A manual of materia medica and therapeutics : including the preparations of the British pharmacopoeia (1867), and many other approved medicines / by J. Forbes Royle and Frederick W. Headland.

  • Royle, J. Forbes (John Forbes), 1798-1858.
Date:
MDCCCLXVIII [1868]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of materia medica and therapeutics : including the preparations of the British pharmacopoeia (1867), and many other approved medicines / by J. Forbes Royle and Frederick W. Headland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    17/840 (page 5)
    OPERATIONS OF PHARMACY. Medicinal substances, as produced by nature, not being always fit for immediate exhibition as Medicines, require a number of pre- liminary processes, which are called Operations of Pharmacy. These relate—1. To the choosing, collection, and preservation of Drugs. 2. Their preparation, to fit them for exhibition as Medi- cines, including their mixture and combination. For the sake of uniformity, these require to be ordered by authority, and are so in the several Pharmacopoeias. The British Pharmacopoeia of 1864, issued by the General Council of Medical Education and Registration, in accordance with the Medical Act of 1858, superseded the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and established the long-desired uniformity in the preparation of medicines and the compounding of prescrip- tions throughout the United Kingdom. The improved edition, issued in 1867, is for the present the sole authority recognised by law for the guidance of Apothecaries and Druggists throughout the United Kingdom. The choosing of Drugs necessarily implies a knowledge of the whole subject, as all the characters both of genuine and of adulterated drugs should be well known before they are selected or purchased, or an attempt is made to prescribe them. For this purpose all the external characters, as colour, smell, taste, form, consistence, com- parative weight, fracture, degree of solubility, point of fusion, &c., also their chemical nature and composition, must be noticed, and their purity be ascertained by means of Chemical Tests. The collection of Drugs requires, in addition, that the influence of different Physiological states, both in plants and animals, should be attended to. Hence season, situation, aspect, age, habit, the natural or cultivated states,—are all of importance. The Preservation of Drugs requires • attention to the best methods of drying both mineral and organic substances, as well as to the necessity of protecting many of them from the influence of air, of moisture, and of light. To protect them from the latter, black or green bottles are ordered for particular preparations. Drugs require to be weighed, both for Pharmaceutical prepara- tions and in dispensing. The weights of the British Pharmacopoeia have been assimilated to those in use throughout the kingdom. The Avoirdupois weight has been substituted for the Troy weight so long adopted in Pharmacy, and retained in the last edition of the