The national dispensatory : containing the natural history, chemistry, pharmacy, actions, and uses of medicine, including those recognized in the pharmacopoeias of the United States, Great Britain, and Germany, with numerous references to the French codex

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Preface To The Third Edition

THE present edition of the Nationa DispENSATORY may be regarded as embodying the Pharmacopeeias of the four chief civilized nations. Those of the United States and Germany appeared at the close of 1882,.and formed the basis of our revision. The French Codex was published after our work was prepared for the press, but in time to admit of its incorporation. The British Pharmacopeeia, unfortunately, has not been revised since 1867, and the references to it therefore remain unchanged.

The immense mass of new material thus brought into view has required no little labor for its presentation in a shape adapted to the wants of the practical men for whom the Dispensatory is designed. Absolute accuracy being of the first importance in a work of this nature, it was felt that the statements even of the Pharmacopceia were not to be blindly accepted; and a long series of investigations and tests has been carried out for the purpose of verifying or correcting them. Not a few corrections have been made, some of which the reader will find noted in their appropriate places. The formulas of the Pharmacopceia, expressed, in parts by weight, have been translated into definite weights and measures, which it is hoped will facilitate their use.

In addition to the strictly officinal articles, a large number of extra-pharmacopeial medicines have been added to those in the previous editions, and no exertion has been spared to render the work complete in all respects.

No change has been made in the general plan of arrangement, which has been found convenient for speedy naitiease to the vast aggregate of matter comprehended in the volume; but a number of agents which were previously entered under individual ° edits have been transferred to more important articles as “ Allied Drugs,” while others, again, have been treated separately, as their growing importance would seem to justify. Numerous historical notes have been added. The descriptions have been extended or condensed as occasion seemed to require, and microscopical structure has been more fully described and illustrated. A large ‘ portion of the work has thus been rewritten, and the extent of the modifications and additions may be estimated from the fact that the General Index of this edition contains over thirty-seven hundred more references than that of the Second Edition. The series of illustrations has undergone a similar careful scrutiny. Many wood-cuts have been replaced by new and more satisfactory ones, and the whole number has been increased by about eighty. —

Like the previous editions, this one will be found to contain the most recent views of the physiological action—as far as it explains the curative effects—of medicines ; but all generalizations have been sedulously kept subordinate to the practical character of the work. The fruits of recent clinical experience have V vi PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

proved to be very large, and have required for their presentation an additional space equivalent to about eighty pages of the therapeutical portion of the Second Edition. Their number and variety may be inferred from the fact that the Index of Therapeutics contains nearly sixteen hundred new references. In the previous editions very few references to authorities were furnished in this department of the work ; but maturer experience has made it desirable to aid readers who wish to extend their investigations, by directing them to the more important sources of original information.

Those who use this Index should remember that its purpose is not to exhibit the relative values of the various medicines used in each disease. Its object is to present a suggestive list of all such medicines, while in the text an attempt is made to assign to each its relative as well as its positive value,

The doses of medicines are expressed in terms of the decimal system, as well as in those of apothecaries’ weight, but the two are seldom exact equivalents of each other. Doses are not fixed quantities, and the numbers that represent them in either posological system should be such as are used in practice. Following the usage of German and French authorities, the doses of liquid medicines according to the metrical system are stated in terms of weight, and not of measure.

Perfection is not to be hoped for in a work consisting of infinite detail on a subject of such magnitude, but the authors feel that they may honestly claim to have shrunk from no labor in the endeayor to meet the requirements of those who will consult its pages.

PHILADELPHIA, August, 1884.