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PREFACE

HE Committee of Revision of the present Pharmacopoeia is an integral part of a chartered organization-the United States Pharmacopoeial Convention. The business management is now vested in a Board of Trustees (see page xxx). Chapter 4, Article 2, of the By-Laws provides that "It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to invest the funds of the Convention, to execute any and all legal contracts or agreements for the publication of the Pharmacopoeia, to pay experts and others for services performed, to transact business involving financial or other matters that may be for the best interests of the Convention, and to perform such other duties as the Convention may from time to time direct."

The work of revision has been conducted mainly on the plan used in the two previous revisions. The labor of the Committee has been enormously increased in many directions, and the wisdom of relieving this body from conducting the financial part of the business by transferring it to the Board of Trustees has been amply justified.

Meetings for conference and joint conferences were held at St. Louis, September 18 and 19, 1901; Philadelphia, September 15 and 16, 1902; Mackinac, August 6, 1903, and informal meetings at Kansas City, September 5 to 9, 1904, and Longport, October 7 and 8, 1904; but, as in previous revisions, by far the largest part of the work was conducted by the communication of reports, motions, etc., by mail. At the beginning, considerable time was spent in perfecting the organization, procuring a charter, and planning the work in accordance with the new conditions. The first circular was issued to the members on May 18, 1900, and after one year's experience it became necessary to enlarge the size of the circulars and to employ a mimeograph, as it afforded a simpler and more legible means of communication.

The scope of the new Pharmacopoeia, although generally determined by the Convention (see page xxx) was settled in detail through correspondence, and a provisional list of admissions and expurgations was adopted. The Sub-Committee on Therapeutics, comprising all of the practitioners of medicine on the Committee of Revision, was mainly depended upon for the preparation of this report. The work of revision was continued without interruption up to the time of commencing to put the text in type in July, 1904, and even up to the time of going to press.

The loss by death in the Committee of Revision, Board of Trustees, and among those who have largely assisted in previous revisions, has been serious Dr. Edward R. Squibb, Brooklyn, died October 25, 1900; Dr. Charles Rice, New York, our beloved Chairman of the Committee of Revision, died after one year's service, on May 13, 1901; Wm. S. Thompson, Washington, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, September 26, 1901; Dr. Wm. M. Mew, Washington, Treasurer, September 19, 1902; Dr. George W. Sloan, Indianapolis, February 15, 1903; Dr. Walter Reed, Washington, Chairman of the Committee on Diphtheria Antitoxin, 1902; Dr. Albert B. Prescott, Ann Arbor, First Vice-President, February 25, 1905.

The necessity for more accurately defining the limit of purity permissible in official chemical substances has been apparent for many years. In the Sixth Decennial Revision this question was met by inserting more definite descriptions with qualitative and quantitative tests. In the Seventh Revision will be found a still greater elaboration of this plan. In the present revision there has been added what has come to be known as the purity standard, or purity "rubric," which is placed in large type immediately before the description, and which defines the percentage of small quantities of permissible, innocuous impurities which do not materially affect medicinal action or interfere with pharmaceutical uses. It is believed that this plan will enable the reader to ascertain at a glance the standard which has been adopted, and which represents what the Committee believes to be obtainable, and which, on the other hand, will not prove burdensome or impossible for the manufacturer to produce without adding unnecessary and excessive cost to the

consumer.

The Purity Standard requirements, which limit the quantity of innocuous impurities, are, unless otherwise specified, to be understood as applying to chemical substances which are free from adherent moisture, but an allowance not exceeding 3 percent. of moisture is permitted in non-hygroscopic crystallized chemical salts. Chemical substances in the form of powder or capillary crystals, and all hygroscopic salts are to be dispensed in a condition of sensible dryness. As long as this condition is fulfilled, the moisture present is not to be regarded as an impurity. In the case of efflorescent salts, the Purity Standard must be understood as applying only to the uneffloresced crystals, and only such should be dispensed.

In some cases it will doubtless be found that the manufacturer can slightly exceed the limit of purity, and if this be the case no objection can be made, the language used being usually "not less than percent. of pure salt' (see purity rubric, under Acidum Boricum, page 8).

Inasmuch as there has existed in the past on the part of the public a misconception of the purposes of a pharmacopoeia, and penalties have been imposed upon those who have sold substances bearing pharmacopœial names which were to be used in the arts, for manufacturing, and other purposes, and not as medicines, it has become necessary to make the following declaration :

The standards of purity and strength prescribed in the text of this Pharmacopæia are intended to apply to substances which are used solely for medicinal purposes and when professedly bought, sold, or dispensed as such.

The Convention instructed the Committee of Revision "to append assay processes to as many of the potent drugs and preparations made. therefrom as it may be found possible, provided that the processes of assay are reasonably simple (both as to methods and apparatus required) and lead to fairly uniform results in different hands." It thus became incumbent upon the Committee to make a thorough study of many assay processes, which led to the introduction of assays for the following drugs and their preparations: Aconite, Belladonna Leaves, Belladonna Root, Cinchona, Red Cinchona, Coca, Colchicum Corm, Colchicum Seed, Conium, Guarana, Hydrastis, Hyoscyamus, Ipecac, Jalap, Nux Vomica, Opium, Physostigma, Pilocarpus, Scopola, and Stramonium. It may readily be seen that many careful investigations by skilled analysts had to be made, and the Sub-committee on Proximate Assays has carefully revised the processes formerly official and added a large number of new ones. Although these occupy considerable space in this Pharmacopoeia, it is believed that their introduction is thoroughly justified by the importance of placing in the hands of the physicians assayed preparations, for these are mainly used in important cases where reliability and rapidity of action are demanded. (See page 578, Alkaloidal Assay by Immiscible Solvents.)

