A treatise on pharmacy for students and pharmacists / by Charles Caspari, Jr.

  • Caspari, Charles, 1850-1917.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on pharmacy for students and pharmacists / by Charles Caspari, Jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    recognized as an authority by the courts, and is the standard em- ployed in the purchase of medical supplies for the Army and Navy of the United States. In some of the States it has been adopted as the legal standard in the enforcement of pharmacy laws, and this plan is likely to be followed by others. The Pharmacopoeia as now published represents the joint work of the medical and pharmaceutical professions; but in the early part of this century, when pharmacy had not yet reached the state of a fully developed profession in this country, the apothecary held a rather subordinate position, and therefore had no voice in the compilation of the first national Pharmacopoeia, which was adopted in 1820 by a convention of physicians assembled at Washington, D. C, under the presidency of Dr. S. L. Mitchell, the publication of the book being entrusted to a special committee of which Dr. Lyman Spalding was chairman, and both the Latin and English languages being used in the text. In 1830, through some misunderstanding and consequent dissatisfaction, two separate conventions were held for the revision of the Pharmacopoeia, one in New York and one in Washington, and at the latter the Government medical service was represented for the first time and participated in the proceedings; at this time provision was also made for regular subsequent revisions every ten years. In the Pharmacopoeia of 1840 the Latin version of the text was omitted, and in this revision material aid was also given by the pharmacists, although they had no representation in the convention; numerous improvements in the working formulas appear in this edition. In the convention of 1850 two colleges of pharmacy were duly repre- sented by delegates, and from this time forward the value of phar- maceutical collaboration has been recognized, and its influence is discernible in the many practical details of the Pharmacopoeia. Since 1850 the convention for the revision of the Pharmacopoeia has assembled in the city of Washington, D. C, regularly in the month of May of every tenth year; all duly incorporated medical and pharmaceutical societies and colleges throughout the United States are entitled to representation by three delegates, the three branches of the Government medical service being also represented by one delegate each. The final revision and publication of the Pharmacopoeia, under instructions from the convention, is entrusted to a committee of twenty-five members; this committee in 1880 and again in 1890 was composed of twelve physicians and thirteen pharmacists, under the chairmanship of Charles Pice, Ph.D. As the Pharmacopoeia is in almost daily use by the pharmacist, a short study of its plan and' arrangement is desirable for a more intelligent understanding of the text. The titles of all drugs recog- nized in the Pharmacopoeia, whether derived from the vegetable, mineral, or animal kingdom, are conveniently given in three subdivisions known as the official Latin name, the official English name, and the official definition, to which is added an official descrip- tion, by means of which the identity of all official substances can be