Volume 2

The extra pharmacopœia of Martindale and Westcott.

  • Martindale, William, 1840-1902.
Date:
1932-1935
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The extra pharmacopœia of Martindale and Westcott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/934
    • • • and the lapse of time between his death and the taking over of th book by the Society have led to some delay in the revision and thi second volume of the 20th Edition, which should have beei published in 1933 according to a long-established time-table, i not, in fact, available until the autumn of 1935. Nevertheless, th machinery of revision is now such as to ensure the regular produc tion of future volumes. Experience may show that considerabl changes in content are called for in a book which has been built uj gradually over many years without sweeping and comprehensive revisions. Nevertheless, should such changes be needed they wil be introduced gradually and with the remembrance that the presen form of the book has stood the test of time and is familiar tc users. The first volume of this Edition is devoted mainly to treatmen with drugs and chemicals, and this volume, like its predecessor is concerned with matters of diagnosis, analysis and assay o medicinal products and divers subjects associated with medicine chemistry and pharmacy which could not be included in the firs volume. A large proportion of the matter has been completely rewritten and the whole of the book has been submitted to £ detailed and exhaustive examination with the object of removing, information no longer considered of value to medical practitioners pharmacists and analysts and replacing it by more useful accounts and researches concerning modern substances used in the treatmeni of disease. Analytical Addenda T he section relating to the analytical notes on the chemicals anc materia medica of Volume I has, for all practical purposes, beer entirely rewritten, and the miscellaneous notes which frequently had no connection with this aspect of the subject, have beer: replaced by an up-to-date precis of information of general interesi to the supplier and user of modern medicinal substances. Care has been taken, as far as possible, to avoid confusion between the two volumes, and the reader is here reminded that in general, information on the manufacture, composition and therapeutic uses of individual compounds and preparations appears in Volume I and that in this volume notes on these subjects are added only when recent advances necessitate their inclusion in order to supplement and complete the information contained in the first volume. Greater emphasis and attention is now given to the importance of the newer methods of control resulting from the recent com¬ plete revisions of the British Pharmacopceia and the British Pharmaceutical Codex. The revision of these two authorities has brought about a critical review of older methods and has estab¬ lished approved and tested methods, many of which are new and therefore, justify special mention. The scheme includes notes anc comments on all the more important standardised substances oi the British Pharmacopceia and the British Pharmaceutical Codex