The Convention instructed the Committee "to state the average approximate (but neither a minimum nor a maximum) dose for adults,

the metric system to be used, and the approximate equivalent ordinary weights or measures inserted in parentheses," and the Committee was further directed to make the following distinct declaration "that neither this Convention nor the Committee of Revision created by it, intends to have these doses regarded as obligatory on the physician or as forbidding him to exceed them whenever in his judgment this seems advisable.” This subject was placed in the hands of the Sub-Committee on Therapeutics, and, its amended report having been accepted, doses have been inserted in this revision, it being the first time that they have been incorporated in a United States Pharmacopoeia.

It must be recognized that the dose of a drug or preparation can

never be regarded as a fixed quantity. The age and condition of a patient must always modify what is known as an average dose, but the doses which have been inserted are intended to furnish a guide to those who are inexperienced in prescribing or who desire to use a drug or preparation with which they are unfamiliar.

Inasmuch as the quantities represent the average dose, it has not been deemed necessary to give strictly exact equivalents in ordinary weights and measures; the figures for these have therefore been rounded off.

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The long controversy, in which chemists in Europe and in this country have been engaged for years regarding the proper unit for the atomic weights of the elements, -i.e., whether it should be Hydrogen = 1 (Oxygen then being 15.88) or Oxygen 16 (Hydrogen then being 1.008), was settled by the Committee of Revision so far as the Pharmacopoeia is concerned, by adopting the standard of Hydrogen 1, and the figures used for the elements are those of the International Committee on Atomic Weights, published in 1904. This decision, on account of the unsettled condition of the subject, was reached after much debate, and it is believed that it will be most satisfactory to those who will have the greatest use for this Pharmacopoeia.

With regard to chemical nomenclature, the Committee has adopted substantially that of the previous revision, notwithstanding the fact that some of the members prefer the spelling frequently used by some chemical writers, as chlorin, bromin, morphin, quinin, sulfate, etc.; the dropping of the final e for the alkaloids and the halogens was not approved for the reason that its use has become a thoroughly established custom in this country, and it was not deemed wise or safe to sacrifice this distinctive method of designating powerful substances used as medicines.

By a vote of the Convention (see page xxx, Section 1) the Committee was authorized to admit "any synthetized product of definite composition which is in common use by the medical profession, the identity, purity, or strength of which can be determined. No compound or mixture shall be introduced if the composition or mode of manufacture thereof be kept secret, or if it be controlled by unlimited proprietary or patent rights." This action of the Convention, which reversed that of the previous Committee of Revision, placed upon the present Committee a grave responsibility. As is well known, the use of synthetic remedies has greatly increased, and many which are now largely used could not be admitted because of the limitations imposed by the action of the Convention. Some of the synthetic products which have been admitted are still controlled by patents, but these will soon expire on account of the time limit.

Trade names are not used in this Pharmacopoeia; it became necessary, however, to abbreviate in a number of cases the long chemical titles of synthetized products, to fit them for use in physicians' prescriptions and pharmaceutical nomenclature. Suitable abbreviations will soon come into use for these, and the inconvenience to physicians and pharmacists caused by the long names will disappear after the abbreviations become familiar.

The extensive use of structural formulas for showing the arrangement of the atoms in chemical compounds seemed to require the introduction of this method of expressing their composition, but inasmuch as empirical formulas have been used in previous revisions of this work, and are convenient in many ways, it was decided to introduce both forms.

The structural formulas adopted by some chemical writers, and which are frequently very complicated, are unsuitable for a work of this character, and upon careful investigation it was shown that there was a diversity of views among chemists as to the arrangement of these structural formulas. Nevertheless, it is believed that the partly analyzed formulas that have been adopted will prove useful additions.

Much difference of opinion exists at present among botanists on the subject of botanical nomenclature, and for this reason the nomenclature of the previous revision has been adopted with slight modification. The rules for botanical nomenclature will be found upon page xxxii of the Pharmacopoeia of 1890. In addition to this, it may be stated that in many cases Engler and Prantl have been followed as authorities.

The subject of synonyms has in past years claimed much attention, the general policy being always in the direction of limiting their number as much as possible. In the present revision very few synonyms will be found in the text of the book; in the index, however, they are printed in smaller type under the official Latin titles, and cross references to the synonyms are printed in the ordinary type followed by the official Latin title, so that the reader may find, in proper alphabetical order, the name of the substance or preparation which is regarded as a synonym. It is hoped that physicians and pharmacists will use the Latin or English titles given in the Pharmacopoeia, so that synonyms. will gradually become obsolete. Much confusion in prescribing and dispensing will in the future be obviated if this hope is realized.

The effort which has been made for many years to establish an International Pharmacopoeia has practically been abandoned, but an impor tant conference was held in the City of Brussels in September, 1902, entitled "Conférence Internationale pour l'Unification de la Formule des Médicaments Héroïques," which was composed of delegates from