yet all this must be discovered before we can find whether the medicine be ordered, by the college, to be kept in the shops. In short, a good principle, carried to its utmost extent, has produced the greatest inconvenience, and destroyed, in a considerable degree, the merit of an excellent work. The same error pervades the prescriptions; and the old name is not always subjoined, to clear the difficulty. It is time, however, to examine more particularly the execution.

In the Materia Medica, many articles are omitted, and but few added. We shall first notice the omissions; but must preCRIT. REV. Vol. 38. July, 1803.

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mise, that, in this account, we may not be perfectly correct, as some medicines we had first supposed to be among the rejected ones have occasionally occurred under very unexpected titles. We believe, however, the abrotanum, angelica sylvestris, aristolochia tenius, Artemisia vulgaris, arum, asarum, atriplex foetida, bryonia alba, convallaria polygonatum, cubabe, cuminum, curcuma, cuscuta, dictamnus albus, flammula Jovis, fænum Græcum, fuligo, fumaria, ginseng, hedera terrestris, enula campana, imperatoria, iris palustris, lichen Islandicum, ligusticum, lilium album, lujula, mentha sativa, millefolium, millepeda, parietaria, plantago, pulsatilla nigricans, radix Indica lopeziana, salix fragilis, santalum citrinum, satyrion, scolopendrium, scordium, thymus vulgaris, trichomanes, vipera, urtica, and zedoria, are rejected from the list of the ninth edition. The new articles are only the rhus toxicodendron, the Swietenia febrifuga et mahogani, and the vervain. Of the former, we have marked in Italics what we suspect might have been retained without injury. The arum, the ground ivy, the elecampane, the zedoary, and perhaps the lichen, we know to be useful. Among the latter, we have had no experience of the toxicodendron. The second species of Swietenia are probably powerful astringents, as they rank in the natural order of contorte with the Peruvian bark. Of the virtues of the vervain, we are quite ignorant. Dr. Morley, we know, hung it about the neck for the cure of scrofula."

Of the preparations, the order is the same as in the ninth edition, which we formerly remarked to be not the most perfectly natural one. One section is added, viz. succi spissati, as well as extracta, including the juices only inspissated, while the other contains inspissated tinctures or decoctions. It would be a refinement to observe, that, in all our pharmaceutical works, there is no natural arrangement. Among the metallica, for instance, there are salina. The extracts, the oils, &c. are decompositions; the pills, electuaries, &c. merely mechanical unions. What, however, has never been objected to as a fault in other Dispensatories, cannot be blamed in this before us. .

Among the more simple preparations, we find many of the oxids and carbonats, with directions to free them from impu rities. The oxidum zinci impurum præparatum' is the tutty; carbonas zinci impurus præparatus' the calaminaris :-how much more easy and impressive is a single word.

It is with regret that we find, among the conserves, the omission of the conserves of mint, oranges, and sloes. The two first are excellent vehicles, when the stomach is weak; the last, a very efficacious astringent.

The inspissated juices are brought to their proper consistence, by evaporating them in a bath saturated with sea-salt;

and the direction of stirring them constantly, to avoid empyreuma, is omitted. The particular directions for inspissating the juice of hemlock are also very properly supprest.

Among the expressed oils, the ol. ricini is omitted, probably because we receive it prepared from America. The seeds should not, therefore, have been retained among the articles of the Materia Medica.

In the infusum rose Gallicæ,' one ounce of the leaves only is ordered instead of two; the crystals of tartar are omitted in the infusion of tamarinds with senna, and the proportion of tamarinds is reduced from an ounce to six drachms. The mucilages are very incorrectly arranged with the infusions; and, in the mucilage of gum-arabic, one part of the gum is added to two parts of water; formerly, the weights were equal. The reasons of all these alterations we do not perceive.

In the decoctions, syrups, wines, and vinegars, there is little change worthy remark. The solution of tartarised antimony, in wine, is carried to the metallic preparations, while, with the mucilages, it should have been reduced to a separate section, under the title of Solutions; as long as the title remains, however, the impropriety would have been less, had it beenamong the wines; but we have found much of the confusion we complained of in the Materia Medica produced from excess of refinement.

In the tinctures, there is a little refinement in directing water and proof spirit, instead of water and alcohol in different proportions. The preparations are, however, essentially the same, by retaining the same proportion of alcohol. We find, in this section, a great deficiency in the synonyms, which are only occasionally added. A tiro may not recollect, for instance, in the prescription for the T. aloes ætherea, the old clixir proprietatis vitriolicum, the T. aloes vitriolata of the last edition; and, looking on it as new, might not think of consulting the index. In the volatile tincture of guaiacum, the oil of sassafras is properly omitted. Among the omissions, too, we perceive the sweet tincture of rhubarb, and the tincture of mosch, which we could readily spare: the loss of the volatile tincture of valerian is more considerable. We are greatly surprised that the tincture of galbanum has never found a place in the Edinburgh Dispensatory: if not too carefully filtered, it is very useful preparation. The new tinctures are those of digitalis and hyoscyamus. In each, an ounce of the dry leaves is added to eight ounces of dilute alcohol.

The extracts are divided into those prepared by water only, and those where water and alcohol are separately employed. Of the former class, are the extracts of gentian, liquorice, black hellebore, rue, cassia, senna, chamomile flowers, poppy

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