The dispensatory of the United States of America / by Geo. B. Wood and Franklin Bache.

  • George Bacon Wood
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The dispensatory of the United States of America / by Geo. B. Wood and Franklin Bache. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    The objects of a Dispensatory are to present an account of medicinal substances in the state in which they are brought into the shops, and to teach the modes in which they are prepared for use. The importance of these objects, and the general value and even necessity of a work of this nature, will not be disputed. It may, however, be a question, how far the wants of the medical and pharmaceutical community in this country are sup- plied by the Dispensatories already in circulation ; and whether such a deficiency exists as to justify the offer of a new one to the public attention. The great merits of the works severally entitled The Edinburgh New Dispensatory and The London Dispensatory, the former edited by the late Andrew Duncan, M.D., the latter by Anthony Todd Thom- son, M.D., are well known wherever the English language is spoken. Founded, as they both are, upon the excellent basis laid by Lewis, they are nevertheless entitled, from the great addition of valuable materials, and the distinctive character exhibited in the arrange- ment of these materials, to be considered as original works; while the style in which they have been executed speaks strongly in favor of the skill and industry of their authors. But they were calculated especially for the sphere of Great Britain, and are too deficient in all that relates exclusively to this country, to admit of being received as standards here. In the history of our commerce in drugs, and of the nature, growth, and collection of our indigenous medical plants ; in the chemical operations of our extensive laborato- ries ; and in the modes of preparing, dispensing, and applying medicines, which have gradually grown into use among us ; there is much that is peculiar, a knowledge of which is not to be gained from foreign books, and is yet necessary to the character of an accom- plished American pharmaceutist. We have, moreover, a National Pharmacopoeia, which requires an explanatory commentary, in order that its precepts may be fully appreciated, and advantageously put into practice. On these accounts, it is desirable that there should be a Dispensatory of the United States, which, while it embraces whatever is useful in European pharmacy, may accurately represent the art as it exists in this country, and give instruction adapted to our peculiar wants. It appears due to our national character that such a work should be in good faith an American work, newly prepared in all its parts, and not a mere edition of one of the European Dispensatories, with here and there addi- tions and alterations, which, though they may be useful in themselves, cannot be made to harmonize with the other materials so as to give to the whole an appearance of unity, and certainly would not justify the assumption of a new national title for the book. Whether, in the Dispensatories which have been published in the United States, these requisites have been satisfactorily fulfilled, it rests with the public to determine. That valuable treatises on Materia Medica and Pharmacy have been issued in this country, no candid person, acquainted with our medical literature, will be disposed to deny. In offer- ing a new work to the medical and pharmaceutical professions, the authors do not wish to be considered as undervaluing the labors of their predecessors. They simply conceive that the field has not been so fully occupied as to exclude all competition. The Pharmacy of continental Europe is ground which has been almost untouched; and much information in relation to the natural history, commerce, and management of our own drugs, has lain ungathered in the possession of individuals, or scattered in separate treatises and periodi- cals not generally known and read. Since the publication of the last edition of our National Pharmacopoeia, no general explanation of its processes has appeared, though required injustice both to that work and to the public. The hope of being able to supply these deficiencies may, perhaps, be considered a sufficient justification for the present undertaking.
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