Page:Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (ser 03 vol 05).djvu/47

Rh and mineral kingdoms was unceasing; many valuable discoveries had been made, and facts innumerable had accumulated, but, scattered abroad through various publications, they were, to a great extent, beyond common attainment. Collection, condensation, and classification had become necessary. Moreover, the literary and scientific reputation of the profession imperiously demanded a fitter representative than the existing formularies. All this the new Dispensatory afforded. It immediately supplanted the crude and unscientific compilations previously in use, and became at once the standard authority. From its first appearance in 1833, edition after edition—fourteen in all— followed each other in rapid succession, and it was regarded as an indispensable handbook to every physician and apothecary in the land. The work in its later revisions by its author, differs, as may be supposed, very greatly from the first editions; among other things, in containing nearly double the number of pages. New facts, new relations, new combinations, in constantly increasing number, required incessant supervision in order to keep pace with the progress of science. This was carefully and unweariedly bestowed, and each successive edition was consequently a vast improvement on the one preceding.

The compilation of the Dispensatory was undertaken not only to supply a great need, but with the further design of promoting the general recognition of The United States Pharmacopœia as the national standard of pharmaceutical preparation. This it contributed to do by constant reference to the processes therein recommended, and by the detailed descriptions which it gave of the medicinal agents which the Pharmacopœia contained. The one was thus made to imply, involve, and demand the other; and was largely instrumental