CUMMITI.
Emplastrum ladani compositum, plaster a laudanum compound.
Emplastrum cantharidis, Lond. Dubl. emplastrum meloes vesicatorii, Edin. plas ter of eanthrides.
Emplastrum meloes vesicatorii conapo it. Edin. plaster of cantharides, com pound.
Emplastrum oxidi plumbi semivitrei, Ediii. emplastrum lithargyri, plaster of common litharge.
Emplastrum resinorum, Edin. emplas trum lithargyri cum resina, Lund. plaster, adhesive.
Emplastrum assafwtida, Edin. emplas trunk gummosum, Loral. plaster of gum or assafcetida.
Emplastrum lithargyri compositum, Loud. plaster of litharge, compound. Emplastrum saponis, Dubl. emplastrum saponaceum, Loud. Edin. plaster of soap.
Emplastrum thuris compositum, Lond. plaster of frankincense, compound.
Emplastrum hydrargyri, Edin. plaster of quicksilver.
Emplastrum ammoniac; cum hydrargy ro, Lond. plaster of gum ammoniac with quicksilver.
Emplastrum lithargyri corn hydrar gyro, Lond. plaster of litharge with quick silver.
Emplastrum oxidi ferri rubri, Edin. plaster of red oxide of iron.
We shall close this article by observing, that the adult dose of the different prepa rations, and materials of which they are composed, will, for the most part, be found in the article MATERIA Since writing the above we have re ceived a copy of a specimen just printed, and limitedly circulated by the London College of Physicians, as the gssmnd work of a new Pharmacopoeia, which it is their intention to bring forward as soon as they may be able to avail themselves of the various hints and suggestions which it is probable will result from a circula tion of their present pamphlet. As this is a work of high consequence to the medical world, and of curiosity to those who have not had an opportunity of see ing the specimen before us, and more es. pecially as we are persuaded that the Royal College, with its usual liberality, will receive with thanks any important information upon the subject in question, from whatever quarter it may proceed ; we shall endeavour as concisely as possi ble to sketch an outline of the valuable labours in which they are engaged, from the specimen before us : which we can not better commence than in the words of the Committee, to whom the College has chiefly submitted the undertaking.
In the progression of human knowledge, pharmacy cannot remain stationary, and the College ha% c accordingly accommo dated it to existing circumstances, at suitable intervals, and thereby regulated and improved the practice of medicine in this country. Such a revision they have
felt themselves called upon to make, at the present time, by the vast improve ment in the several branches of science, with which pharmacy is more especially connected, since the year 1787, and they think it proper to state, generally, the principles upon which various altera tions have been adopted in the present instance.
These alterations are referable to the several heads of nomenclature, weights and measures, arrangement, processes, the omission of former articles, and the introduction of new ones.
To each of these it will apply as a ge neral observation, that practical applica tion and convenience have been assumed as fundamental points, which the Commit tee have endeavoured constantly to keep in view.
1. Nomenclature. At the time of the publication of the last Pharmacopcela, mo dern chemistry was in its infancy, its lan guage, (which professed to describe, and not merely to designate a substance by its name) was new in principle, and the ap plication of it not generally received. Various terms, therefore, of that Pharma copeia differ essentially from those which have since been established in the science, and it has been incumbent upon the Com mittee to consider, in the present in stance, whether the nomenclature of chemistry might be still further and more minutely adopted. As far as ar bitary names (to which common consent has affixed precise ideas) go, and also in compounds consisting of two ingredients only, or where different portions of the same constituent parts are to be express ed, it has been thought proper to receive those terms which general chemistry em ploys ; but as a large proportion of phar maceutical preparations consist, strictly speaking, of more complex combinations, which cannotbe expressed correctly with out periphrasis and inconvenience, and are therefore but ill suited to the purposes of perscription, the Committee have judged it sufficient to designate these, without attempting at the same time to describe their composition ; and whether the name has been drawn from some circum stance of preparation, or quality, they have cautiously endeavoured to make such distinctions as may be least liable to error in the ordinary method of practice, and may not contradict the received che mical doctrines, or mislead in their appli cation.