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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.