The king's proclamation commanding all apothecaries of the realm to follow this Pharmacopoeia, and this only, is dated 26th April, 1618. It was published on the 7th May, 1618, surreptitiously and prematurely, by the printer in the absence of the President, and though very carelessly printed and full of errata, seems to have been rapidly exhausted. It is a small folio of 184 pages; and its title is as follows: Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, in qua Medicamenta antiqua et nova Opera Medicorum Collegii Ex Serenissimi Regis Mandato Excudebat Edwardus Griffin, Within four months (namely on the 5th September following) arrangements were made for a new edition,' which appeared on the 7th December, 1618. This is a handsome volume, and, as compared with its predecessor, is remarkably free from typographical errors. Successive editions of this first London Phar 1 "Proponitur de nova impressione Pharmacopoeia Londinensis." 2 The epilogue to this edition ought not to be omitted: "Edimus jam secundo partu, secundo magis eventu, Pharmacopoeiam Londinensem. Nos (inquam) edimus. Nam priorem illam informem, deformem, festinans Typographus, dicemus edidit? immò veriùs protrusit in lucem. Sicut calore æstuans jecur, crudum adhuc alimentum avidâ quâdem fame rapit à ventriculo: sic ille è manibus nostris hoc opusculum adhuc impolitum, surripuit, inconsulto, immò tunc absente Præside, et procul ab urbe avocato, qui illi limando poliendoque potissimùm invigilavit. Qui post reditum indignè ferens illud tot mendis et erroribus conspurcatum, tot detruncatis et deperditis membris mutilum et mancum, in publicum prorepsisse, convocatis ad se Collegis, totum opus quâ potuit diligentiâ, ad incudem denuò revocavit; secundamque editionem maturavit: quæ macopoeia, each somewhat modified and an improvement on its predecessor, appeared in 1627, 1632, 1639. A brief account of the contents of this the first Pharmacopoeia published in these kingdoms may not be out of place or without interest. The "Catalogus Simplicium ad Pharmacopoeiam conducentium," answering to the "Materia Medica" of modern Pharmacopoeias, comprises more than a thousand different articles, and among these are many of extraordinary and even revolting character. These Simplicia are classed and arranged in the following order: The preparations and compounds of these, with the numbers included in each division, are as follows: Aquæ simpliciores distillandæ, quæ usui, et sunt in usu 178 35 nunc demùm in lucem prodit à mendis purior, remediis locupletior: quæ et fælicior est futura, si illam candor tuus et frons benigna cohonestent." Species, sive Pulveres tum corroborantes tum alterantes Electuaria lenientia et purgantia Pilulæ purgantes leniores sine Scammonio aut Colocynthide Trochisci alterantes sine Opio cum Opio 9 29 14 18 4 31 Trochisci alterantes cum Opio Trochisci purgantes Olea simplicia per expressionem Olea simplicia per infusionem vel decoctionem Olea composita Unguenta simpliciora Unguenta magis composita Emplastra et Čerata 9 5 39 33 20 26 27 51 Olea Chymica ex herbis, seminibus, baccis, aromatibus, cortici 51 8 17 932 Among the chemical remedies which, through the influence of Sir Theodore Mayerne, the principal court physician, were then coming into use in England, we find the mineral acids, calomel, several preparations of steel and of antimony, sugar of lead, caustic potash, &c. The first and the last impression left upon the mind, either from a passing glance or a more careful study of this volume, is one of wonderment at the multiplicity and redundancy of insignificant and inefficient substances that are massed together in most of its formulæ. Of the degree to which such redundancy prevails throughout its pages, some notion may be formed from the fact, that in this Pharmacopoeia there are one hundred and twelve preparations containing from five to nine ingredients; one hundred and sixty-one containing from ten to nineteen ingredients; forty-four with from twenty to twenty-nine; three containing from forty to forty-nine; and three containing more than fifty several ingredients. The extreme is met with in the " Antidotus Magna Matthioli adversus Venena et Pestem," which contains in all more than one hundred and thirty ingredients, and among these several of the most complicated compositions, even the Mithridate and the Theriaca. II. The second London Pharmacopoeia appeared in 1650 during the Commonwealth, and in the presidency of Dr. John Clarke. It was about two years in progress, and its final supervision before going to press, was confided to Sir Maurice Williams, Dr. Hamey, and Dr. Ent. A new title was deemed necessary; and this, with the address to the reader and the epilogue, was by the president deputed to Dr. Hamey to write.' The title of the work is as follows: Pharmacopoeia hodie viventium studiis ornatior. Typis G. Dugard Impensis Stephani Bowtell Bibliopola in vico vulgò dicto Pope's Head-alley, 1650. The Pharmacopoeia of 1650 contains corrosive sublimate, the white precipitate, and the red precipitate. In other respects it differs but little from its predecessor; the principles on which it was constructed are the same, and there is little in the body of the work, or in the address to the reader, or the epilogue, but the usual quaintness of Hamey's style to call for special comment. Editions of this Pharmacopoeia in duodecimo appeared in 1661 and 1668. . · III. The third Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, that of 1677, would seem to have been somewhat hastily prepared. The first mention of it in the Annals, is on the 30th August, 1676; when it was determined that a new, enlarged, and corrected edition of the work should be sent to press, and that the care of it should be confided to the president, Sir George Ent. It appeared early in the following year (1677) with the following title :— 1 "Mihi (writes Hamey, in his MS. Bustorum aliquot Reliquiæ :ad vocem Jo. Clarke) sigillatim præter cætera, datâ curâ novandi tituli, et scribendæ epistolæ, cum epilogo ad lectorem." Pharmacopoeia Londini; Typis Tho. Newcomb, prostant venales apud Joh. Martyn, MDCLXXVII. It is little more than a reprint (with a few additional formula) of the Pharmacopoeia of 1650, and, although dedicated to Charles II, contains likewise Sir Theodore Mayerne's Epistola Dedicatoria to James I. from the Pharmacopoeia of 1618; and Hamey's address to the reader from the Pharmacopoeia of 1650. It is distinguished from the last-named work by the difference of title, the dedication to Charles II, the omission of Hamey's epilogue, and the alteration of a few words in his address to the reader in 1650. IV. Preparations for the fourth Pharmacopoeia Londinensis were commenced in the beginning of 1718, and the work appeared in 1721, in the presidency of Sir Hans Sloane, bart. The Catalogus Simplicium Officinalium is wholly new, and is rendered full and complete, as might be expected in the work of one so deeply versed in botany and natural history as was Sir Hans Sloane, to whom, it is known, we chiefly owe this division of the volume. In previous Pharmacopoeias the several articles had appeared without any definition or means of identification, but it was now felt necessary to refer them, for the sake of accuracy, to the standard systematic work of the time, and a corresponding column of synonyms was now given, taken mostly from Bauhin's Pinax. Of the body of the work, comprising the Præparata and Composita, but little need be said. The number of compound medicated waters is limited, the number of syrups lessened.' The authors of the work take credit to them "In Aquis Compositis distillandis major adhibenda fuit cura. Idem et in Syrupis concinnandis fecimus: quorum etiam farriginem, uptote magnâ ex parte inutilem æquè ac tædii plenam, de industriâ contraximus." Præfatio. |