Epitome of the Pharmacopeia of the United States and the National Formulary. Torald Hermann Sollmann

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Epitome of the Pharmacopeia of the United States and the National Formulary, With Comments

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      Prepared for the Use of Physicians Under Authorization of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association by a Committee Consisting of the Following:

      A.W. Hewlett, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Leland Stanford Junior University.

      Torald Sollmann, M.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Materia Medica, Medical Department, Western Reserve University.

      M.I. Wilbert, Ph.M., Phar.D., Assistant in the Division of Pharmacology, Hygienic Laboratory, U.S. Public Health Service.

      W.A. Puckner, Phar.D., Secretary of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry.

      AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

       535 North Dearborn Street Chicago

       1924

      [Authority to use for comment the Pharmacopeia of the United States of America, ninth decennial revision, in this volume, has been granted by the Board of Trustees of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, which Board of Trustees is in no way responsible for the accuracy of any translations of the official weights and measures, or for any statement as to the strength of official preparations.

      Permission to use for comment parts of the National Formulary has been granted by the Council of the American Pharmaceutical Association.]

      Copyright, 1921

       American Medical Association

      PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

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      The Pharmacopeia of the United States and the National Formulary are now recognized by federal and state laws as standards for drugs and their preparations. Physicians who prescribe Pharmacopeial or National Formulary drugs or preparations, therefore, are more likely to obtain a good and constant quality than if they prescribe unofficial articles, i.e., articles that have no legalized standard. Hence medical men are interested in knowing what drugs and preparations are included in these two books of standards. Both the Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary, however, contain a vast amount of technical information, of value to pharmacists but of little interest to physicians. The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1907 issued the “Physicians’ Manual of the U.S. Pharmacopeia and National Formulary,” a book designed to meet the needs of physicians in this respect. The fact that this book did meet a real need is evidenced by the continued demand for it.

      The present “Epitome of the U.S. Pharmacopeia and National Formulary” takes the place of that book, but is based on the new (the ninth) revision of the Pharmacopeia and the new (the fourth) edition of the National Formulary. It has been prepared under the direction of a committee appointed by the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association. The aim has been to include all the matter in the Pharmacopeia and National Formulary which is likely to be of interest to physicians. This, it is believed, consists of the official titles and their abbreviations; synonyms; brief definitions; when necessary, concise descriptions of the physical properties; and dosage. Since both the Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary include many drugs and preparations which are irrational, superfluous or worthless, in many cases the medical members of the committee have added brief comments to aid a discriminating selection of therapeutic agents.

      In this epitome drugs are arranged alphabetically by Pharmacopeial or National Formulary titles; preparations of drugs are placed under the drugs themselves. Thus Tinctura Digitalis is placed not among the Ts, but among the Ds under Digitalis. Names of drugs are in black-face type; names of preparations are in light-face italics. An index is added to assist in ready reference.

      Statements of composition refer in some cases to percentage by volume, in others to percentage by weight, and in still others to percentage by weight-volume—that is, the weight of a given chemical contained (or the weight of a given vegetable drug represented by extractives) in 100 Cc. of the preparation. It has not been thought worth while to indicate whether the statement in each case is by volume, weight or weight-volume, since the differences are too small to have any therapeutic importance. Statements of alcoholic content refer to percentage by volume and are approximate only. In a few instances in which the quantity of alcohol in a dose is small, or in which the preparation is intended for external use, the alcohol content is not stated.

      Dosage statements, when followed by the letters “U.S.P.” or “N.F.,” are taken from these books, respectively, and are understood to be the average adult doses. In some cases in which this statement was felt to be inadequate or unsatisfactory, further suggestions as to dosage have been added.

      PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

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      The text of this edition is the same as that of the first, except that a few typographical errors which were in the first edition have been corrected.

      The new edition differs from the first in the following particulars:

      In the first edition, a star indicates that the drug is included in the second (1916) edition of Useful Drugs. To bring the present edition up to date, the star (*) here indicates that the drug is included in the fifth (1921) edition of Useful Drugs.

      In compliance with the opinion expressed by some that a more complete index would be helpful, the index to the second edition has been materially extended. It is hoped that this will help to familiarize those who purchase the book with its contents.

      TABLES OF METRIC AND APOTHECARIES’ WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

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      METRIC MEASURES OF WEIGHT

      1 Milligram (1 mg.) = 0.001 gram.

       1 Centigram = 0.01 gram.