British Pharmaceutical Codex (1907)
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| Author | Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain |
|---|---|
| Language | English, with Latin names of drugs and preparations |
| Published | 1907 |
| Publisher | Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain |
| Place | London |
| Volumes | 1 |
| Total pages | x, 1,425 |
| Pages | pp. 201–203 (cannabin tannate, cannabinone, Indian hemp); p. 246; p. 248 (chlorodyne); p. 273 (compound salicylic collodion); p. 377 (extract); pp. 1176, 1180 (tinctures) |
|---|---|
| Chapter | "Cannabis Indica. Indian Hemp" |
| Plates | none |
| Regions documented | India (Bombay and Bengal drug) |
| Varieties described | Guaza (Bombay); ganjah (Bengal) |
| Preparations | Extract of Indian hemp; tincture of Indian hemp; cannabin tannate; cannabinone; chlorodyne; compound tincture of chloroform and morphine; compound salicylic collodion |
| Uses documented | Medicinal (anodyne, sedative or hypnotic in mania, spasmodic coughs, asthma, acute neuralgia, dysmenorrhoea and tetanus); smoking |
| Digital facsimile | View the digitised copy |
|---|---|
| Original held at | University College London Library Services (the copy digitised) |
The British Pharmaceutical Codex (1907) is a reference book of drugs and medicines published in London by authority of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Its preface describes it as "an Imperial dispensatory for the use of medical practitioners and pharmacists", covering the drugs and medicines in common use throughout the British Empire, with those of the British Pharmacopoeia and the principal ones official in France, Germany and the United States.[1]: preface Its cannabis entries cover Indian hemp and its extract and tincture, two substances prepared from the drug, and formulas for unofficial medicines made with it, among them chlorodyne and a corn collodion.[1]: 201–203, 248, 273
The book
The preface explains that a pharmacopoeia covers only part of the materia medica in use at the time of publication: many medicines in constant demand are left out, and others lose official recognition while the demand for them continues. The Codex was written to give prescribers and dispensers accurate information on all of them, with special attention to those practising "in the British dominions beyond the seas".[1]: preface Entries run in alphabetical order of their Latin names and give the preparations of each drug after it.[1]: 201–203, 377
Indian hemp
The Codex defines Indian hemp as the dried flowering or fruiting tops of the pistillate plant of Cannabis sativa grown in India. The tops pressed into flat masses and exported from Bombay are sold as guaza; the more active Bengal drug, ganjah, is exported from Calcutta, but little reaches the British market. The narcotic effect is put down to the resin of the glands, whose chief constituent, cannabinol, had been obtained from charas.[1]: 202 The drug is given as an anodyne, sedative or hypnotic in mania, spasmodic coughs, asthma, acute neuralgia, dysmenorrhoea and tetanus, and the Codex notes that it is sometimes smoked against asthma. An alcoholic extract is the basis of its medicinal preparations, and the tincture "is a constituent of, and gives the green colour to, compound tincture of chloroform and morphine".[1]: 203
The extract is Indian hemp exhausted with alcohol by percolation and evaporated to a soft extract. The Codex warns that commercial extracts vary considerably, that "the physiological action of different samples of the extract is very unequal", and that physiological standardisation "affords the best guarantee that the preparation is active".[1]: 377 The tincture is five parts of the extract in alcohol to 100.[1]: 1176
Two substances prepared from the drug have their own entries. Cannabin tannate is made from a watery extract of Indian hemp combined with tannic acid; cannabinone, also called cannabis resin or hemp resin, is a purified resin from an alcoholic extract.[1]: 201
The unofficial formulas include chlorodyne, with tincture of Indian hemp among its ingredients,[1]: 248 a compound tincture of chloroform and morphine with the same tincture,[1]: 1180 a compound salicylic collodion, "Corn Solvent", with extract of Indian hemp,[1]: 273 and a "Liquor Bromo-chloral Compositus" of chloral, potassium bromide and Indian hemp.[1]: 246
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (1907). The British Pharmaceutical Codex: an imperial dispensatory for the use of medical practitioners and pharmacists. London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain – via Wellcome Collection.