EXPLANATION. Drugs and Preparations marked thus * are not official in the U. S. Pharmacopæia of 1880. The Doses given are for adults; for children the following rule (Young's) will be found the most convenient. Add 12 to the age, and divide by the age, to get the denominator of the fraction, the numerator of which is 1. Thus, for a child two years old, 2+12 7 and the dose is one-seventh of that for an adult. Of powerful narcotics scarcely more than one-half of this proportion should be used. Of mild cathartics, two or even three times the proportion given may be employed. 2 For Hypodermic Injection, the dose should be three-fourths of that used by the mouth; by rectum five-fourths of the same. Pronunciation.-Attention is particularly directed to the accentuation of words commonly mispronounced; as, for example, acètas, átropa, chimáphila (kima), chlòridum, codèia, conìum, énema, iódidum, radicis, rícinus, sinàpis, syrùpus, éczema, umbilicus, abdòmen, brómidum. The Sign (?) after a preparation signifies that it is of doubtful utility; after a statement of physiological action, that the question is disputed and as yet unsettled. A COMPEND OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS. INTRODUCTION. Materia Medica is that branch of medical science which treats of the substances used as medicines, their origin, composition, modes of preparation and administration, physiological and toxicological actions. Therapeutics. Derived from the Greek ɛpañɛvɛiv, therapeuein, to attend upon-it is the science of the application of medicines to the alleviation or cure of disease. Pharmacy and Pharmacology. Pharmacy is the art of preparing medicines for use; Pharmacology is a general term signifying a knowledge of medicinal agents in its widest sense, and includes Pharmacy, Materia Medica and Therapeutics. The latter term is, by some writers, restricted to the science of the action of drugs upon a healthy organism. The Pharmacopoeia is the official list of those drugs and their preparations, which are recognized by the medical profession in a certain country; as the PHARMACOPOEIA of the United States (U. S. P.), the British Pharmacopoeia (B. P.), etc. In foreign countries this list has the force of law, being published under governmental auspices; but in the United States it is revised every ten years by a convention representing the medical and pharmaceutical professions. The sixth decennial revision was published in October, 1882. A Dispensatory is an encyclopaedic treatise on medicines, which includes their physical and medical history, their composition and uses. It is a private publication, of authority according to the reputation of its author, and treats of drugs which, though not official in the Pharmacopoeia of one country, may be in that of another; as well as many drugs which are not official anywhere. Preparations Recognized by the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, number thirty-four, and are as follows, viz. :— Decóctum.-A Decoction is made from a vegetable drug, by boiling in water for a varying length of time. Infúsum.-An Infusion is made from a vegetable drug, by displacement or maceration in cold or hot water, without boiling. Aqua.-A Water is a solution in water of a volatile substance. Liquor.-A Liquor or Solution is made by dissolving a non-volatile substance in water. Spiritus.-A Spirit is an alcoholic solution of volatile principles, made from the pure drug by distillation or direct solution. Tinctúra.-A Tincture is an alcoholic solution of non-volatile principles, prepared from the pure drug by maceration or displacement, or by dissolving the principles themselves. Tinctura Herbarum Recentium, Tinctures of Fresh Herbs, are prepared from the fresh herbs, bruised or crushed, by maceration with alcohol for fourteen days. Elixir.-An Elixir is a dilute tincture made agreeable to the taste by the addition of sugar and some aromatic. Extractum Fluidum.-A Fluid Extract is a concentrated preparation, so made that each minim represents about one grain of the crude drug. To this rule there is but one exception, the Compound Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla. They all contain alcohol, and many glycerin also, as a preservative. The Fluid Extract of Ergot contains dilute hydrochloric acid. Extractum.-An Extract is a solid or semi-solid preparation, made by evaporating either the fresh juice or an alcoholic or watery solution of the drug. Abstractum.—An Abstract is a dry, powdered extract, which is about twice the strength of the corresponding fluid extract. Mássa. – A Pill-mass is a preparation of proper consistence for making pills. Pílula.-A Pill is a small spherical body containing medicinal agents, with some excipient, as gum, mucilage, soap, etc., to give it body. Mistúra.-A Mixture contains one or more insoluble substances held in suspension in water by the aid of a suitable vehicle. [An Emulsion is a mixture having an oil suspended in water by means of a gum or an albuminous substance.] Mucilágo.-A Mucilage is a solution of a gum in water. |