British Pharmacopoeia (1864)
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| Author | General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Language | English, with Latin names of drugs and preparations |
| Published | 1864 |
| Publisher | Spottiswoode and Co., for the General Medical Council |
| Place | London |
| Volumes | 1 |
| Total pages | xxii, 444 |
| Pages | p. 37 (the drug); p. 222 (extract); p. 346 (tincture) |
|---|---|
| Chapter | "Cannabis Indica. Indian Hemp" |
| Plates | none |
| Regions documented | India (the drug "cultivated in India") |
| Varieties described | none described |
| Preparations | Extract of Indian hemp; tincture of Indian hemp |
| Uses documented | Medicinal (no indications given) |
| Taxonomic significance | Indian hemp entered under Cannabis sativa Linn. |
| Digital facsimile | View the digitised copy |
|---|---|
| Original held at | Wellcome Collection (the copy digitised) |
The British Pharmacopoeia of 1864 is the book of drugs and their preparations that the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom published under the Medical Act 1858. An act of Parliament made it the substitute throughout Great Britain and Ireland for the pharmacopoeias until then in use in England, Scotland and Ireland.[1]: front matter It entered Indian hemp as a drug of the materia medica and gave two preparations of it, an extract and a tincture.[1]: 37, 222, 346
The book
The Medical Act directed the Council to publish "a Book containing a List of Medicines and Compounds, and the manner of preparing them, together with the true Weights and Measures by which they are to be prepared and mixed", to be called the British Pharmacopoeia. The Council named in the front matter of May 1863 had members chosen by the royal colleges, the apothecaries' bodies and the universities of England, Scotland and Ireland, and members nominated by the Crown.[1]: front matter The preface describes the task as superseding three pharmacopoeias and reconciling "the varying usages, in pharmacy and prescriptions, of the people of three countries hitherto in these respects separate and independent". The last edition of any of the pharmacopoeias of the Colleges of Physicians had appeared thirteen years earlier.[1]: preface
The Council resolved that the book should have two parts and an appendix: the materia medica first, then the preparations and compounds, and in the appendix the articles used only in the chemical processes and tests.[1]: preface The drugs of the materia medica stand in alphabetical order of their Latin names, each with its source and characters; each preparation has its method of making.[1]: 37, 222
Indian hemp
The materia medica entry reads "Cannabis Indica. Indian Hemp", from Cannabis sativa Linn. The drug is "The Flowering Tops of the female plant from which the resin has not been removed, dried; cultivated in India". The tops are described as pressed together in masses about two inches long, "harsh, of a dusky-green colour and a characteristic odour", bearing the remains of the flowers, smaller leaves and a few ripe fruits.[1]: 37
For the extract, a pound of Indian hemp in coarse powder is macerated for seven days in four pints of rectified spirit and the tincture pressed out; the spirit is distilled off and the residue evaporated by a water bath "to a proper consistence".[1]: 222 The tincture is an ounce of the extract dissolved in a pint of rectified spirit.[1]: 346 The pharmacopoeia gives no doses or uses for either.