make them useful in the treatment of diseased conditions. Th these effects and the manner of their manifestations it will be of the following pages to show, especially in Part II, where dr cussed individually and in detail.

SCIENTIFIC SYNONYMS OF NEW REMEDIES.1

Most of the remedies of recent introduction bear names which or no clue either to their chemical composition or therapeutical In preparing the following list of synonyms an effort has been m the correct chemical designation of the drug named, as well as or trade, name adopted by the manufacturers, and it is hoped t will prove useful to those who have calls for such remedies chemical titles.

From the Report of the Committee on New Remedies of the New Pharmaceutical Association for 1906. American Druggist, 1906, page 36.

Benzozol

PHARMACY.

Pharmaceutical Nomenclature and Classification. In every science it is necesary to follow some system of naming the objects under consideration, and if this be done carefully it is a great assistance to its study and avoids much confusion. Common names, being used by persons who possess but slight knowledge of the subject, are likely to be frequently misapplied and are not sufficiently distinctive. For instance, nitre may mean sodium carbonate or sodium nitrate, as well as potassium nitrate, which is the proper chemical title. Milk-weed designates any common plant having a milky juice, whereas the name Asclepias tuberosa always serves to identify a species of asclepias, without confusion or error. Scientific names are therefore not adopted with the object of making the study of a subject more difficult to the beginner, but really with the view of making its comprehension more easy after he has mastered the details of its technique and nomenclature. It is absolutely necessary for the student of materia medica to have a knowledge of botanical and chemical terms. In the consideration of drugs in the present work, every official drug appears under the title of its Latin chemical or botanical name, with the letters U. S. P. or B. P. added; the common name or synonym is also given. In the case of plants the full botanical name and natural order are usually stated, following the United States Pharmacopoeia. The scientific, or botanical, title is given in Latin so as to avoid mistakes, as this is the name by which it would be recognized all over the world, and by which it may easily be identified; whereas, the same common name may be applied to plants of different species having very different physiological actions and medicinal effects. In common language the English name of the remedy is to be used, but in prescriptions the Latin pharmacopoeial name should always be employed. Further remarks upon prescription-writing will be found at the end of this section. It is to be understood that throughout these pages the letters U. S. P. after the name of a drug, preparation, or formula indicate the fact that it is recognized by the United States Pharmacopoeia, and is official wherever this authority is acknowledged. B. P. similarly indicates that the remedy or preparation is official in the last edition (1898) of the British Pharmacopoeia.

The nomenclature of the United States Pharmacopoeia is based upon the following rules adopted by the Convention of 1890, through its Committee on Revision, which have also been followed in the more recent edition.

"In the choice of titles of official articles the principle governs that convenience, established custom, and consideration of safety against mistakes through similarity or changes in names, should outweigh purely theoretical considerations or scientific preciseness. In the designation of chemical compounds (oxides, salts, etc.), put the basylous or metallic component first, viz.: sodium chloride, silver nitrate, lithium bromide, lead oxide, etc., instead of writing chloride of sodium, nitrate of silver, bromide of lithium, oxide of lead, etc. In the case of the salts of iron and mercury this change

involves also the use of the respective terms in ous and ic (ferrous and ferric, mercurous and mercuric) which greatly help to distinguish salts heretofore frequently confounded. As a matter of precaution, however, the distinguishing adjectives, 'corrosive,' 'mild,' 'yellow,' 'red,' etc., have been left in the titles of the respective mercury compounds; for instance, 'Corrosive Mercuric Chloride,' 'Mild Mercurous Chloride,' etc. In the case of complex iron preparations such as the so-called scale salts (Ferri et Ammonii Citras, Ferri et Ammonii Tartras, etc.), which are not true chemical salts, yet all of which contain the iron in a ferric condition, the word iron was left unchanged, to avoid the impression that they are definite, double salts." These changes in nomenclature were retained in the Eighth Revision. In addition a few synthetic remedies were introduced, such as antipyrine, sulphonal, phenacetin, and formin, under their (condensed) chemical titles. Also a few organic remedies were made official.

Pharmaceutical Classes of Remedies.

ACIDA-ACIDS.

Two degrees of relative concentration are usually recognized, and in one case (acetic acid) there are three. The dilute acids are all of uniform 10-per-cent. strength,-one-tenth acid and nine-tenths water, except dilute nitrohydrochloric, which contains only 7 per cent., and dilute acetic, 6 per cent., while the aromatic sulphuric acid contains 20 per cent. of the official acid, and dilute hydrocyanic acid contains only 2 per cent. of absolute hydrocyanic acid. The official Acids are: